Chris Eubank Jr reflects on last weekend’s big event and looks ahead to his own future.
Wil Esco is an assistant editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2014.
Chris Eubank Jr spends time talking to iFL TV about his thoughts on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight, why it was tough to watch, and then talks about his own future as he looks to re-stage a fight against Conor Benn in the UK. On a more personal note, Eubank Jr also talks about his relationship with his estranged father and what he thinks it will take for them to come back together.
Eubank Jr on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson event
“I thought the girls, Katie Taylor fight, I thought that was incredible. Serrano, that cut, and for her to keep going with that eye injury I thought was extremely brave. We all know that many fighters with eye injuries like to quit. Not mentioning any names but I’m sure you know who I’m talking about. There was no quit in Amanda Serrano and that fight, it was 100x what the main event was.
“It’s heartbreaking — you know, I’m not even going to say it’s heartbreaking to see Mike doing what he’s doing because at the end of the day he is a legend, he’s inspired generations of fighters, so yeah, if there’s an opportunity for him to make $10-$20M dollars who are we to look down on it.
“But at the same time, you know, it’s just horrible to see him in the ring getting hit by Jake Paul and everyone’s just watching it just praying the guy doesn’t get knocked out. It’s not what you want to see from your hero — he’s a hero to many people and he’s putting himself in that light where you’re feeling sorry for the guy. So that’s tough to watch. But he made a great payday, he didn’t get knocked out.
“I definitely think Jake Paul took it easy on him, which shouldn’t be happening in a boxing fight that people paid to see but at 58 years old if he just went in there and completely blasted him out he would be hated. I mean he’s already hated but people would’ve been disgusted by that so he kind of had to prop him up and keep him in there.”
On his promoter Ben Shalom intending to make an offer to Conor Benn this week to re-stage their fight
“That’s exactly what will happen. There will be numbers, there will be dates, there will be undercards, purses, venues. It’s all getting put in there and it’s real, it’s happening, and I’m excited.
“The goal is to have it in the UK. It’s this whole thing, this whole story is built in England. It should conclude in England, so that’s what we’re pushing for. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen. I do believe Turki is coming around to the idea, he understands the importance of it being in the UK. He understands the history and he loves the story and he wants to get behind it so I think there’s a good chance that it could be in the UK.
“Absolutely (the fight will take place at 160). No questions asked, no rehydration clauses, no catchweights, nothing that’s going to give Conor Benn any privilege. He lost all of that the day he got caught cheating.”
On his current relationship with his father
“My father is currently not apart of my life, unfortunately. I wish it was different, I wish it was something I could change, but it doesn’t seem like that’s a possibility at this exact moment in time. Who knows, maybe once the Conor Benn fight’s announced that will spur up some type of conversations, some type of feeling that he might need to reconnect with me. But as of right now I don’t hear from him, unfortunately.
“It’s very complicated. It’s a mixture of things. He was going through some mental health issues at one point, this was a couple of years back, my brother passing away, just certain things happening in his life that all kind of came together and affected him. And since that period of time it’s just been very hard to connect, communicate with him as a father. I think him not being apart of my boxing career, it didn’t go down well with him.
“For so many years, as you know, he was always right next to me, or he was in front of me. That was just his thing. So you take that away, which I did, which I had to do, and I guess he couldn’t accept it, couldn’t handle it, or he didn’t want to accept it so that affected our relationship on a personal level, on a father and son level, which it shouldn’t because this is business, it’s a career. It shouldn’t affect the father and son relationship. But he can’t separate the two.
“So I feel like it’s going to take me retiring and actually walking away from the sport for him then to actually be able to mentally connect with me again. I hope that’s not the case ‘cause I’m planning to be around for a fair amount of time more but that’s how it’s looking at this moment in time.
“That’s my dad. The door is always open to be my father. The door is not open on the business aspect, that door is closed. I am my own man when it comes to my career now. Business, finance, boxing, living my life the way I want to live it, that will never be controlled by anyone. He was controlling that for a long time. He was controlling my boxing and he was controlling who I was really, publicly anyway.
“Once the Conor Benn fight is made I’ll send another text and I’ll tell him ‘I want you by my side. I want you by my side, dad. This is history, it’s going to be the biggest fight in the UK, possibly ever. We should be in it together.’ So we’ll see what happens.”
