Blatantly admits he avoided tough fights. He was the first boxer that personality was as important as skill. This content is protected
I knew this years ago, when Watson was about to fight Eubank for the first time in the early 90`s, McCallum was giving his verdict on who he thought was going to win and he stated in the newspaper that he hoped Watson would win because Eubank only fought for the last 20 seconds of each round to steal the judges eye and that he had offered Chris a shot at his WBA titla and was turned down, I also heard Eubank say he would not fight Julian Jackson after 'the hawk' knocked out Graham in their title clash on live TV (Chris was doing a one off stint as a pundit for that fight and was awful). McCallum was far better than Eubank and Jackson had faster more powerful pnches than him.
Did the very best with the tools he had, used what he had to the max. He had a terrific career, solid, tough, durable champion but yes he has avoided the very best. I suppose at least he is honest about it.
Never really rated him myself. Tremendous heart and toughness when forced, but he thought he was better than what he really was. Give me Nigel Benn ANY DAY over Eubank. Better to watch and he seemed a genuine good bloke.
Agreed. One of the biggest cases of a "paper champion" in the modern British era, IMHO. Between him & Joe (another paper champ, imo) they have an abysmal amount of quality wins for the amount of fight they have had.
You only had to look at who he was fighting in his prime, compared to the available elite guys in the division to see he was taking the easy route, with the exception of facing Watson and Benn. He only consistently stepped up to fight the best when he was already past prime. In the Calzaghe, Thompson & Collins fights he stepped up and lost 5 times. From his fights against top opposition his record is actually 3-1-5. He is still a great British boxer and iconic, but he would have had a far better legacy had he stepped up in his prime even if that had garnered a loss or 2. Boxing is also about gaining respect, by daring to face the best.
Eubank has always said he was rubbish. He maintains his showboating was only to cover up his poor boxing skills. He freely admits he had no interest in fighting Jones and the others. You cannot expose a guy who talks about this regularly and openly. Whilst he lacked in boxing what he had was a granite chin and a high tolerance for pain. He also had a pretty decent dig on him. In his prime he would have given anyone trouble and I still give him a good chance against the big 3 simply because you cannot get him out of there. He is the guy that when you fight you find out what you are truly made of.
I remember him saying he wouldn't fight Toney or Jones Jr because it would be too dangerous for his health
The man was pretty much trialed and found guilty by the whole UK for what happened to Michael Watson. Anyone can see he massively lost his appetite for violence after that trauma and I don't blame him. If you think that Eubank Sr was "style over substance" YDKSAB.
