All Quotes by Chris Eubank Sr.
“One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.”
“To be exceptional you have to be alone, that's the life of a warrior.”
“To be exceptional you have to be alone, that's the life of a warrior.”
“However controversial Mayweather may be, he doesn't bring down the name of boxing. The fast cars, the jets and the money causes controversy but that does not bring the game down.”
“No one escapes the long arm of the law, they are a business, they are very good at what they do and eventually they will catch up with you.”
“My father, who was illiterate, smoothed iron for Ford Dagenham and we'd get up at 5;30 A.M. to give him a jump-start. My mother was a nurse and part of the Windrush generation. Growing up in east London, we were financially poor, but rich in hope and dignity, and we were happy.”
“To be exceptional you have to be alone, that's the life of a warrior.”
“I'm a good man and a bad fighter... I've got the gladiator in me.”
“Broccoli is not as bad as people make out. It might give you wind, but I'd prefer to have wind and have good health. Health is the number one thing on the planet. However, I am quite partial to rum and raisin ice cream.”
“I failed my HGV licence three times.”
“There's a correct way to succeed. The incorrect way is to do things incorrectly.”
“What can you say to someone like me? When you've got 19 world championship wins, it's almost like you're cursed because you're too good.”
“I moved to New York aged 16, and worked part-time in a Korean store in South Bronx selling groceries, bread and confectionery. I earned $10 and it was painful because I didn't want to be there. I also worked in Debenhams as a kid, and a Wimpy in Brighton when I was 20.”
“The feeling between two fighters is profound. We go places where normal people don't go. You smell a man's blood, it smells like rust. You get into a clench, you feel his strength, you feel his desperation, he feels yours. You're sharing this.”
“Money's just a medium. I am extremely wealthy in all other regards.”
“No one escapes the long arm of the law, they are a business, they are very good at what they do and eventually they will catch up with you.”
“The only thing I have to do in this life is stay black and die. No one can force me to do anything.”
“When someone has speed they throw four punches to your one, you cannot beat them.”
“Boxing is a mug's game.”
“I'm a gentle, considerate, giving man.”
“Fortunately, I was technically skilled, so I didn't have to bludgeon people, I didn't have to batter them.”
“I tell my children, look at what your father did, you can do anything you want.”
“From the age of 17, I lived the life of a hermit and dedicated myself to gym life, first in the South Bronx and then back in England. I was in a bubble and I bypassed a lot of popular culture.”
“For lunch I like corned beef, white rice and fried onions, which I've eaten for as long as I can remember. My father used to make it; now, no one does it like me.”
“I probably give 80% more to my children than my father gave to me and still it doesn't come up to scratch. I don't feel guilty about it. Do my children love me? I think that is self-evident. Will they have psychological scars? No, because they have a wonderful mummy.”
“However controversial Mayweather may be, he doesn't bring down the name of boxing. The fast cars, the jets and the money causes controversy but that does not bring the game down.”
“If you don't produce the goods, you're very quickly forgotten.”
“To be accused of ignoring my roots is pig ignorant.”
“Let me tell you, the jodhpur in the world of fashion is a formidable adversary to the trouser. It gives automatic swagger to anyone who wears them.”
“I shouldn't be called eccentric. I should be called a normal guy.”
“When people speak disparagingly about others, they are really damaging themselves.”
“Art to me means lot of things - images and words. I may be no artist myself, but I recognise the pleasure you get from a new proverb or a new painting. It puts you in a particular frame of mind. Visually I like art, philosophically I like art.”
“I want to jump into rivers off of high ridges when I'm 75.”
“When I was 11 my school held a sports day near Crystal Palace. We were told we were going to play a rugby match. The ball was eventually passed to me and I was obviously expected to run with it. I took one look at all these players charging towards me, placed the ball on the ground and walked off the pitch.”
“My father never played with me. I can remember my father picking me up - once. I can remember my father telling me behind a closed door that he loved me - once.”
“Every fighter has a duty to boxing to not bring themselves or the sport into disrepute by foul language or behaviour so that boxing can be seen as a gentleman's sport.”
“Solitude is the companion of warriors.”
“Everything controversial is good for boxing.”
“Obsession is a synonym for magic. Magic is a synonym for genius. It's a knack. It's an aptitude.”
“Fear is what activates your tools; your jab, your movement, your speed, your ability to absorb punishment.”
“One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.”
“I am not a meathead.”
“Geezers might say, 'I wouldn't wear make-up even if I was going on TV,' but why not? You'll look better. I can most frankly be called a geezer - I've earned the right to be called a geezer, a proper stand-up guy, that kind of thing - and if I can wear make-up, so can you.'”
“Boxing? She's like a woman. If you've never wooed her, never won her, you always look back wondering what would have happened had you had her. If you caught her and had a long relationship, you don't really look back. Do I miss her? No, because I've had her, I've moved on.”
“If your image is going out to people, you have a duty to make it the best it can be. That's why I always wear make-up on camera.”
“If you are learning how to box, any type of support will make you weak. Any type of support is counterproductive.”
“The people who have done it - I have been in there - a lot of people love boxing but they have not actually been in there, and haven't tasted the bitterness of a beating.”
“I'm not bankrupt of fun, life, my dignity, my character, my essence.”
“Talent and skill goes out the window after eight or nine rounds.”
“I'm not bankrupt of effervescence. I'm not bankrupt of craic.”
“Michael Watson is a part of me. It's in my head, it's in my grain. There are scars within me. Therefore, those scars are what allows me to steer and protect other fighters.”
“My father, who was illiterate, smoothed iron for Ford Dagenham and we'd get up at 5;30 A.M. to give him a jump-start. My mother was a nurse and part of the Windrush generation. Growing up in east London, we were financially poor, but rich in hope and dignity, and we were happy.”
“I think a great deal of my son, I love my son. The things I do are unthinkable. I do them because he even though he can't see the pain on my side, I still give and give for what? So he can have a better future.”
“I am not a conventional man.”
“A lot of people think my head is flat.”
“It's the only thing that allowed me to win so many championship fights and allowed me to put up with the bigotry of the media, the keyboard warriors, the critics. I've endured it all because, spiritually, I am buoyant, alive.”
“No one escapes the long arm of the law, they are a business, they are very good at what they do and eventually they will catch up with you.”
“Benn was brute force, wasn't he? But he found God when he was 40... and the only reason I beat him, was because I was brought up in the church. It teaches you to be calm to be objective and steady and the reasoning I used beat him - and he found it when he was 40. I didn't change anything: there is only one way, to be calm, gentle and true.”
“My mother imparted on me that I must be a good custodian of my father's name and that is what I ask of my children. One should conduct themselves in the correct manner, respect one's elders and do the right thing.”
“In accordance to the way that Benn speaks, he is not educated. Sure, he's educated to a certain extent, but under different circumstances he would be a bouncer on some door in the West End and he'd have three kids from three different women... I am a superior person to that. I have finer points.”
“Fighters who speak disparagingly about fighters from years gone by do us all a disservice. It is treacherous.”
“Yes, I have spent. I have lived and had accidents. It's all part of life's wonderful experience.”
“I was a speed freak once. I had an Aston Martin when I first made it big and I used to take it to its limits. I once drove from Lewes to London in 45 minutes - mad.”
“I've tasted the bitter beatings.”
“I've always had something much more than money, which is respect. When I was champion, people looked into my heart and some said, 'We may not like Mr Eubank, but we respect him. He fights beyond the call of duty and he never quits.'”
“Boxing isn't just about fighting people, it's about being a standard bearer. You become a beacon for the people.”
“I can slip a punch, not by three inches, but by a centimetre. Just have it brush past me. And raise an eyebrow at the same time.”
“I am a sensitive, emotionally conditioned human being, and I have suffered racist abuse.”
“You see, there are many types of wealth and money is only one of them. I have different wealths, like the wealth of my health.”
“Most of the planet is covered with water, so there must be a clue to its worth in that fact.”
“Bankruptcy, divorce, these are feathers in my cap, I suppose. I have a wisdom which has been born from these things.”
“You play football, rugby, tennis. You do not play boxing. When a sportsperson is in a game, when it gets too much, you quit. But in boxing you can't quit. You have to be taken out.”
“I've became a coffee drinker since I gave up boxing. I also love to eat anything cooked by a Jamaican. Carbs like rice, yellow yam, Renta yam, sweet yam. Also salt fish fried with onions.”
“I am always fully in tune with the interviewer, who is usually trying to make me look silly. My objective is quite the opposite during an interview: I never use my wit or my intellect to make the interviewer look silly.”
“When I finished boxing, all that was available was commentating. But that's not me. I've got too much artistic licence to get out.”
“I went to a foreign land, New York City in 1982 and had no money, no respect in the gym. Everyone thinks you're full of it. The remit in those days was break his heart, get him out of the gym.”
“My objective as a mentor, as a father, as a manager and as a former participant of the great game of boxing is to protect mine, but also the opponent. Especially if I can see things which I have experienced before.”
“I don't drink in public. I don't swear on TV. All I want is for people to say Chris Eubank is an all-right guy.”
“I am a strong father.”
“DeGale has the pedigree that is spoken about in terms of gold medallists and former world champions.”
“The harshness of my upbringing did not affect me in the negative. But it has affected many people in the negative.”
“You aren't going to show me something I haven't seen. Nobody can bring something to me that I don't already know, not in boxing. That's where I've mastered my trade, I can't talk in other fields.”
“The first martial art my son learnt aged around ten was jiu-jitsu so he can already wrestle. I'd have no concerns about Christopher boxing someone from MMA.”
“I'm interested in aesthetics, language, art, fashion, everything.”
“Broccoli is not as bad as people make out. It might give you wind, but I'd prefer to have wind and have good health. Health is the number one thing on the planet. However, I am quite partial to rum and raisin ice cream.”
“I beat many good fighters and many who were better than me and the reason I beat them was because I was persistent, I was willing to go through those pain barriers.”
“If you choose to do something that you know you cannot do, or that is going to be very difficult, then you are a fool!”
“I've always been a giving man; it doesn't cost me anything and it's a pleasure to give what I know.”
“I admire rugged hard men who play rugby because it's something I would never contemplate.”
“Fear gives you your intensity, it gives you your game.”
“I effectively stood on the shoulders of a giant to make a little bit of noise myself. I'm a by-product of Muhammad Ali.”
“The Watson fight was the worst beating I ever took in a ring, but I couldn't quit.”
“I was sensitive, I was emotionally intelligent.”
“The reason why I'm such a successful pugilist is that no one knows my limitations better than me. I am quite good, but I am not the best in the world. But I am one of the best and I'm quite content with that.”
“At 19, I decided to turn professional and accepted my first fight for $250 at the Atlantis Hotel, Atlantic City, on October 3 1985. It set up my whole career and life.”
“I've prospered because of my father. I know I'll never be his equal, but I've prospered because I've honoured my parents.”
“I am tough. I am relentless.”
“I am benevolent.”
“Boxing is the more dangerous activity from the rugby player's and the general public's point of view, but to me rugby is far more dangerous so I would prefer my sons to box. I love my children too much and do not want to watch them getting hurt. This is in no way intended as a criticism of rugby, which I consider to be a fantastic sport.”
“I'm an entertainer, aren't I? I think.”
“Most people seem to think I am something of a character and the things that have befallen me are par for my course.”
“I'll fight anyone I can beat. I'm a businessman first and a boxer second. I'm looking for the readies. The aim is to win at all costs.”
“I see myself as a martial artist. I'm a creative fighter. It's not about hitting the guy and hurting him, it's about scoring points, with grace.”
“I want to enjoy the magic of the instrument which is my body.”
“There are certain things you must not say in spite of the fact that supposedly democracy means free speech. No. You are not allowed free speech. If you speak freely, you are then deemed as I was, to be a subversive.”
“I have always been the sort of person to give advice to those coming up behind me and I will continue to. It's what I do, what I am.”
“Yes, I have spent. I have lived and had accidents. It's all part of life's wonderful experience.”
“Sometimes you can win by persevering, pushing and pressuring your competition.”
“When I say my family suffered for my anti-war protesting, one of the many fallouts was having to send my two sons to America because I couldn't keep control of them when the divorce happened... there are consequences for your actions.”