Chris Eubank Jr, for all his flaws and strengths, could not disguise or ignore the genetic baggage that probably cost him victory in the biggest fight of his young career. He insists he is his own man; to prove it in the wake of his split points loss to Billy Joe Saunders, he has to do something very few people have dared even attempt: shut his father up.
It was not the defeat that should concern him because he rose to the occasion (albeit too late) in front of 20,000 worked-up fans, not many of them on his side, but the hectoring and eccentric voice from his corner that weighed him down to the point where his legs and fists were not going where he might have wanted, but where his father dictated. It was as if he were one of those radio-controlled toys crashing, then relaunching in wild, ill-considered paths.
Eubank Sr was a fine world champion but if ever a father lost a fight for his son it was on Saturday night when Junior performed at first robotically in giving up the first half of the contest, then desperately, as the paternal concern flowing in claps and whistles from behind his official trainer, Ronnie Davies, floated through the air like instructions from a circus ringmaster.
Physically, father and son are eerily similar. Junior also poses and feints, glides theatrically, ducks low then launches extravagant “finishers” that miss their target by a foot and more, before resetting and repeating the pantomime. Boxers get no points for intent and bearing – or, at least, they should not. It is obvious also that Junior has inherited the mannered pomposity that characterised one of British boxing’s most enigmatic performers in the 90s.
Eubank said beforehand he did not need a trainer, that it was all down to him, that he listened to no instructions, that Davies was there to “apply the Vaseline”. On Saturday at one point, the fighter told him to shut up; some trainers – Teddy Atlas springs to mind – would have left the corner at that point and walked out.
Saunders’ promoter, Frank Warren, correctly observed: “He’s got a good trainer, but they need some good strategy. He needs his trainer in the corner looking at him, like Jim [Saunders’ trainer Jimmy Tibbs] does. That’s what I’d insist on.”
At which point Saunders interrupted to remind everyone of his opponent’s over-arching self-confidence: “He don’t need no trainer, Frank. But he’s been beaten, hasn’t he? So, he’s obviously doing something wrong. To be honest, a good technical boxer would fight him all day long. At world level there are lot of good technical boxers. He struggled from one to six, just with my jab.”
It would add balance to bring you the thoughts of the loser, his father or even his trainer, but Eubank Jr declined the opportunity, so it was left to the winning camp to elaborate - and it was hard to argue with the synopsis of Tibbs: “That other kid, he’s a nice boy, he done well, but he’s got a lot to learn. Against a big, big puncher, he’ll be in trouble.”
What Eubank needs, urgently, even though he is only 25 and had only 19 professional fights, is some reverse engineering, to tear down the engine and rebuild it, inspecting every nut and bolt. If arrogance turns to self-awareness, he will come again and in all likelihood put himself in line to challenge for a world title, maybe even one owned by Saunders.
As the champion said: “Deep down I respect him as a fighter: to get in that ring, I don’t care who you are, you’ve got to have bottle. I put the pressure on myself. People say: ‘Why did you say you’d retire if you lost?’ – and the reason is if he did beat me I would not be world champion. Yeah, he’s good – but fighters like him shouldn’t be beating me.
“But I beat him, didn’t I? He said he was prepared to die in the ring if I took his ‘0’. I just took it. But, please God, I will be world champion and I wouldn’t say no to a rematch, that’s a definite. He was fair. He said: ‘Listen, the better man won.’ Even he said it was a fair decision. He’s at the back of the queue now. He’s forgotten about – same as after I beat Nick Blackwell, John Ryder.”
Those are good domestic middleweights Eubank must face to get back in the mix, and he will be offered the chance to fight on Warren’s next major bill, at the O2Arena in February. Will he accept? He will probably have to ask his father.
