Self-proclaimed Chris ‘thimply the bethst’ Eubank is hoping that his 19 year-old son Chris Eubank Jnr. is about to follow in his footsteps and embark on an illustrious boxing career. Earlier this month at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Eubank Jnr. fought in his first British boxing amateur fight and won convincingly on points. He may be more introverted and less brash than his father but those closest to him believe he has more than enough talent to realistically have ambitions of Olympic 2012 glory.
“He has bags and bags of potential which we can bring out in his next fights”
In June of this year Sussex-based Eubank Jnr. returned home after two years in Las Vegas where he was trained by former middleweight world champion Mike McCullum. Speaking about his protégé, McCullum said “in a few years England is going to have another world champ named Eubank. I go in the ring with him and he’s skilful.” Clearly McCullum has a lot of faith in him and under his tutorship Eubank Jnr. was successful at the prestigious Golden Gloves amateur competition in Michigan at super-middleweight level, which his father also won in 1984.
Today, Eubank Jnr. is back in Sussex and a member of the proud Hove Amateur Boxing club. On the 4th of October Eubank Jnr. beat Luke Batstowe from Moulsecoomb in an unanimous points victory in a performance that reminded many people of his father; not only by the manner in which he leapt over the top rope in his entrance but also by his shadow boxing.
For the purpose of this report I attempted to get an interview with the young Eubank, unfortunately I was rebuffed. Unlike his dad, Eubank Jnr. does not crave the limelight. In fact Eubank himself has gone on record to say his son has “been advised not to speak to the Press until he’s halfway through his pro career”. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise, after all the antics his father got up to he will want to build up a reputation based on his boxing ability that is not overshadowed by tomfoolery.
I was however able to speak with his new trainer Scott Welch, the former British heavyweight champion. Apart from telling me it was “all a bit silly” that I was not allowed to speak with Eubank Jnr., his verdict on the fight earlier this month was that “Chris is far from the finished article but that shows where he is currently at in his development. He has bags and bags of potential which we can bring out in his next fights.” These are indeed early days in his career and the old boxing idiom ‘to take each fight as it comes’ is perhaps most applicable here. However if he has inherited the talent of his father – and has got as good a mentality as people make out – then Sussex may start to hear alot more about the son of one its most famous residents.
