Tearful Chris Eubank has told Michael Watson – who suffered a near-fatal brain injury when they boxed each other – he cannot find the words to say how sorry he is.
Eubank added he still struggles to comprehend the impact of the fight 30 years ago that put Watson in a coma for 40 days and left him partially disabled.
In a TV interview being aired tonight, Eubank said: “I don’t know whether I can even make sense of what happened... him having to go through what he’s gone through and to still be here.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am. It’s the only regret in my career.”
Speaking from the audience, 55-year-old Watson said: “It’s OK, bruv. Let’s move on in life. I love you, Chris. It’s all in the past.
“This could have happened to anyone. It was a sheer accident.”
Watson said he attended the Piers Morgan’s Life Stories interview as he wants “to be part of the story”. Eubank, 54, replied: “Michael, you are the story.”
Piers called it “the most powerful moment of any Life Stories show ever”.
In 1991, Watson was winning against fellow British boxer Eubank in their fight at White Hart Lane, North London, for the world super-middleweight title, but he was stopped in the final round.
Watson collapsed in the ring and went on to have six brain operations. He sued the British Boxing Board of Control, claiming the necessary medical care was not ringside.
By the time a settlement was reached in 2001, safety measures in the sport included ringside paramedics.
Watson, whose boxing career was ended by the injury, is no longer wheelchair-bound after years of rehabilitation.
Eubank, who grew up in poverty in London, also said TV drama Upstairs, Downstairs inspired his posh accent.
He added he was driven in his career to impress his brothers who hardly spoke to him growing up.
Eubank also confirmed he has married for a third time.
He said he tied the knot in the US state of Louisiana and is based there after wooing his new wife by reading her the poem The Female of the Species by Rudyard Kipling.
Asked if he cheated on his first wife, who is the mother of four of his children, he said: “I always came home to my wife. I’m not going to talk of my past regrets.”
*Piers Morgan’s Life Stories is being screened today at 9pm on ITV.
