Tales from the Top Table: How Boxing's Superstars Took Over a Town by Craig Birch

Author:Craig Birch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2019-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE – CHRIS EUBANK

THERE might not be another person on this planet, never mind in boxing, who is quite like Chris Eubank.

Eccentric, stubborn, strong-willed, unique, fascinating and supremely confident, with an air of madness thrown in, all apply when describing the well-known parts of Eubank’s psyche.

A wannabe aristocrat, an attention seeker and a deluded man on the biggest ego trip of all are some of the less flattering terms you could use. Maybe only he knows the true answers.

The world has been known to shy away from people they don’t understand and hate is always a strong word to use about someone you’ve never met.

Those in attendance at a sold-out Bar Sport can at least make their own minds up after an evening in Eubank’s company. Some are still none the wiser, such is his flamboyant nature. There remains a furore all around him whenever he’s out and about, and this night was no exception. He commands respect and feels it’s no less than he deserves.

The man who was once quoted as saying ‘boxing is a mug’s game’ was derided as the biggest mug of all by those who felt he was spitting in the face of the sport.

His arrogant mannerisms and outlandish comments only raised the ire further, but there has never been an equal in terms of personality. Maybe he’s just misunderstood.

There’s certainly only one Christopher Livingstone Eubanks, who took the ‘s’ out of his surname that was shared by boxing twin brothers Simon and Peter.

The siblings spent most of their childhoods beating each other up, with Chris never far away from trouble. He was born on 8 August 1966 in south London, but didn’t stay there long.

He lived in Jamaica from two months to six years old before returning to England, living in the country’s capital. His mother, Rachel, left when he was eight to move to New York.

Chris endured a troubled education, particularly at secondary level, where he was suspended 18 times in one year and then expelled from Thomas Calton School in Peckham.

He spent some time sleeping rough and at Orchard Lodge Regional Resource Centre, London’s last secure children’s home. His father, English, whose name he later inherited, reached the end of his tether. The teenage tearaway was sent to stay with his mother, who had relocated to the south Bronx area of the Big Apple. It was as impoverished as Chris had ever experienced.

His life was to change forever when he walked into Jerome Boxing Club, where he would have to clean the gym for membership as he couldn’t afford the fees.

By the summer of 1983, he was ready to start his amateur career and went on to box for Jerome 26 times, losing seven.

Flashes of the traits he would later show were starting to become apparent, but all Eubank wanted to do was prove that he was simply the best.

He said, ‘I always apply good manners. When you are well-mannered and can fight on top of that, it actually wins you an audience.

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