Chris Eubank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Christopher Livingstone Eubanks | |
 |
|
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Chris Eubank |
| Nickname(s) | Simply the Best |
| Rated at | Super Middleweight |
| Nationality |  British[citation needed] |
| Birth date | August 8, 1966 |
| Birth place | Dulwich, London, England |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 52 |
| Wins | 45 |
| Wins by KO | 23 |
| Losses | 5 |
| Draws | 2 |
| No contests | 0 |
Chris Eubank (born Christopher Livingstone Eubanks on August 8, 1966) is a boxer and English celebrity who held the WBO Middleweight and Super Middleweight titles. He was undefeated as a middleweight.
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[edit] Early life
Christopher Livingstone Eubanks (later opting to delete the 's' from his surname) was born on 8th August, 1966, in Dulwich, London and spent his early days in Jamaica (from two months old to six years old). On his return, he lived in Stoke Newington, Dalston, Hackney and then Peckham. He grew up in poverty.
Chris attended Bellingden Junior School, and then Thomas Carlton Secondary School from where he was suspended eighteen times in one year and then expelled, despite gallantly trying to protect other children from bullies. He then attended Peckham Manor School, from where he was suspended five times in four weeks and then also expelled for the same reason. Chris was then put into care.
He was then placed in various institutions by the Social Services: The Hollies in Sidcup, Kent, for one month; Yastrid Hall in North Wales for one and a half years; Stanford House in Shepherds Bush for seven weeks for assessment; St. Vincent's in Dartford, Kent, for one month; Orchard Lodge, Crystal Palace, for seven weeks for assessment; Karib in Peckham, London, for one month; and then, finally, Davy's Street School (care facility) in Peckham for one month.
His mother had left for New York when he was eight years old. At the age of 16, his father sent him to New York to live with his mother in the South Bronx.
[edit] Eubank the boxer
Eubank made a fresh start in the South Bronx, quitting alcohol and marijuana, attending church and studying at Morris High School (he graduated in the summer of 1986). In 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, which is where his reputation for controversy began as he hit the headlines for the wrong reasons after biting his opponent's shoulder.
He writes in his autobiography that his drive to succeed in boxing came through his drive to become an accepted individual.
He made his debut at the Atlantis Hotel against Timmy Brown, shortly after his 19th birthday. It was an eye-catching display, the young man vaulting the top rope and showing agility, skill and power. 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 (where his brothers Peter and Simon had settled) his adopted home. He became obsessed with becoming 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.
In 1990 he beat highly rated Brazilian Reginaldo Dos Santos in 20 seconds to win an inter-continental title and a world title shot, then won the WBO world middleweight title against Nigel Benn in a classic encounter that was later released on DVD. Eubank would defend the title successfully against Dan Sherry, Gary Stretch and finally in an excellent match with Michael Watson. This concluded Eubank's career as a middleweight, with a 28-0 record.
In 1991 he was involved in what experts regard as the greatest fight in a British ring[citation needed] where he sent the ill-fated Michael Watson into a coma. Eubank was behind on all scorecards when he rose from the canvas at the end of the 11th round to unleash a devastating uppercut to Watson's jaw. The blow was exacerbated when a left hook quickened the stunned Watson's fall into the ropes. The bout was somehow allowed to continue briefly into the 12th, but Watson collapsed afterwards and almost died. Eubank contemplated quitting the sport.
The Eubank v Watson rematch is considered one of the greatest of all time, and commentator Reg Gutteridge claimed he had; "never seen a more dramatic end to a world title fight".
The Watson rematch won Eubank a second title, the WBO world super-middleweight championship. His middleweight title relinquished, Eubank began defending his new crown at the higher weight of 12st to which he was more suited.
After injuring Watson permanently, Eubank never again showed his desire to win by knockout, becoming a phenomenal 'out-fighter', winning many fights on points and retaining his WBO world super-middleweight title.
Nigel Benn moved up to super middleweight and became WBC champion. The pair agreed to meet in a WBC/WBO unification rematch. In 1993 the rivals would engage in another contest named 'Judgement Day', and watched by billions, fought thrillingly to a draw.
Don King negotiated the contracts so that he would own both the winner and the loser of Eubank v Benn 2. Barry Hearn claimed that as a draw was not written into the contract, Eubank was free to sign a new deal with him. He did.
Eubank, despite losing his killer instinct after the Watson tragedy, still continued to box and claim scalps. He beat former IBF world super-middle and future WBC world light-heavyweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani, in an infamous bout staged in Berlin. Eubank memorably infuriated the partisan crowd by strutting and posing between rounds. Former IBF world super-middleweight king Lindell Holmes was easily beaten, as was two-time WBC world super-middleweight champion "Sugarboy" Malinga, European champion Ray Close and American champion Ron Esset.
After the Benn rematch and the Rocchigiani victory, Eubank signed an eight fight £10million deal with Sky Sports, and fought in Ireland, South Africa, Manchester, London and Millstreet. Fights in Paris, Rome and the Middle East to conclude the program were scuppered when Eubank lost his title via a split decision in March 1995. In his 44th fight, having accepted at short notice to fight Steve Collins, his unbeaten record and title were lost. Collins was a stand-in for Ray Close, who had failed an MRI scan. Eubank had Collins reeling but seemmed bereft of his old killer instinct. In the rematch, Eubank had Collins bleeding and disorientated but would not 'bludgeon' his opponent to a knockout, after the Watson tragedy. Chris, with not a mark on his face, lost on points. He retired at 45-2.
Chris Eubank returned to boxing a year later, organising a two fight program to box where he would have defended his title in the sky deal, beating Luis Barrera in Cairo, Egypt, and Camilo Alarcon in Dubai. He then signed a deal with Frank Warren to fight again on Sky.
Eubank again accepted a title fight at short notice again when Collins retired before facing Joe Calzaghe. Chris had returned to training for a challenge for the WBC intercontinental light-heavyweight title, with a view to a world title shot at that weight. Yet with his old title vacated, he accepted the offer to try to regain his old title, facing a young and fit Joe Calzaghe. After an exhausting two week weight draining regimen Eubank fought bravely in losing a 12 round decision. Calzaghe, who has held the WBO title for ten years since that fight, claims Eubank gave him the hardest fight of his career. This proved to be the last fight of his super-middleweight career, with his record standing at 45 wins and 3losses.
His two 1998 comeback fights against Carl Thompson at cruiserweight saw the once retired Eubank lose to an older but fresher champion of a much heavier weight than Eubank had fought at for a decade. Eubank lost narrowly on points in the first fight despite flooring Thompson in the fourth round, and in the second was narrowly ahead on the scorecards when the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor at the end of the tenth, though Eubank protested bitterly.
The losses late in his career saw the British public respond warmly to him, as he proved his bravery which had not been tested since the wars with Benn and Watson. Eubank retired as a long unbeaten fighter, and two weight world champion for six years.
[edit] Eubank the celebrity
Away from boxing, Eubank comes across as an eccentric. He speaks with a lisp and in upper-class tones, dresses as a stereotypically upper-class Englishman (in jodhpurs, bowler hat and riding boots, and famously sports a monocle), drives unusual vehicles (including a customised Harley Davidson and a huge American Peterbilt 379 truck cab which is the largest truck in Europe) and carries a cane. At one time he owned the only Hummer in the British Isles.
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. Also in 1993 he was awarded 'Best Capped Head' as well as 'Best Kept Hair'.
In 1991 Chris was the first celebrity to go on TV to talk about the 'Breast Cancer' charity, 'Breakthrough' when he launched the charity on GMTV.
In the early 1990s, Eubank was caricatured as a puppet on Spitting Image, at the time seen as something of a badge of honour among celebrities.
In 1994 he took over a prime site in the Brighton area, which he called 'Buckingham Place'. He knocked down the building keeping the grade II façade intact and building 69 flats for the homeless, using £1,250,000 of his own money. The building was leased to the charity Sanctuary Housing Association with the lowest rents in the country. The Prince of Wales' architect Dominic Richards was impressed with the project and they have discussed carrying out a similar one in London.
He featured on the front cover of Esquire magazine for the April 1992 edition, and did a photoshoot for Esquire magazine for the May 1992 edition. According to Rosie Boycott, sales of Esquire magazine went up by 76% when Eubank was on the front cover.
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; this was a move apparently made to capitalise on his minor speech impediment for humorous effect. The video of a boxer with a lisp saying 'Suggs is at six with Cecilia' was shown on programmes such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks for a long time afterwards.
Eubank and his wife, Karron (married on 23rd December, 1990 in Brighton), have four children (Christopher, born on 18th September, 1989, Sebastian, born on 18th July, 1991, Emily, born on 19th April, 1994, and Joseph, born on 23rd October, 1996) and have over the years starred in various television programmes. In 2001, Eubank was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary entitled "When Louis met Chris Eubank", in which Theroux and his camera crew accompany Eubank for a period of time. In 2003, they invited television cameras to follow their lives for nine months; the resulting show, At Home With The Eubanks, was broadcast on Five. In 2001, Eubank appeared in the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4, where he was the first celebrity to be 'evicted'.
Eubank also had his own radio show on Talk Radio called Eubanks People, where he invited sports celebrities including Linford Christie, John Fashanu, Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed into the studio as guests.
He has featured in television advertisements (commercials) for Nescafe, the Royal Mail, McDonald's, and Jaffa Cakes and has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and Versace.
In 1999, he launched the Sega Dreamcast and in the same year, he appeared in his truck in the music video for the song Turn Around by Phats & Small. Also in 1999, Eubank was one of a small number of celebrities invited to the launch party of the Gumball 3000, as a friend of the founder Maximillion Cooper.
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 (after Björk).[1] In the same year he was voted third in a Readers Digest poll of Britain’s Silliest Celebrities.
He has purchased the title of the Lord of the Manor of Brighton. He has used the ancient right of this position to appoint a town crier, Margaret Pracey, who operates in addition to a paid town crier employed by the local authority.
His hobbies include speaking, teaching, philosophy, reading quotations, fashion, dancing, poetry, and fighting (mentally and physically) legally.
Eubank claimed in 2007 that his total income in the previous 17 years was £35,000,000 gross, including all sponsorships and endorsements.
[edit] In court
Eubank's court appearances have been based on his political views, and subsequent protests. In 1989 Eubank performed a citizen's arrest of a jewellery thief. On September 1, 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.
He has more commonly had brushes with the police for unlicensed demonstrations within the SOCPA exclusion zone around parliament, making statements on government policy, particularly in respect of the Iraq occupation. (See Anti-War section below).
Eubank's other court appearances have been for "causing death by dangerous driving" on England's A23, of which he was found guilty and fined and also for holding a public firework display on Brighton beach, in which 2 members of the public were injured.[citation needed]
[edit] Bankruptcy
In November 2005, Eubank was declared bankrupt, owing £1.3 million in taxes. [1]
[edit] Anti-war activism
On Tuesday, 14th October 2003 Eubank was intercepted by police whilst driving around Parliament Square, Westminster, in his truck, which displayed the message "TONY BLAIR! MILITARY OCCUPATION CAUSES TERRORISM". He completed a number of circuits before he was arrested and led handcuffed into a police van. [2]
At approximately 15:40 GMT on February 22, 2007, Eubank was arrested outside Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall for a suspected breach of the peace after driving his truck through central London, emblazoned with a message condemning Tony Blair for sending Prince Harry to Iraq.[3]. The banner read "BLAIR - Don't send our young prince to your catastrophic illegal war, to make it look plausible!".
On May 23, 2007 he was charged with making an unlawful anti-war protest after parking his seven-tonne truck outside Downing Street. On November 16 he failed to turn up at court over this, an arrest warrant was issued, and he was fined[4].
[edit] Conversion to Islam
In 1997, Eubank converted to Islam [2]
"When I realised I had sense, I was on my mother's 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 view. So long as you believe in doing good and not promoting badness then you are God's man or woman". - Chris Eubank, June 21, 2006.
[edit] See also
- 100 Great Black Britons
- 100 Worst Britons
- List of Black Britons
- List of converts to Islam
- Islam in the African diaspora
- Chris Eubank Jr.
[edit] References
- The Times, page 22, 2nd September 2005.
- ^ poll
- ^ Indymedia article
- ^ "Eubank arrested in Whitehall demo", BBC News Online, BBC, 2007-02-22. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ Arrest warrant issued for Eubank
