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Famous Like Me > Actor > E > Chris Eubank

Profile of Chris Eubank on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Chris Eubank  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 8th August 1966
   
Place of Birth: Dulwich, London, England, UK
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Chris Eubank
Career Snapshot
Born August 8, 1966
Died
Total Fights 52
Won 45
Lost 5
Draws 2
Knockouts 23
Titles Won WBO Super Middleweight, WBO Middleweight

Christopher Livingstone Eubanks (August 8, 1966 - ), better known as Chris Eubank, is a former world champion boxer and a British celebrity.

Eubank was a special addition to British boxing. Apart from being a colourful boxer with a persona that the fans supposedly hated (i.e. secretly loved), he was a two-weight world champion with a record number of title defences.

Early life

Eubank was born in Dulwich in south London. He spent his early years in Jamaica from the age of two months to the age of six years before living around east London for around 10 years. After a troubled childhood which included a spell living on the streets, he re-located to New York in 1982 to finish his schooling and take up boxing. A self-proclaimed "self-styled pugilist", he won both the 1984 and 1985 New York Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournaments at Madison Square Garden, in 1984 he won the tournament in the 139 lb (63 kg) weight division and in 1985 he won the tournament in the 156 lb (71 kg) weight division. He also won the 1984 Spanish Golden Gloves. In 1986 and 1987 he competed in a total of 17 exhibition boxing bouts, all of which he won and all of which took place in either Brooklyn or Bronx. He started his professional boxing career as a Light Middleweight, his first five professional boxing matches took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey and he won them all by unanimous decision over four rounds with his arrogance there for all to see, his first four professional boxing matches were screened live on the ESPN sports channel in the USA.

Boxing career

In 1988 he returned to England and became an established household name, mostly due to his showmanship before, during, and after his boxing matches. His boxing matches were screened live on terrestrial television in the UK on the Independent Television (ITV) channel at prime time. A lot of his time in the ring was spent looking down his nose at ringsiders. He fought in front of full arenas with every seat taken, he continued to win just as seemingly everybody desperately wanted to see him lose, he was inspired by a former American wrestler called Gorgeous George who realised that the customers would pay top dollar to see the downfall of an obnoxious fighter. Eubank rubbed people up the wrong way with his philosophy on boxing, life, and just about anything to anyone who would listen. He annoyed both opponents and fans like none had before him, while his Bertie Wooster English gent routine got him British tabloid space that he craved. He claimed to hate the trade that paid his bills by branding boxing a "mugs game", and he'd refer to boxing as his craft or his art rather than referring to it as fighting.

In 1990 he moved to the south coast town of Brighton in England and made it his adopted home, he still lives there to this day and remains a local hero there. After 19 professional boxing wins (14 of which stoppages) in his home country, he fought fellow countryman and arch-rival Nigel Benn for the WBO world Middleweight championship on November 18, 1990 and triumphed in winning the title, that was the first of 19 successive world title fights in which Eubank remained undefeated. For the main part of his boxing career he was trained by Ronnie Davies and promoted by Barry Hearn. He was the originator of true boxing arena entry, his theme song was the song "Simply The Best" by Tina Turner and he was recognised for his trademark posturing and vault over the top rope before a fight.

He defeated Michael Watson on September 21, 1991 to win the vacant WBO world Super Middleweight championship, but in doing so left Watson suffering from permanent partial paralysis. Eubank very nearly walked away from boxing due to being saddened at the damage he inflicted, and the state in which Watson was left seemed to have an effect on Eubank who notably changed his style to a less risky, defence first manner. Eubank would constantly cite the nightmare of September 21, 1991 as his reason for not going head first for knockouts and why he wanted to make his money and get out of the sport with his health. He remained world Super Middleweight champion until 1995 when the skeleton in his closet was found: Steve Collins was supposed to be just another routine defence of the title for Eubank but unfortunately he had terrible flashbacks to Michael Watson who he had in a similar position and purposely backed off Collins after scoring a knockdown (he was the first man to ever score a knockdown on Collins), Collins was clearly there for the taking but Eubank remained a passenger for the rest of the fight and lost a narrow points decision, he chose to lose a boxing match rather than risk taking a man's life.

All of Eubank's world championship fights were screened worldwide. His world Super Middleweight championship defences against American boxers John Jarvis, Ron Essett, Tony Thornton and Lindell Holmes were screened live on the ESPN sports channel in the USA and are still shown on the sports channel ESPN Classic in the USA to this day. His re-match against Nigel Benn was screened live in the USA on the Showtime network. His last three professional fights were screened live in the USA on the HBO network.

In 1994 he was offered £10,000,000 from the UK sports channel Sky Sports for them to screen his boxing World Tour. Eubank wanted to fight James Toney or Roy Jones Jr. in Las Vegas to prove that he was the best fighter in the world before retiring - Eubank already had the longest unbeaten record in the world of boxing - but for one reason or another a fight against Toney or Jones failed to be negotiated.

In 1998 Eubank bravely moved up to Cruiserweight where he twice challenged Carl Thompson for the WBO title. He was winning every round against Thompson in both fights before his left eye closed in both fights, he subsequently permanently retired from boxing and the void left in British boxing when he retired once and for all is one that is still left largely unfilled. A self-admitted "narcissist", he watches his fights most days.

American boxer Roy Jones Jr. has admitted that he was inspired to jump two weight divisions from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight after seeing the ammount of respect that Eubank gained in Britain after jumping two weight divisions from Super Middleweight to Cruiserweight at the end of his career. Also, Eubank had advised Jones not to fight Antonio Tarver because he'd have to lose around 20 lb (9 kg) bodyweight in order to compete in the Light Heavyweight division again, Eubank himself had to lose around 20 lb (9 kg) bodyweight in a short space of time to fight Joe Calzaghe at the end of his career and so knew how badly it had affected his performance. Jones didn't take Eubank's advice and ended up losing to Tarver.

Eubank the celebrity

Away from boxing Eubank comes across as an eccentric character in the public eye because he talks with a lisp, acts posh and pompous, dresses expensively, drives the largest truck in Europe, often dons a bowler hat and a briefcase, sometimes wears jodhpurs and riding boots, enjoys carrying a cane and is famous for his use of a monocle.

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.

Eubank and his wife, Karron, have four children. In 2003 they invited television cameras to follow their lives for nine-months; the resulting show, At Home With The Eubank's, was broadcast on the UK television channel Channel Five. In 2001, Eubank appeared in the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother on the UK television channel Channel Four. In the 2003 Channel Four poll, 100 Worst Britons We Love To Hate, Eubank was ranked 96th.

In court

Eubank's colourful personality has led him into the courtroom on two occasions, including once in the dock. In 1989 Eubank performed a citizen's arrest of a jewellery thief. On September 1st 2005 Eubank was found guilty of taking and driving a vehicle without permission. The conviction was in relation to an incident in Brighton in which Eubank had got 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.

Autobiography

In 2004, Eubank's self-titled autobiography was published, in which he revealed his secrets and life story, written in the usual eccentricity he has become famous for, along with his boxing talent.

Related articles

  • List of notable eccentrics
  • List of Black Britons

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Chris Eubank