Chris Eubank
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| Chris Eubank | ||
|---|---|---|
| Career Snapshot | ||
| Born | August 8, 1966 | |
| Total Fights | 52 | |
| Won | 45 | |
| Lost | 5 | |
| Draws | 2 | |
| Knockouts | 23 | |
| Titles Won | WBO Middleweight, WBO Super Middleweight | |
Eubank the boxer
Born in Dulwich, Christopher Livingstone Eubanks (he later deleted the 's' from his surname, after signing for Barry Hearn in April 1989) spent his early years in Jamaica from the age of two months to six years before returning to the UK to live in Peckham. Eubank grew up in poverty and his mother left for New York when he was eight years old because his father didn't treat her right. After being suspended multiple times and expelled from multiple schools, care homes and boarding schools (Chris insists that he was mostly just gallantly trying to protect other children from bullies), Eubank ended up as a homeless thief in his early teens, addicted to alcohol and marijuana and member of a notorious shoplifting gang. That continued until the age of 16, when his father flew him to New York to live with his mother in the South Bronx.Eubank was instantly seen as an oddball on those mean streets of the South Bronx because he had the peculiar persona of speaking like an English gentleman, walking with his chest held high, often strutting his stuff and always dressed immaculately with his designer clothers from England.
Eubank made a fresh start in the South Bronx, quitting alcohol and marijuana, attending church, studying at Morris High School (he graduated in the summer of 1986) and to take up his spare time he trained at the Jerome Boxing Club on Westchester Avenue (his older brothers, Peter and Simon, who were twins, were both boxers back in Peckham). Eubank became obsessed with trying to improve his skills at the boxing gym and trained seven days a week, becoming an amateur boxer and winning the 1984 New York Spanish Golden Gloves. He then reached the semi-finals of the 1985 New York Daily News Golden Gloves at Madison Square Garden, and that's where his reputation for controversy began as he hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons after biting a lump out of his opponents shoulder!
But boxing helped give Eubank discipline and direction during his tough teenage years.
Eubank turned professional after running up a $250 telephone bill that his mother couldn't afford. It was clear that this was no normal boxer, an English kid fighting out of the Bronx who quoted Shakespeare and spoke as though he was from the silver spoon society. His debut was at the Atlantis Hotel against Timmy Brown, shortly after his 19th birthday. He won over four rounds on points, and four more four-rounders followed (all in Atlantic City) with four more points wins. He finally returned to the UK in January 1988, making Brighton his adopted home, where his brothers Peter and Simon had settled. He became obsessed with wanting to become a world champion. In October 1988, when he was 10 and 0 as a professional boxer, Eubank first started calling out Nigel Benn, and they would become arch-rivals. Eubank saw Benn as a bully, and remembered protecting others from bullies when he was a kid.
His vault over the top rope (he first vaulted over the top rope on his professional debut, and every fight after) and trademark posturing became the stuff of legend, and he had a reputation for controversy. He kept his unbeaten record for a very long time, and was the man everybody loved to hate due to his arrogance. He won the world title in 1990 against Nigel Benn in a legendary fight, then in 1991 was involved in one of the greatest fights of all-time on a tragic night at White Hart Lane where he sent the ill-fated Michael Watson into a coma and contemplated quitting the sport.
Eubank revelled in his role as the game's great showman, with 20 world title fights in a row before finally losing. His comeback fights against Carl Thompson at a much heavier weight finally warmed him to fight fans due to the courage and bravery that had long gone missing since the first Benn and second Watson fights.
Eubank the celebrity
Away from boxing, Eubank comes across as an eccentric. He talks with a lisp, dresses impeccably (in jodhpurs, bowler hat and riding boots, and famously sporting a monocle), drives unusual vehicles (including a customised Harley Davidson, a Hummer and a United States-style truck cab) and carries a cane.In 1991 and 1993 he won the Britain's Best Dressed Man award, given by the Menswear Association of Great Britain. In 1998 and 2001 he won the Gold Tie Pin Award. In 1993 and 1995 he won the Daily Express Best Dressed Sportsman award.
In 1996, he was the guest presenter on Top of the Pops the week Suggs from Madness was at number six with a song called Cecilia.
Eubank and his wife, Karron, have four children. In 2003 they invited television cameras to follow their lives for nine months; the resulting show, At Home With The Eubanks, was broadcast on the UK television channel Channel Five. In 2001, Eubank appeared in the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother on the UK television channel Channel Four. In the 2003 Channel Four poll, 100 Worst Britons We Love To Hate, Eubank was ranked 96th.
Karron petitioned for divorce from Eubank in August 2005.
In a [poll] published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Eubank was voted the second most eccentric star, being beaten by Björk.
He is the Lord of the Manor of Brighton, although this is a purchased Title, rather than a Royal appointment. He has used the ancient right of this position to appoint a Town crier.
In court
Eubank's colourful personality has led him into the courtroom on two occasions. In 1989 Eubank performed a citizen's arrest of a jewellery thief. On September 1st 2005 Eubank was found guilty of taking and driving a vehicle without permission. This related to an incident in Brighton in which Eubank had climbed into a lorry making a delivery of beer and moved it from its position blocking the road. Eubank was trying to take his children to school at the time. He received a £450 fine and received six endorsement points on his driving licence. He was cleared of the stiffer charge of aggravated vehicle-taking.Bankruptcy
In November 2005, Eubank was declared bankrupt, owing £1.3 million in taxes. [link]He was also involved in a car crash in which a man died. He was driving his Range Rover with 2 other passengers when the car did not respond accordingly, Eubank was going at around 50 mph (from his autobiography) He was cleared of any wrong doing. After the incident (which took place after the Watson fight) Chris Eubank had a man walk up to him and spit in his face shouting at him calling him a "murderer" whilst he was sitting in his car at some traffic lights.
Autobiography
In 2004, Eubank's self-titled autobiography was published.Conversion to Islam
In 1997, Eubank converted to Islam [link]
"When I realized I had sense,I was on my mothers knee in church, so I was brought up with God being the cornerstone of my life. and my understanding of islam is that if you are a good Christian then you are a muslim. this view some would not agree with, however this is my my view. So long as you believe in doing good and not promoting badness then you are gods man or woman". - Chris Eubank, June 21, 2006.
See also
- List of notable eccentrics
- List of Black Britons
- List of converts to Islam
References
- The Times, page 22, 2nd September 2005.
External links
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