He did in '93 in New York press conferences with all the top Americans present (including Roy Jones) bar James Toney.
Yo: [url]http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/boxing-eubank-steals-the-limelight-and-upsets-americans-jonathan-rendall-sees-britains-controversial-boxing-champion-trump-don-king-in-new-york-1460913.html[/url] You have to understand the politics of boxing. Eubank couldn't just start fighting in the USA with no US-based manager, no US-based promoter. Although Don King and HBO made him offers, he says on priniciple he didn't jump ship because Barry Hearn put his trust in him when Eubank was nobody, he didn't like King and American-TV turned down Eubank-Benn I thinking it would be an easy Benn win.
Yes. Totally. I think the tragic outcome to the second Watson fight (when he was struggling for weight) had a lot to do with it. Before that, he was a hungry fighter. Afterwards, save for a few one-off performances, the ruthless streak seemed to go out of him and he was often content to scrape by doing just enough against opponents he should have been demolishing.
Rocky Marciano? Julio Cesar Chavez? He never played with Watson or Benn, thats a ridiculous statement. Im not going to deny he won those fights fairly but played with them? No. He took punches in the opening rounds of both fights.
Hearn was a top promoter, if he couldnt get him big fights with Americans he should have said, 'Thanks for your help but I need to get on with my career and beating bums every few months is not helping my progress as a top fighter, its wasting my time.' Then moved on to bigger things.
Indeed. If memory serves, Eubank was on his backside in both of those fights. A very odd way to play with someone. That comment is just ridiculous!
You think so? Thats an interesting opinion. I never thought it was possible he was fighting at the right level all along. Its something to consider. With his winning streak though he should have had one fight at least with a top middleweight champ at the time? Even if he was beaten comprehensively at least we would have known where we stood in ranking him. [quote="TKO";5138732]Yes. Totally. I think the tragic outcome to the second Watson fight (when he was struggling for weight) had a lot to do with it. Before that, he was a hungry fighter. Afterwards, save for a few one-off performances, the ruthless streak seemed to go out of him and he was often content to scrape by doing just enough against opponents he should have been demolishing.[/quote] This is a distinct possibility and if its true then its a terrible shame his talent was wasted. The second Watson fight may very well have taken the heart from Eubank and if thats the case then I cant argue. However he did continue fighting for some time and although his KO percentage fell he did stop some opponents. Its just such a shame a defining fight never came for Eubank. Also something I'd like to post on a slightly unrelated note is Froch's ridiculous comments printed in the New of the World. I know the comments were probably in jest but his belittling Eubank and other fighters of the time is disgraceful. Even though I've done a fair amount of Eubank bashing in this thread Froch has got a long way to go to compare with him and other fighters of that era. Hes not going to endear himself to the public with comments like that. The fact is hes fighting in an era much easier than the early nineties and he'd have lost several times against guys around at that time. Hes got a whooping great ego, its just a shame I dont feel hes got the talent to back it up like Eubank, Benn or Nas.
What was bigger, though? A fight with Nunn or Toney was nothing on either side of the Atlantic. Those guys weren't stars in America, even though they were the best lb4lb boxers on the planet. The place was England with the Watson and Benn fights in London, Birmingham and football stadiums. Sky offered him £10,000,000 after the Rocchigiani fight to travel to backyards and do the same. In the US he'd have been fighting in front of chairs. Let's just be grateful that we had such a wonderful era, and Eubank was the cornerstone of it.
he had a load of solid wins, over the likes of very underrated henry wharton and genuine world class opponents such as malinga and benn... no he isnt overrated
I am grateful but this is a place for discussion and I'm not gonna arse-kiss every fighter we've had there are question marks over Eubank's record. Im not saying Eubank had to boycott fights with Benn and Watson but has that got to be the peak of his ambitions? Money isnt everything, fighting the best is. Im just disappointed he didnt achieve more.