For many people, Muhammad Ali is the greatest heavyweight boxer the sport has ever seen, but not for Chris Eubank Sr.
Ali transcended the sport over the course of his career. Not only was he a charismatic personality and silver-tongued trash-talker who brought great attention to himself even before he stepped in the ring, but he also had an athletic style, hand speed and resilience that made him hard to beat.
He was involved in legendary fights that have echoed through the ages, including the Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman and the Thrilla in Manila with Joe Frazier, and became the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978.
He arguably lost the best years of his career when he was banned from competition after refusing the draft to the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector, but did return to the top before eventually retiring in 1981, having won 56 of his 61 contests.
In a video on his own YouTube Channel, Eubank Sr was asked about the greatest heavyweight of all time and didn’t go with the obvious answer.
“There are numerous, Jack Johnson has to be said to be the greatest of all time, okay, and that’s because he was fighting in time where you had an insanity at play all the time, which was this racism, this slavery.
“There wasn’t even a heavyweight world championship that a Black man could fight for, he could fight for the coloured heavyweight championship of the world. They couldn’t fight for the world championship. Jack Johnson came through what none of the other fighters after him has been able to duplicate. These people opened the door for you so you can do what you did.”
It’s understandable why Eubank feels that way, as Johnson was involved in his own ‘Fight of the Century’ in 1910 when he beat James J. Jeffries. He had a total of 94 fights and won 68 of them, and was the first Black heavyweight champion.
