Chris Eubank: The Autobiography. Chris Eubank

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СКАЧАТЬ evolution at work here: my father was a complete loser when I was 15. At 17, he was just trying to hold me down, he didn’t understand anything I did. Yet at 21, he was all right. He still wasn’t for me, I couldn’t keep his company that much, but he was okay. Then you get to 30 years old and the only person you want next to you is your old man. Well, let me say this – he hadn’t changed. It was never that he didn’t understand me. It was me who misunderstood him. One shouldn’t make that mistake.

      With me in this experience of bringing up the children is Karron, and I am immensely fortunate to have such a wife. Karron is a good woman. She is an exceptional mother who doesn’t really allow anyone else to look after the children other than her sister. She sometimes burns herself out, though, as four children are a handful. My philosophy is this: my job as a fighter was by far, without any doubt, the hardest business or way of life in the world, bar none. The pressure, the solitude, the physical demands, the media attention, it was so demanding. My estimation is that to mother children is 15 times harder.

      We had little money, I was trying to get on the straight and narrow, plus I was constantly training. Karron used to work in the jewellery store for two fellows called Kevin Douglas and Burt Wilkins. They were into boxing and knew all the old boys of the business, like Mickey Duff and Jarvis Astaire. Kevin and Burt were very kind to me, they literally used to feed me and take me around to show me a good time. Even then, I was aware of what was correct. For example, one day I was in a car with Kevin and Burt, when this man took a parking space that we had been waiting for. Kevin was known as a hard man, a very streetwise Cockney, who was into his antiques business. He didn’t want to confront this man because of his size, ‘He can’t do that, it is a matter of correctness.’ So I got out and said to the man, ‘Move the car!’ He said, ‘I will only be a minute,’ but I firmly said, ‘Move the car now, not in a minute!’ He moved the car.

      Karron and I knew we couldn’t stay in that one room at her mother’s forever, so we managed to get a mortgage and bought a small three-bedroom maisonette in Hartington Road for £64,000. During this time, I met someone who would become one of my closest friends, a man by the name of John Regan. Ronnie was working for him at the time and kept reporting back about my developing career. John started coming to fights and gradually we became very good friends. He has been with me through some of my finest and darkest moments. John is a man of integrity whom I would trust with my children, my mother and my wife. I would trust no one with my own life. I wouldn’t put myself in that position.

      Money was still short, so I went looking for a new promoter. I would travel up to London on the train, dodging the fare each time, and visit many promoters to discuss working together. My father had warned me about promoters and managers, saying, ‘Don’t watch the ones who take hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Watch the ones who take hundreds of thousands.’ So I was wary of who I wanted to work with.

      I had sourced the names of all the big promoters. One such man was Frank Warren, who had me come up to London every day for two weeks and kept me waiting every time. One time in his office, I had waited for ages then went out to get myself an orange juice. When I came back, the secretary said that Warren had left. This was the type of treatment one had to put up with from some promoters, Warren being one. It was only a matter of one-upmanship though – which failed.

CHAPTER SEVEN

       HATE ME, BUT DON’T DISRESPECT ME

      As a professional boxer, it is vital that you keep your skills confined to within the ring. Used on a normal man in the street, they could be very dangerous, potentially fatal, even with smaller fighters. This is the reason why I haven’t had a fight outside of the ring all of my career. There is only one instance where I used my fists away from the business, not in a fight, but as a necessary action in a very specific situation.

      I was walking along Meeting House Lane in Brighton one afternoon. The streets known as ‘The Lanes’ are very narrow indeed, perhaps only five feet wide at some points. I was strolling along when I heard a commotion up ahead. I looked up to see a man running down the lane, carrying in his hands a tray of gold rings that he had just stolen from a jeweller’s window he’d smashed. He was shouting, ‘Get out of the way! Out of the way!’ and running very fast towards me. This was a power play, I had seen this all the time on the streets. I was walking in my usual precise fashion, but stepped to one side so this guy could pass by when he came level with me.

      When this man was about 30 yards in front of me, I could see he was quite large, about 6’ 2” and roughly 1901b. I was ready to stay out of his way. However, just in front of me there was an old lady. She was in her mid-50s, only small, maybe 5’, immaculately dressed with grey pleated trousers and a grey top. She wore circular horn-rimmed glasses, and her hair was 75% grey, 25% black, cut into a smart bob. To me she looked exactly like Miss Marple. She couldn’t have noticed this big man coming behind her but as he approached her, he shouted, ‘Get out of the way!’ and then BANG! he barged into her, knocking her heavily into the nearby wall. If the Lanes weren’t so narrow, she would have been thrown across the ground.

      Now I had a problem: take but do not hurt. He was now level with me so without hesitation I moved into him with a three-punch combination: left uppercut to the ribs, BOOM! Left hook to the chin, boom! Right uppercut to the head, BOOM! He folded. I held him on the floor with my knee while the police were called. I wasn’t famous at this time, I was still a promising local boxer. As he struggled underneath me, he turned his face to mine and snarled, ‘Do you know who I am? I’m going to kill you!’ I said, ‘Well, I’m Christopher Livingstone Eubank,’ and, crack!, I kicked him. There was a man watching who objected and said, ‘There’s no need for that,’ and, to be fair, there wasn’t, but that was just my boisterous nature at that time. The police took him away and I was later given a 999 Award for my actions.

      Had he not hurt that old lady I would have gladly let him pass by. Once he hit her, however, I had absolutely no regard for his well-being. I never considered that I might hurt this guy. I knew how to punch correctly so my hands were undamaged, but then I never thought about hurting my hands even in the ring, I’ve always had faith. He was hit with three very hard punches, all thrown correctly, with complete resolve. If I had hesitated I might have got into a fight with the guy. As it was, I just thought, you’re going to sleep for a little while. And he did.

      In August 2002 I performed a citizen’s arrest outside the Hilton hotel in London. This man had introduced himself to me as a prince and a businessman and I in turn had introduced him to a friend of mine, Rory McCarthy, who was keen to invest some money with him. After the money (the significant amount of £500,000) had been exchanged Rashid could not be found anywhere. My friend lost many assets and money because of this man and I felt partly responsible, as it was me who introduced them.

      One Thursday night I was at dinner with Rory, who I had not seen in some time, but had to return to the Trader Vic’s restaurant, when I bumped into this man, who was coming out. I was shocked as I had been searching for him for over a year. I said, ‘Hello,’ not wanting to scare him, ‘Don’t move, I’ve been looking for you for a year. If you move I will have to restrain you.’ Despite my request he tried to get away, but I threw him to the ground and pinned him there. I called to some passers-by to call the police and when they arrived I handed him over to them. It was quite an ordeal and I suffered some minor injuries as he punched, kicked and attacked me with keys while attempting to escape.

      With my 10-0 record, I had begun to attract attention from boxing insiders. I was well aware that the fights I wanted would not just present themselves to me. So I had let it be known that my eye was on a fight with then Commonwealth Champion, Nigel Benn. Benn was a vicious fighter of huge power, who at that point was undefeated in 20 СКАЧАТЬ