I am still surprised Eubank has a following tbh....He is 1 of them boxers that somehow seems to have got much better in peoples heads now that he is retired than when he was boxing...He was awful to watch for 99% of the time... He was in skinkfest after stinkfest against really low level boxers but a couple of big winning domestic fights 30 years ago and he is now in many peoples UK P4P !!!! Ducked all the Yanks even though he grew up there...Think of all the American middleweights in that era he wanted no part of.....Probably a Hearn thing
He was in all time epics with Benn (first) and Watson (second), you don't see wars like this these days or anything close. I don't find unskilled brawlers interesting to watch personally, maybe that's just me? I liked seeing great form and technical ability that Eubank showed in most of his pre-Sky yellow shorts defenses. Against Rocchigiani and Wharton he averaged about 60 shots a round for 12 all aesthetically pleasing, so he could do it, as shown against Benn at the NEC, just preferred outfighting post-Watson tragedy. I don't see any champion today able to fight every seven weeks like he did. They wouldn't stand a chance. They need six months off to party and go on holidays etc.
I loved his first four or six rounds or so against Tony 'Punching Postman' Thornton, who was ranked #1 by everyone at one point, robbed against 'great white hopes' DeWitt and Collins and did better than James Toney against Tiberi and Sosa, beat useful Chirino with literally just his left hand right after surgery on his right. Classy operator who was 50/50 with lb4lb king Lights Out Toney after six This content is protected Retired and had shoulder surgery before coming back and facing Roy Jones, and his shoulder dislocated when he was on the ropes with Roy's entire 20-shot flurry evaded by Thornton even with his shoulder hanging out the socket
There has been thousands of better fights since Eubank beat Benn/Watson so to say you dont see wars like that is nonsense... Eubank was always chasing money due to his lifestyle which is why he fought a load of bums for a year and SKY dropped him...
Oh of course there has, you see an epic like that every week. Grow up. Sky didn't drop him, he retired instead of facing Benn for a third time, which was the big talk from Sky.
All we see today or most of what we've seen since is staring contests or wrestling matches, by comparison. Not two mid-20s black men bearing their souls with no jabs and crisp punching with everything into every punch of each combination, it was incredible
Or unskilled wide swings like fat men Chisora-Takam in a telephone box for no title. I don't enjoy seeing that garbage.
I always thought Eubank was over-rated. He was durable and had a great chin but I never thought he was a great boxer by any means. He was very good at promoting himself and I think that might be one reason why he's remembered as something far better than he was.
I have only bothered to watch 4 of his fights as I had - have no time for the man. Thompson Collins x 2 Calzaghe. I enjoyed watching those immensely.
The WBO title at the time was also by far the weakest. As you mentioned, I don't remember ever mixing it with the best african american fighters of the day. He is overrated.
I don't think Eubank had great form and technical ability. His balance wasn't great and too many of his punches were wild swings.
He was capable of throwing picture-perfect punches, just inconsistent with it and posed too much - he was totally drained to the limit according to Ronnie Davies. A very special talent but much of the posturing during a contest was actually Eubank conserving his energy.
All those lazy performances and bowling ball swings were 100% the weight-making. When he fought Thompson two weights up, had his weight monitored through camp by the BBBoC for the first time against Wharton and had a 12 week camp for the first time against Rocchigiani, he boxed out of his skin almost with short sharp shots and not tiring; as if a different fighter