Chris Eubank Sr. reveals which former opponent he feared the most and how he was able to overcome that anxiety to secure the WBO Middleweight title.
If you’re on TikTok and aren’t yet following ‘callchriseubank’, here’s why you should add the former world champion to your social media feed.
‘Simply the Best’ uses the account to answer various questions from fans; questions that range from ‘What’s your favorite candy?’ all the way to ‘Who scared you the most?’ – and it’s that second query that’s got our attention.
Chris Eubank names the most intimidating opponent from his career
Speaking via his TikTok channel, Chris Eubank was asked which former opponent scared him the most before entering the ring – and there’s no surprise that he named ‘The Dark Destroyer’ as his number one most intimidating foe.
“Nigel Benn is a terrifying man. Do you remember the bully at school who, if he was in that part of the playground, you made sure you stayed in this part of the playground?
“Air would be friction to him, you know, you didn’t want anything to do with him – that’s who Nigel was to me, [and] I had to come to terms with taming this man.”
Eubank noted that “Intellectually, this is a very, very, very difficult thing to do,” i.e., remain true to himself while still holding firm in the face of a boatload of animosity from Benn.
“I sat down in a studio signing the contract to have this fight and this is where he said he hated me. Now, at one point, the host says ‘Chris, he won’t look at him, why won’t you look at him?’
“And I said, ‘Well, I have nothing to say to him, I find the man intolerable because he’s so wild [and] I have no time for such people’.
“When I look back, the truth and the reason why I didn’t look at him, he would have hit me – Nigel would have hit me in that studio, and we would’ve been rolling about on the ground.”
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Nigel Benn ‘won 80% of his fights’ before even entering the ring
“So where did that discernment come from, Where did that judgment come from,” pondered the legendary former world champion in regards to Nigel Benn’s pre-fight demeanor.
“You can’t look and talk to Nigel; he doesn’t work that way… In fact, he said that ‘It didn’t matter what he did, all he had to do was say something and that was it, I was going to jump on him’ – I was well aware of this.
“Listen, Nigel won probably 80% of his fights long before he got into the ring. The fight doesn’t start when the referee says box, the fight starts two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, two months before… If you wait until the referee says box, you’ve lost the fight.”
Eubank famously defeated Nigel Benn via a ninth-round TKO win in November 1990 and retained his title with a split draw three years later in their iconic 1993 rematch.
“It is a psychological battle, it always is a psychological battle,” noted ‘Simply the Best’, before reiterating that he “wasn’t going to let him get anything on me.
“I was always going to stand my ground. And intellectually, somehow, I was always able to do it. Somehow, the spirit.”
Decades after locking horns in the ring, their sons, Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn are set to throw down next month – will Jr have the same ‘spirit’ as his father, or can the young Benn get one back for his old man? Find out on April 26, 2025.