There is an excellent book out there called Damage, the book written by former Boxing News editor Tris Dixon. The book covers the often overlooked, or ignored, subject of neurological damage, the kind all fighters are at risk of suffering from the longer they continue to fight. And there are in the book, some truly disturbing tales of fighters suffering almost unimaginable hell due to taking too many shots to the head.
Now, today, in the ‘civilised’ age, Chris Eubank – who fought numerous wars in the ring during his long career, yet seems, so far, to have managed to have escaped any of the awful things fighters such as Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo, Terry Norris, and others began to show symptoms of in their later years – is deeply worried about his son.
Eubank’s Warning Before Benn Rematch
As we head towards Saturday’s return fight/war/slugfest between Chris Eubank Junior and Conor Benn, Eubank Senior has said that he has “calculated” the damage his son took in the April fight that he won on points but had to dig incredibly deep in order to do so. Speaking with The Sun, Eubank said he expects the damage his son took in the fight that saw him boil down to 160-pounds, “will show up in three to four years.”
Eubank Snr is again aghast at the way his son will have to make the middleweight limit, this when Jr is really a super-middleweight, and he has once again criticised the promoters of Saturday’s fight.
“I look back and calculate,” Eubank said on Sun Sport’s No Glove Lost YouTube show. “The damage junior suffered will show up in three to four years. My question is, what’s the cost? What is the cost to the individuals doing it? That’s what we are dealing with, this is no game. Junior’s coming down to 160-pounds, at 36, it’s madness. But we have said this, to lose weight, that’s where the damage happens. When you get dehydrated. For three years I was saying this fight shouldn’t be happening because the weights are wrong. I’m not going to go on bleating on the same subject – you will see, there will be consequences. Dehydration is dangerous.”
Between Legacy and Long-Term Risk
What Eubank has said can so easily be agreed with. The truth is, Eubank Jr and Benn are not the same size and they really are only fighting one another because of their “Next Gen” rivalry, and the fact that their fight or fights make a heck of a lot of money due to the manner in which they have rekindled the epic rivalry the two fathers had back in the 1990s.
But then again, Eubank Snr showed up (to huge applause) in April, there to support his son. Will this happen again on Saturday? But Eubank is so against both fights, yet by attending the fight (or fights) the British legend is actually supporting the fight, it he not? Of course, Eubank says he is “always behind my son.”
Fans are looking forward to another great fight on Saturday, but above all else, our collective concern should be the welfare of both men who step into the ring. Let’s hope Eubank Snr is wrong, and that his son will not begin showing signs of damage in three or four years. Let’s hope Eubank Junior gets out the way his father did, apparently undamaged.
Whoever you are rooting for and whoever you like and dislike when it comes to Eubank Jr and Benn, we must all remember the high price each and every fighter risks paying as they entertain us.
