Many boxing fans were delighted to see Chris Eubank Sr alongside his son Chris Eubank Jr. for the fight against Conor Benn over the weekend.
Eubank Jr and Benn met in front of a packed crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday, continuing a rivalry that first began with their fathers back in the 1990s.
It was a fantastic 12-round battle between the two fighters, with Eubank Jr claiming a unanimous decision win after all three judges scored the bout 116-112 in his favour.
Prior to the fight, one of the big talking points was whether or not Eubank Sr would be in attendance, having spent weeks publicly criticising the clash for taking place.
He surprised many when he did decide to attend though, walking out alongside his son to stand opposite Conor and Nigel Benn for the bout.
With the dust continuing to settle from the event, Eubank Sr has now revealed on his Call Chris Eubank YouTube Channel exactly why he changed his mind.
“I got in touch with Junior 8:10 the night before the fight. I haven’t been in touch with him. Being there for my son, I was always going to be there. Just not in anybody else’s time. The amount of comments ‘you’ve got to be there for your son.’ All this time I’m thinking ‘ok I’m not even reading that because the fight isn’t even going to happen.’ Let me be clear on this, until the referee said box, I would have bet my life that this fight wouldn’t have happened.
“On Friday night I sent him a message, the message said ‘call me when you’re in private please.’ At 10:10 I got a call back. I haven’t spoken to him and you would have seen and probably felt this in all the interviews and press conferences that they’ve had that you would be able to read that he hasn’t been in contact with me.
“When someone is going the wrong way, you have to watch them go, because the more you try to hold them back is the harder they pull away from you. Junior called and said ‘I didn’t want to call dad because I can’t hear anything negative.’ I said to Junior ‘where are you?’ He explained he was at the Park Plaza…. I put on a disguise and a mask and Junior said ‘nobody will recognise you.’ We sat and spoke, these were my words to him ‘what do you want me to do son? This is your show.’
“This is one of the most private things I can tell you because it’s the truth. Junior is not emotional at all. He sent me a message saying ‘glad you are here.’ That’s like the moon coming to earth, coming to within a mile of the earth. He doesn’t do that. What looks innocuous if you will to the eye that doesn’t understand, that’s a huge thing.”
It’s currently unknown what Eubank Jr will do next following the win over Benn, but one option could be a fight with unified super-middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez, and the Mexican icon has shared his thoughts on Eubank’s victory.
