We sit in a small office in a ramshackle gym on the Hove seafront as Chris Eubank Jr talks about brain damage, doping, death and grief. This is a long way from the stereotype of Eubank Jr being a preening egotist living off the family name to make millions as a functional boxer. Life has knocked the cold arrogance out of the 33-year-old and an hour-long conversation with Eubank Jr is now as moving as it is interesting.
Eubank Jr fights Liam Smith in Manchester on Saturday and he has already offered amusing and thoughtful insights into this serious challenge. Yet the shadow of the most shameful and embarrassing fiasco in the recent history of British boxing still hangs over him.
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Eubank Jr and Conor Benn were due to meet last October in a catchweight contest that had captured the attention of even mainstream sports fans. Their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, had fought each other twice in bitter and brutal bouts in the early 1990s, with 16.5 million viewers watching their rematch on ITV. There was an element of manufactured drama to the 2022 showdown between the sons – and Eubank Jr had to boil down to a dangerously low weight of 157 pounds – but the buildup became deeply personal and gripping.
In the week of the fight, news broke that Benn had tested positive for clomifine, a banned substance that boosts testosterone. In an ordinary sport, the athlete in question would have been immediately suspended. This is boxing, however, and the promoters tried to steamroller the British Boxing Board of Control’s delayed decision to prohibit the bout. All these parties had known about the test result for weeks. For two days, as boxing sank deeper into the gutter, desperate efforts were made to proceed with the fight. Finally, bowing to vociferous media reaction and the disgust of a wider sporting public, the bout was cancelled.
“Was I disillusioned?” Eubank Jr says quietly. “No. Boxing is a ruthless, cutthroat game. If you’re talking about the business aspect, much worse things have happened and will happen in the future. Any time money’s involved, there are people looking for an edge. So disillusion, no. Disappointment, yes. [Benn] messed up a lot of things for a lot of people, including myself.”
When did Eubank first hear about Benn’s failed drug test? “Ten to 12 days before the fight. People were shocked that I agreed to continue but, whether that was right or wrong, that’s just who I am. It didn’t change my mindset that I was going to win.”
Benn called him and, Eubank Jr says, “that was another reason why I didn’t make a huge deal of it. He said: ‘I would never do anything like this. Trust me, this is bullshit.’”
Eubank Jr shakes his head. “The kid’s a great fucking actor. He needs some type of Academy Award for the speech he gave me, but that was before we knew he’d already failed another test a few months before. He’s still trying to play the victim, but even when Eddie Hearn and his team bring ‘proof’, quote unquote, that he’s innocent, people are not going to buy it.”
Should Benn be banned from boxing? “If you’re going to talk about setting an example to kids and the next generation of fighters then yes, absolutely I would say a ban [is required]. The selfish side of the coin, which is where I’m a fighter who wants to be in huge fights and get my hands on this kid for what he’s done, doesn’t want a ban.”
So he still wants to fight Benn? “Yeah, the fight is twice as big. We would need a stadium with 60,000 instead of the O2. Does he deserve that kind of payday after being caught with illegal substances? Probably not. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up that payday.
“And, now, it’s personal. It’s not just about upholding the family legacy. I now actually don’t like this kid. He’s done wrong by me. So he’s lost all his privileges and bartering power. There are no weight clauses now. There are no rehydration limits. There are no 50% splits. Everything’s in my court now. I’m the only fight people want to see him in.”
A larger, more troubling question remains. When I interviewed Regis Prograis in November, before he became the WBC world super-lightweight champion, he suggested that anything between 60 and 70% of fighters might be doping. Is that estimate too bleak? “I pray it is,” says Eubank Jr. “But, absolutely, it concerns me.”
Eubank Jr trained for months for the Benn fight and, apart from missing a huge payday, he lost tens of thousands of pounds. “Training camps are not cheap, but it was more devastating for the other fighters on the card because I’ve made good money in my career. If I was to retire tomorrow I’d still have had a great life. These up-and-coming guys are not there yet and need these paydays. For Conor still not to have apologised is a slap in the face to his fellow fighters.”
Smith is very different to Benn – as is the buildup to Saturday. “The last fight had a huge hype-train behind it. This fight is more for the purists,” Eubank Jr says. “Liam, unfortunately, does not have the personality. He’s a good guy but nice guys finish last in boxing.”
Eubank Jr will probably still be booed on his way to the ring because Smith is well liked and he will be fighting close to his Liverpool home. “We’ll see if I’m booed this time,” Eubank Jr says. “It would be enjoyable to be cheered. I see all the messages saying: ‘I was a Benn fan but fuck that guy now. I’m Team Eubank.’ I gained more fans through not fighting Benn than if I’d beaten him up.”
Smith has lost three of his 36 bouts and he is a far more seasoned and hard-bitten fighter than the relatively inexperienced Benn. “He’s a former world champion and you have to always respect that,” Eubank Jr says. “I also don’t think he would be taking the fight if he didn’t think he could win. But if I fight at 50% of what I’m capable of doing I’ll win. That’s how superior I believe I am to him.”
Eubank Jr is acutely aware of the dangers of brain trauma. “Anytime you take a punch in sparring, and in these fights, it takes something out of you, 100%. That mixed with the stress of making weight, having to train when you’re sick or injured, takes its toll.”
Eubank Jr uses an app that sets him daily mathematical and linguistic exercises. It is one way of monitoring his brain, but does he worry about becoming more forgetful? “It’s definitely something I’ve noticed increasing. I don’t know if that’s just lack of sleep or age or is it the punches? I probably should get a test to see how I am being affected.”
Does he attempt to avoid tough sparring sessions? “I try, absolutely, because it’s the sparring that does the damage. It’s not the fights. I’ve had 34 professional fights, but I’ve had thousands of spars. That’s where the accumulation of damage to your brain comes from.
“As a youngster I was like: ‘Whatever. I’ll get hit.’ Now I’ve got to make sure I’m not taking the shots because they do add up. You get headaches after the sessions. You have to take your ibuprofen, paracetamol. Over the years I’ve had to do that a bit more.
“I’ve only lived a third of my life. I’ve got another, God willing, 60-plus years left on the planet. That life won’t be about boxing or getting hit on the head. It will be about managing my money and being in a position to make money in other avenues. For that, you need your brain. So if I ever notice serious changes I will look at exiting. Thank God I’m not anywhere near that. But all it takes is one punch or one fight or one sparring session. You saw it with my fight against Nick Blackwell. He left with a blood clot on his brain.”
After their fight in 2016, Blackwell collapsed and doctors put him into an induced coma for nine days. Blackwell recovered but, despite being warned not to pull on boxing gloves again, he returned to the gym to spar and suffered an even worse injury. “I was actually more angry than devastated,” Eubank Jr says, “but I’m not going to say: ‘How can you do that?’ I understand it as a fighter, that this is what we know, this is our passion. But he died [for a few seconds] in the ambulance after our fight and they had to revive him. If I ever went through something like that, I’m not getting back in the ring.”
Eubank Jr has changed since losing his brother, Seb, who died in July 2021 after suffering a heart attack. He had been fit and well and just 29, when he dropped down dead in Dubai. “You become more empathetic and sympathetic and you understand what dealing with death is really like,” Eubank Jr says. “Until it happens to you, you don’t understand the gravity of it. I definitely think it has opened me up. Some people would close their hearts and that’s probably natural. Just cut everybody off. But it has made me more emotional and, yeah, more human.”
He points to a painting of his brother in the gym. “Seb’s up there on the wall and watches me spar and train every day. Thank God he had his son. We lost him but he’s still with us through Raheem. Every day [Eubank Jr’s sister-in-law sends him] videos, pictures. He’s a year and a half. Seeing Raheem has made me think about having a kid myself. It would make me happy to give him a brother that would grow with him.”
Would he like to become a father in the next year? “I’m thinking about it. You’re getting the exclusive because it is the truth. I would love Raheem to have the relationship with my son that I had with Seb as we grew up.”
It’s a grim and stormy day outside and the tranquillity of these reflections is broken by the looming battle. “I’ve got under his skin,” Eubank Jr says of his dangerous opponent. “Smith’s been sliding into my DMs sending me messages. We’ve had a few back-and-forths. He’s upset because I sprinkled salt on a steak and told him I was going to roast and sauté him. I’d also be upset if a man did that to me.”
All the sober talk of damage and death, of empathy and rebirth, surrenders to the old intensity of a big fight. Eubank Jr leans forward, his eyes glittering. “The goal has been achieved. I’m in his head. I’ve rattled him and that will affect his performance. It’s going to be interesting, and competitive while it lasts, but eventually my superior skills, bigger power and strength is going to take over and I’m going to take him out. I don’t think it will last 12 rounds but it’s going to be a blockbuster.”
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith, live this Saturday on Sky Sports Box Office from 6pm
