1993 SMW tournament

A disciplined Eubank is, who came in lighter like he did against Thornton and Lindell, when deciding to use foot movement and reflexes.

 

And of course the Eubank who fought Benn (1)- quick feet, sharp combos that flowed, using the ring.

 

Nobody else could come close, but then Eubank didn't face anyone near as good as Toney at slipping and countering. I'd be surprised if Toney did, it was such an untelegraphed punch because he stepped in with it with no backpull or elbow raise (which great technicians like Toney use as cues to counter), shifting his weight so smoothly it doubled the jab with the momentum the sole of his boot pitching the canvas caused; the second jab about 1.5 inches!

 

Holmes was very good, a world champion and Ring magazine #1. He beat Benn. He beat Watson fair and square twice. The divisions are just letters, they all weigh different on the night - Rocky and Eubank were cruisers on the night. Benn was still 12st on the night.

The day-before weigh-in rule after Eubank-Watson II ****ed boxing up, it's actually more dangerous because one fighter can out-weigh another by 20lb. Benn out-sped Eubank at Old Trafford because he was 15lb lighter - it was 28.5hrs between weigh-in and fight, and Pete DeFreitas said Benn struggled to eat enough to come in at 12st whereas Ronnie Davies said Eubank was sucking on frozen grapes and not eating. A draw was perfectly fair that night, in fact Benn should've been deducted another point in reality which would've given Eubank the win.

Benn and Rocky were top drawer, we know this from them outboxing, beating up and knocking out McClellan and Michalczewski respectively and wiping out Barkley and Hamsho better than Hearns or Hagler did.

He chased Nunn and Toney but Bob Arum, who had Toney under contract and was negotiating with Nunn, stated on ITV before Eubank-Holmes that he wouldn't let Eubank face them because he'd make them both look bad and Arum was trying to make them look good to sell them on his PPV platform TVKO.

 

Boxing is a business unfortunately. Eubank was the first fighter to ever state his ambition of unifying all four titles (April 1990). His plan was to face Julian Jackson for the vacant WBC title, then the winners of McCallum-Watson and Benn-DeWitt, then make sure he has a million pounds in his bank before facing Nunn last, and retire at 25.

 

At the start of 93, he wanted both Nunn and Toney in 93 and believed he could beat them both. Didn't happen, though. He never wanted to be tied to Don King (Nunn) and Bob Arum shut down a Toney fight.

 

The other time he wanted the lb4lb best was in 96/97 when calling out Toney and Jones saying he'd fight them one after the other in Abu Dhabi.

 

As for these Ring ratings, they are nonsense.

 

Roy Jones was in Ring's top 10 lb4lb in 1992, but those who had seen him knew he was probably #1 at that time. H2H man

 

I'm sorry young man but you're sadly mistaken. Eubank must've been lying then when saying he wanted Nunn and Toney in 93 and believed he could beat them. It was suicide to face Toney or Jones, the fights would be so close they'd end up being life and death wars with neither coming out the same one way or another.