Bunce’s: Big Fat Short History of British Boxing by Steve Bunce

Author:Steve Bunce [Bunce, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Published: 2017-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

1993

‘I’ve been here twenty years and he’s been here twenty minutes and he’s getting all the publicity … I just told him to shut up and fuck off.’

Phil Martin on ejecting Chris Eubank from the Champs Camp gym in Moss Side

‘There is no blood on this floor. Out there Pat gets involved, his friends are evil, and that is what burns a kid out, not this, not in here.’

Brian Hughes with a brutal assessment of a boxer’s distractions

THE INCREASINGLY BIZARRE Chris Eubank started the year on a peace mission in Moss Side and finished it fighting in front of 42,000 people just a few miles away at the Theatre of Dreams. A draw in both conflicts is about right.

In Moss Side there was a lot of anger at the perceived hijacking of a sensitive issue by the fighter. At the start of January, Benji Stanley, just 14, had been blasted with a shotgun and killed at Alvino’s Pattie and Dumplin’ Shop. Eubank held a meeting on the subject in a sports hall, and it was ugly at times. ‘He’s only here to sell tickets for his fights,’ one man said to the gathered group. ‘Well, he’s here and nobody in Moss Side buys tickets to his fights,’ countered another. Eubank had earlier been evicted from the gym Phil Martin had built from the ruins of a shop that was gutted by fire and hate during the riots in 1981. ‘I’ve been here twenty years and he’s been here twenty minutes and he’s getting all the publicity,’ said Martin. ‘I was listening to him go on and I just told him to shut up and fuck off. I’d heard enough.’ Martin had three British champions at the time in Maurice Core, Frank Grant and Carl Thompson.

Eubank stayed six days on his mission before leaving to get ready for his first defence of the year and his sixth defence of the WBO super-middleweight title against Lindell Holmes at Earls Court in February. Eubank won on points. It was his fourth consecutive twelve-rounder.

Nigel Benn fought a few weeks later, in March, and was lucky to be saved by the bell at the end of the twelfth in his rematch with Mauro Galvano. Benn was caught, wobbled, and fell into the ring post as the bell sounded to end their WBC super-middleweight fight. Jimmy Tibbs was so concerned that he was up the steps. The verdict, once Benn had recovered from the genuine scare, was wide in the Londoner’s favour. ‘He caught me, I was hurt, and that’s the end of the story,’ Benn said. ‘I got cocky, nearly paid the price, and then thirty seconds later all three judges went for me. That’s why I’m the champion of the world.’ The talk intensified about a return with Eubank. The problem was money: they both wanted too much.

In May, Eubank was in Glasgow and he looked weary; his timing was bad and he needed a finish that is often forgotten. It was his twelfth consecutive WBO title fight.

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