Chris Eubank Jr: I Was Paid $**** For The Fight! The Night Before, My Dad Finally Opened Up! | The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

You're the first person I've really spoken to about this type of stuff.

I was in hospital after the fight.

I'm lying there, I got my mask on, thinking this is so bad.

Get me the morphine, get me the morphine, I've got my family around me, someone's crying.

I can hear everything that's going on.

And then I hear the doctor say from the other room, we have to operate on him now otherwise he's going to die.

Chris puzzle junior!

Chris, you haven't really spoken since that 12th round with Conor.

How do you rate your own performance?

I was technically sound for the first seven rounds, but once the cut came, I was experiencing all the things that had been restricting me leading up to the fight.

And I can hear my trainer, got to use the jab, Chris.

Use your feet. I looked at him.

I said, I'm sorry. It's too late.

Because I always knew there would be fights like this where you don't have anything left, or you want to give up, or you're hurt.

But you have to fight through the demons, the issues, the restrictions.

Because I wasn't willing to go the rest of my life knowing that I didn't give it my all, that lives with you forever, so the technicality of the sport was out the window, we are going to war.

Was Connor faster than you were expecting?

Yep. Was he stronger than you were expecting?

Yep, but it was about who wants it more.

My old man's there, I've gotta show him.

I'm capable of great things.

We have been estranged for years.

But what caused that relationship to strain?

I sent him a letter and that broke him.

I get emotional thinking about this.

what did that letter say?

Quick one before we get back to this episode just give me 30 seconds of your time.

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["My Takes On Me"] Chris, you haven't really spoken since the fight, especially not in long form.

So I guess the best place to start is just by asking you how you're feeling.

That was pretty fucking crazy.

Fucking crazy is pretty accurate, yeah.

It was a fight that, I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to be involved in.

I genuinely thought that I was gonna go in there, I was going to have my way with this kid.

Blow him out the water, you know.

Watch him quit, watch him crumble under the pressure.

That's really what I thought was gonna happen.

And thank God that I was wrong.

Because if that had happened, it would not be a fight that is now gonna be remembered forever.

This is what I'm being told.

This is what I'm hearing.

This is what I'm seeing.

This is the best fire I've ever saw.

This is the best event I ever saw.

This was amazing. For a fight to reach that level of love and respect, both fighters have to go through the fire.

Both fires have to do things that...

may seem superhuman, and they seem like impossible, they have to go through that.

They have to be true and they cannot give up.

And that's what we both showed on that night.

Two men who were willing to die in that ring.

That's what boxing is really about and it's so rare to see these days.

You know, we just saw over the weekend, some of the best fighters on the planet right now.

Devin Haney, Canelo, Ryan Garcia. You know, their fights were, um...

underwhelming, to say the least. Boring.

In those three fights, the total amount of punches landed...

was less than just the fight with me and Conor.

So the fight with me and Conor, I think we landed maybe 1 ,500 punches.

In their three fights in total, only 1 ,400 landed, which is a pretty incredible statistic.

And it just shows you how much that fight meant to both of us.

You know, it showed the pressure and the grit and the determination and the stakes.

So I'm blessed to be a part of such a horror, historic fight, a historic event.

And I'm very grateful that the fans loved it so much. You know, everything I've heard about it so far has been amazing.

And I, you know, I went out into the streets for the first time yesterday in Brixton and to see the people's reactions for the first time, really, to really see it.

You know, it really, it really, it really means a lot, you know, a woman came up when she was crying.

You know, she was, she had tears in her eyes, like, you know, it's amazing, what you did, you know.

That fight superseded what boxing is, you know, because it was, you know, even outside of what we did that ring, the father and son dynamic.

That was real and that's something that, you know, the entire world can relate to and has to deal with their own problems with their families.

So to see me and my father going through what we were going through, and then to come together to unite at a time when it meant the most. That's an amazing thing and nobody thought was gonna happen, I didn't think it was gonna happen.

So seeing that, you know, that's not boxing, you know, that is, that's love, you know.

Going back to the top of that, you said that you were expecting to walk in there and blow Connor away.

So does that mean that you, in hindsight, underestimated his ability, or was there something not quite right with you that night?

Because I was watching, I was ringside, and you didn't look normal, especially in those opening rounds.

You had the same dog in you that you've always had, but you didn't look normal.

You're very observant.

There are a lot of things going on in my life that no one knows about and no one will ever know about.

You know, as a fighter, you have to do things that nobody else could imagine doing and no one else is willing to do.

I did that to be able to get into the ring that night.

You also have the navigation of weight loss, rehydration restrictions.

things, these are all things that I was having to deal with on top of all the outside stuff.

What you saw was maybe yes, there was maybe certain aspects of me as an athlete that, you know, weren't 100%.

But the truth of it is so many fighters go into fights with issues, whether it's injuries, whether it's illness, whether it's mental problems. We all have to fight through these things.

That's a part of the sport, which is why I'm not going to sit here and tell you about all the things that I was dealing with, because it's my job.

We are we are fighters.

You have to fight through the demons.

You have to fight through the issues.

You have to fight through the restrictions.

and that's what I did, I didn't give up.

– Illness, injury and mental problems?

– Just a few of the things that fighters...

– Did you have any of these?

– Again, I'm not going to go into what I was dealing with.

– It's a personal mystery you were dealing with, do you know why I'm asking this question?

I'm asking this question because as a fight fan, as a fan of yours, I was watching you as you, as the fight began and I didn't think you were quite yourself.

I've been to your fights, I've been to many of your fights.

I've watched you in Manchester as well ringside, and you didn't look the same.

So now I have this big question mark in my head as to why you didn't look the same.

I'm like really determined to try and understand.

I know that you weren't in great physical health, but you say there was other things going on in your life.

what category were those things in?

You don't have to tell me what they are, you don't say anything, but.

No, you know it's something that, you know, a lot of fighters do.

You know, they will come out of a fight and they will say the things that were wrong with the camps and were wrong with their health or wrong with, you know, their personal lives or, you know.

I've never been that guy to make excuses.

I'm not looking for sympathy.

I'm not looking for a reason for people to say, oh, well, you know." But you won, so it doesn't matter.

But even if I had lost, it's not in me to, oh, well, this is why I had to do it through this and that.

And people saw so much of what I had to deal with.

My father, the weight the rehydration clause, getting fined a million for being 0 .5 % overweight, using the gloves that weren't in the contract, some guy trying to get into my changing room to check my hands and ruffling the feathers of my team.

They threw everything at me.

They did everything they could to try and...

and get me off of track to distract me to take my mind off of the task at hand.

And I never let that happen.

And I'm very, I'm proud of that.

I'm proud that I didn't fall into the traps that were set.

Every time they set a trap, I saw the trap, go around it, and go forward. Oh, there's another trap.

Around it, forward, another trap, around it, forward. So that is a part of being a warrior.

It's not just getting in the ring and fighting, you have to be smart.

You have to be cunning.

You have to know your enemy.

You have to understand the things that people are trying to do to take you out of your comfort zone, out of your preparation, you have to avoid, and you have to make sure that nothing gets into your head.

Nothing affects what you're gonna do on the night, you know?

And the crazy thing was, not only was I dealing with all these bullets flying at me from my enemies, in Connor Bend, in Matrum, and Eddie Hurn, in Nigel Bend.

These are all enemies leading up to the fight.

I had bullets coming from my family, my father.

A couple of days before the biggest fight of my life, he's going into the media and saying I'm a disgrace.

I'm already under a lot of stress, under a lot of pressure.

And then I've got to hear this, it's like Jesus.

I mean, what, what, you know?

How much worse is it going to get?

It was tough. It was really tough.

But the subject of my father, regardless of what he said about me and about the fight, he was there when it mattered the most. And that means everything.

I didn't know he was going to come.

He called me, he texted me the day before the fight, the night before the fight.

He said, call me when you see this.

So I saw the text and I thought, you know what, you know, we are, we're less than a day away from.

well, this is the night before the biggest fight of my life.

The last thing I can be doing is being on the phone listening to negativity, because that's all he had come with for the last six to eight weeks.

The fight's not gonna happen.

This fight shouldn't be happening.

Waits are not right.

He egged him. He's a disgrace.

It's a circus. It's a sham.

I will never be in my son's corner.

this is all I'm hearing from him for two months.

Don't do this fight Chris, son.

This is all I'm hearing.

So I'm sitting there, I'm reading this message and he hasn't, you know, I haven't spoken to him and I'm thinking, I can't deal with this right now.

Call him, call him for what?

So we can say not to take the fight, you know?

I got to rest, I got to focus.

A couple of hours go by, Maybe nine ten o 'clock, I guess to that.

And I'm like, you know what?

I've been through so much shit in the last two months.

What more could possibly, what more could possibly be thrown at me?

At the end of the day, my old man, he's text me.

I'm gonna hear him out, so I call him.

I was about to go to sleep and I thought, you know what?

I'll call him. As soon as he picked the phone up, there was a tone in his voice that I hadn't heard for years.

It was a tone of happiness, lightness, joy.

Hey, how you doing son, what's going on, how are you feeling?

How am I feeling? When are you worried about how I've been feeling?

You know, I'm good, Dad.

Everything's cool. You know, just getting ready to go to sleep.

Got a big day tomorrow.

Yeah, yeah I know. I know son.

I know you got a big day tomorrow.

And, um, I wanna be there for you.

I'm sorry I heard that and I'm like is this a dream?

Is this? This is this is Chris E.

Banks, Sr. I'm speaking to?

Who is this? Yeah it's me son.

Let's let's do this let's do this together.

Where are you? I said I'm at my hotel.

He said alright well i'll come to your hotel, we'll speak and yeah let's, let's, let's do it.

Okay, okay Dad. I ordered him an Uber, 20 minutes later he was at my hotel.

I got him a room, we went up to the room, we sat down.

You know he said I was always going to come, I was always going to be there for you.

And in my mind, I'm thinking, if I just gone to sleep, what happens?

What would you still be here?

Like what, you know, we haven't had any communication.

And I know, I knew how hard it was for him to send me that text of, you know, call me when you see this because he doesn't do that.

You know, it's been years since he tried to have that contact with me.

So I think if I just ignored it, then we wouldn't be sitting here today talking about this amazing event that had unfolded.

Because make no mistake, him being there made it, it made it different.

It made it something that will now go down in history.

You know, movies are made about this type of stuff.

If I go in there alone, it's just a fight.

Which would have been a great fight still, but to have that fantasy of a father and son coming together after going through so much, so much, my brother passing away, all the stuff in the media, all the friction.

To see that be able to be kind of put to one side and to unite, to come together, to walk into that ring, it's an incredible thing.

I get emotional thinking about it because it was so unexpected.

I had envisioned in my mind for the last two years me walking to that ring alone.

I just, it never crossed my mind that my old man will be behind me.

I envisioned walking to the ring alone, being booed and getting into that ring and fighting with anger in my heart.

That's what I thought that fight was gonna be.

What it turned out to be was, I'm walking to the ring.

My old man is behind me.

He's with me. And you know, for the first time in my whole career, I'm walking through a crowd and there's no booze.

I'm used to walking up into these rings and I'm looking out and people are going...

you're gonna get knocked out.

And I feed off of that dark energy.

And I use it against my opponents.

That's what I've been that's that's been my life for for my whole career, really.

In this fight, I'm walking past people and I'm seeing tears in their eyes.

I'm seeing grown men with tears in their eyes.

And smiles and And, you know, it's like, you know, I'm walking to the ring and my, my, my face is always cold because I'm about to get in the ring and hurt somebody and get hurt.

But in my mind and my heart, I'm like, what's happening?

What is this? This is, I've never, I've never seen this before.

I've never seen cheers, let alone people crying with joy.

This is, you know, this is this is going to be different.

This fight is about to be something different.

I don't know. I don't know what it's gonna be, but I'm excited.

What did you discuss in that hotel room when he arrived in that Uber?

He said to me in that hotel room.

What do you think I want from you?

I thought about it for a long time and I genuinely couldn't answer the question.

You know, we have been estranged for a long, long time.

Years. Yeah, years.

So how can I answer that?

What do I want from you is what he said.

I know that this man is not a man that can be bought, he's got too much pride, he's got too much morals, he's a man of God.

That's all that's important to him.

You can't buy him. So me knowing that, when he's saying, what do you think I want from you, I'm thinking, Oh no!

Has that changed? Has he changed?

Is he about to, you know, ask for some crazy amount of money?

I hope, I hope not.

Because then, that changes my view of who this man in front of me is, you know.

So I didn't I didn't, I didn't even think about that.

It's in my head, but I didn't want to say it.

I didn't want to say it in the fear that he would be like, yeah, you gotta give me a million.

And that would've killed me.

Really? Yeah, that would've been bad.

Why? Because then I know that he's only, he's not there because he loves me and because he wants to see me win.

He wants to support me, he wants to be my dad.

If it's about money, then all of that is irrelevant.

Yeah. So I was too scared to even talk about, to even mention money, because then that would mean that there's, there's no coming back.

You know, if you're if you're in, if you're, if we were in a room together the night before the biggest fight of my life, and you're just saying, you gonna pay me.

That means for the rest of our lives now, our relationship will never ever be the same.

So I was scared to say that I was scared at the question.

I had to joke. I had to make a joke out of it, because I was so confused and worried about what was about to happen.

I said, you want a hug?

I'll give you a hug.

He said, No. I want nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

And when he said that, you know, my heart is just an overwhelming, an overwhelming feeling of joy.

Okay, my dad is here because he wants to be my dad.

that's huge, that's everything, that's what I haven't had for years and years and years.

So if there was ever a time that I was going to get some of that feeling and love back, this was the time I needed and he was there to do it.

I'll never forget that, him being there that night, for sure, um...

You know, it gave me those few extra percentages to put into that performance.

People say, you were finished, but for the eighth round, you had not, your legs were gone.

How did you throw 300 punches in the last two rounds?

Well, I had to come outside of myself.

It became spiritual.

It wasn't about the physical.

I was dehydrated. I was experiencing all the things that had been restricting me...

leading up to the fight.

So it became not about the physical, it came about the spiritual.

It became about just being true.

just being the man I know I can be.

I told you a story once about being on that treadmill.

And you've got that cramp in you, in your foot.

But you said you was going to do the 10 miles.

So you've got a limp on that treadmill for as long as you have to to complete the task.

No one's around. No one's watching.

But you see you keep your ass on that treadmill and you get through it.

You get through the pain.

That mentality is what was able to get me through those last two, three rounds.

I never gave up in the gyms. When I was getting beaten up and sparring, I never quit.

I would come back the next day.

When I got the cramps, I kept going because I always knew there would be fights like this where you don't have anything left or you wanna give up, or you're hurt, you're dehydrated, or you're injured, or you're cut.

You know, you can't see anything out of your eye.

You got a big cut across your eye, and you're gonna ask yourself that question getting up off the stool in the ninth and the tenth round.

Should I give up? Should I take a knee?

Should I run? No. We are going to war.

We are going to leave everything we have in this ring.

Because this fight is going to be remembered forever.

So what you choose to do in these last few rounds, that is what the people are going to remember you by for the rest of your life.

Did you come forward?

Did you put it all on the line, or did you retreat?

I wasn't willing to go the rest of my life knowing that I didn't give it my all, regardless of the cut, regardless of everything I was going through, I knew I just I had to do what I had to do to win.

And my old man's there.

He's watching. And, he didn't believe I would be able to do what I'm doing.

That's what he's been saying for years.

I've got to show him, I've got to show the world.

And I've got to show myself that I'm capable of great things.

And I'm capable of going through things that 99 .999 % of human beings on this earth were not willing to go through.

And that will live forever.

And that's a beautiful feeling.

A week after the fight, sitting here talking about it, there's no amount of money that can buy the feelings that I have now.

And that is the genuine truth.

How proud I am of what we achieved in that in that fight.

It's priceless. It's something that, you know, on your deathbed in 60 years time, you're thinking about it, yeah, I did that.

You can't get that from money.

You can't get that from fame.

You get that from years and years and years of graft, hard work and just being true.

Not cutting corners, not cheating, not being a bully.

Chris, everybody has a different relationship with family.

You've always been a seemingly quite emotionless individual, very cold exterior as you've described it yourself, so it's really and interesting to hear how much your dad meant to you.

And as you were speaking, I was thinking about to all these interviews I've seen of you over the years where you cite him as your biggest role model in life.

I've kind of got two points.

The first, I guess, is a point, which is just, I had no idea he meant that much to you.

I had no idea. And secondly, the question is, What caused that relationship to strain?

My father is an extremely proud and an extremely intense human being.

He has his ways of thinking, he has his ways of living, teaching, parenting, and it's his way or the highway.

nothing else works in his opinion.

It got to a stage in my life where I decided to walk my own path, separate myself from this massive character in my father.

You know, I had grown up with this pressure and this responsibility, and it became too much. I was known for being the son of for so many years.

Ask you make some, ask you make some.

And I kind of whenever I would hear that, you know, at least they know who I am, but it got to a stage where I was like, how do I get away from that?

How do I become just me?

How do I become Chris Eubank, not the son of a legend?

It dawned on me eventually.

The only way to do that is to be separate from it.

Inboxing. I'm not talking about as a father.

Talking about in terms of my career, in terms of the decision making, in terms of the training, in terms of the fighting, in terms of the media, the press conferences.

These were all things that he was right by my side for my entire career.

I knew that to get away from the shadow, I had to start doing it on my own.

Did you write him a letter?

Yeah. Explaining exactly that, I told him, I'm gonna write my own book one day.

The book can't be, oh, well, my dad told me to do this, so I did it.

My dad said don't take that fight, so I didn't take that fight.

He told me to train that way and go here and wear that.

It's not a book, it's not a life.

I need to be able to write my own story into history.

What did that letter say that you wrote to him?

And why didn't you tell him to his face?

I needed him to understand and read it and reread it and reread it without interruption.

You know, if I'm talking to him like I'm talking to you as soon as something is said that is maybe a little bit, oh, I don't like that.

or I don't agree with that.

He will be ready to jump in and say his point.

I had to get the whole thing out.

Couldn't be in conversation.

I said to him, I am the boss.

And that broke him.

He couldn't handle that.

He had been the boss my entire life.

He'd been in charge of who I fought, he had been charging my financials, he had been in charge of my contracts.

He was the boss. So for a boss to hear that he's not the boss anymore, that strained the relationship.

Oh, you don't want me to be a part of your career anymore?

All right, well then, bye.

That was his reaction.

It shouldn't have been that way, but that's how he dealt with the disappointment and the frustration of what I was doing, which was going my own way.

Then you have the tragedy of my brother Sebastian passing away.

And this would have happened maybe a year or two after I sent that letter.

That affected him deeply.

It affected all of us deeply.

But, yeah, it affected him so much that, you know, you add those two things together.

He's already upset with how I've spoken to him and what I'm doing in my career.

my brother passes away and that caused him to do certain things in his life.

Which you know, I don't like talking about it but I'm gonna talk about it because it was actually documented.

If it wasn't documented, I wouldn't speak about this and I've never spoken about it.

He started smoking marijuana.

I guess to deal with the hardship of losing a son.

Everybody deals with these things in their own ways, I can't fault him for that, but I think that that changed him as a man in terms of his mindset, And it caused, it caused an even bigger gap between us, which, you know, we never recovered from up until last weekend.

Since that night, before the night, the fight, and every day since then, it's been all love between me and my old man, which is incredible to think.

I was in hospital for two days after the fight.

He didn't leave the hospital.

And when I say didn't leave the hospital, I mean, he's sleeping on one of these stretchers outside my room.

Just in the hallway.

That means everything to me.

Regardless of the differences in the things that have been said and done.

You know, a man who is gonna stay by his son like that - that's love.

You know, it's been so long since I've had that type of feeling with him and you only get one father?

So now we are going to build, we're going to build, we're going to build.

And I think our relationship is only going to get stronger and stronger and stronger.

I said it before the fight.

This fight is either going to help us build or it's going to break us even more.

I don't know. It was up to him really, and he chose for this fight to be the thing that the catalyst for us to be able to build, and I thank God for that.

Did his absence and hearing him call you a disgrace and all of the stuff he was doing in the media ahead of the fight in many respects to stop the fight, it seemed at times.

I actually watched an interview, I think the day before the fight where he was in tears, Tets saying to a boxing journalist that the fight shouldn't go ahead and expressing his concerns about the fight, et cetera.

Did it impact your mental health?

It was upsetting, it was distracting, it was horrible knowing that, you know, this deeply personal situation we have is now fully public.

It's all over TikTok, it's all over Instagram, you know, the headlines Chris Eubank, the senior, it calls his son a disgrace.

You know, millions of people are watching these interviews.

So, for sure, it affects your mental health, your mental well -being.

It's negative, and it's deeply personal and you don't want that in the public.

It's one thing dealing with family issues, you know, between your family, but when everyone else knows what's going on, it's tough, you know?

And it came out of me in that last press conference.

Connor bent talking about, ah, well, yeah, you just worry about making weight.

And at that time I was making weight and I was in pain.

And I said, I'm in pain right now.

And I'm in gonna be even more pain tonight.

And I'm going to be even more pain tomorrow morning when I've got to lose those last few pounds.

I have the actual quote here.

You said, the weight is painful.

I'll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow.

The question I ask myself is what is pain.

I have a 31 year old brother that is buried in the desert in Dubai.

That's pain I have his son Rahim who is three asking why he can't see his dad Why doesn't he take me to school?

That's pain my own father a man I've idolized my entire life and we haven't spoken for years and he thinks I'm a disgrace These things are pain to me Yeah And you know, I am not an emotional guy, especially not in boxing, but in that moment, that's what I'm thinking.

You know, yeah, this weight cut and this rehydration clause fucking hurts.

But guess what? It isn't anything compared to those three things that are listed and all and the other that are going on in my personal life that I'm having to deal with and struggle with all while getting ready for this huge fight.

So if I can deal with those things then what is cutting weight?

What is dehydrating and starving myself to make a weight?

It's nothing. You know, it's a a moment of discomfort.

You know, my brother passing away, Rahim not understanding that his father is not with us, questioning why doesn't he take me to school?

I see all these other kids, they're coming into school with the dads.

Why does my dad take me to school?

Why can't I see my daddy?

You say he's at the office.

Where's the office?

Let's go to the office and see my daddy.

My own father, he's a disgrace.

these these are these are moments these are not moments of pain this is this is pain that lives with you forever so that they're incomparable.

You know so when Connor been talking about you know you just worry about making weight don't worry about the weight mate the weights fine I got I got a lot but worse issues than the weight.

The weights gonna come off now I think that was the first time that I kind of got caught up a little bit in what was going on in my life.

And the people saw that and they, I guess they loved seeing that vulnerable side to me.

Because it's real, and it's what millions and billions of people are dealing with in their own lives.

So, to see somebody who's a fighter, who's big and strong and tough, having to go through the same things, it's you know, it's a very, it's a humbling thing to see.

And it's one of the reasons why, you know, when I'm walking to the ring, there are people crying.

But his dad came, his dad was there for him after all that.

They're together, you know.

I'm gonna call my dad after this fight.

That's what people tell me.

After the fight, I call my dad straight away.

Haven't spoke to him for months, years, called him.

Were you thinking about your younger brother in the build up to the fight?

And as you walked out and during the fight, does that come into your mind?

There is a picture, there was a picture of him on my shorts, right on the side.

And he's screaming...

And his name's on the bottom of my shorts, Sebastian.

That fire. I'm looking at that picture before I'm putting the shorts on.

Yeah. I'm using that energy.

This is for you. This is for Raheem.

This is for the family.

This is for the U -banks.

I can't look at that picture and lose.

It's impossible. It's impossible.

Rahim has had a big impact on you.

Massive. Never thought… Never thought that I could experience the love and the warmth that I have when I'm around him I was never the type of guy like, ah, you know, I want a kid.

I want kids, I want that.

I'd never got it. I just, I guess I was just too busy with my own life, my own career, my own issues.

Rahim comes into my life and it just, the love I have around him, it makes me want to have my own son.

And Rahim is my son.

But biologically, I want to have my own son now because I love who I am and how I feel when I'm around him, when I'm teaching him things, when I'm taking him to places and watching him grow and watching him learn new words and new expressions.

It makes me really happy, you know, and before Rahim, I thought happiness was, you know, a big winner at poker table or winning a fight or going on some amazing trip.

And those do make me happy.

But it's a whole different level when you're with another human being who you love and you're getting to show him the world and teach him things and watch him grow.

It's incredible. So yeah, I thank God for him every day.

Is it out in the public domain, the circumstances around your brother's death?

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but, um, he drowned.

He drowned? He drowned in Dubai, yeah.

He, um... He had...

I don't know if it was a heart attack.

It was like, uh... Something happened with his heart, and of all places he's having a, he's swimming in the sea.

And he, you know...

it switched him off for a second, and then in that second he's obviously in the water and he went under.

And... How insane is that?

The guy, you saw him.

Jack Muscles, he makes his own green juices every day.

Yeah. Alkaline. Alkaline.

Yeah, that was his nickname for anybody.

Alkaline, yes. You know, health fanatic.

And in a split second, he's gone.

It just put things into perspective and it just makes you appreciate and respect life so much more because you understand that it can be taken away at any any time.

And it doesn't have to be some crazy car crash or, you know, it can just be you're swimming, you know?

You're swimming and then you're not there anymore.

And it makes you live your life with so much more respect and responsibility and appreciation.

you know, before that I'd have days or weeks where I would just, you know, fuck around, waste time, video games, TV, you know...

around people I shouldn't be hanging around with, things that were not productive in any way, shape or form.

And yes, you still, you know, you still have to have those moments in your life where you can just kind of do whatever, nobody's you know, nobody's going to be righteous every day of their lives.

But what it, what, what experiencing some of this does is it makes you aware of life and how precious it is.

And it just makes you strive to be a better person so much more because you know that, you know, We have a finite amount of time on this earth, you know?

So are you going to make it count?

Are you going to make it count or are you going to waste it?

There are people out there who would kill for the lives that we have. So how can you not be grateful?

How can you not be respectful and responsible with your time?

You know, we are free.

We're free. We did it.

We made it. billions and billions of people on this planet will never know what it is to be free.

And in terms of free, I mean, you know, you're not waking up and working, you know, 12 -hour shifts just so that you can eat and live.

You know, we have free time.

We have leisure. We have, you know, disposable income.

People don't have these things.

So you've got to be respectful, you got to be grateful.

You've got to be responsible with what you're doing.

With all of this on your mind heading into that fight.

I remember the last, before the last fight was canceled, you were saying that you'd be at 60 % for the fight and you go in there and beat him.

What percentage were you at?

And I'm kind of coming back to this question again...

You're really trying to get that out, Mia.

It's really, I am trying to understand if what I saw was true.

Like when I saw you in those first couple of rounds, I'm stood there, kind of confused and concerned at ringside, because I'm like this ain't how he used to look.

This ain't what you looked like in the other fights, in those early rounds I was like, he doesn't look like he has the same strength and speed.

Well, I had, you know, regardless of what happened outside of...

my training camp and all the things I was going through, I had a rehydration restriction.

Explain this for people who don't know.

Explain what weight you were at before the fight.

How much weight you cut and then what the restrictions say you have to do.

So you know, and I'm not saying this for sympathy or as an excuse.

It was my own doing.

I take full responsibility.

And I say that because they said we want to have a weight or rehydration restriction on you.

So you can weigh in at the middle weight limit of 160 pounds but the next, but you can only put on 10 pounds before the fight.

Usually there's no restriction what you eat and drink, you just refuel and replenish your body to as much as you can so that you have full energy for the fight.

What weight do you walk around at?

Just from context? So in context, I usually put on maybe 14 or 15 pounds after a weigh -in, so I...

But I could only put on 10 pounds for the fight.

If I go over the 10 pounds, I've got to pay a million dollar fine.

But if I saw you in the street in two months time, what weight would you be at?

Well now if I'm not in a camp and I'm not trading, then I'll probably be, I don't know, 180?

185 pounds. Okay, so 185 pounds, so you've got to lose roughly 25 pounds to get in shape for the fight to make weight.

Which is, you know...

it's doable. It gets harder as you get older, that's for sure.

Your metabolism slows down, it becomes harder to shed those last few pounds.

And it was hard, I documented my weight cut for this fight.

You know, I was in sweatsuits and...

And I had to be wrapped in these heated sheets.

And I lay there for half an hour, and I'm just sweating everything out.

And then I'm in, you know, I'm doing all these things to just drain my body of all the fluids.

And it's torture. You're torturing yourself.

You're literally torturing yourself doing this.

But you've got to make the weight.

If you don't make the weight, they're coming for that cash, baby, you know.

And that's what they've done, unfortunately.

They got me on the middleweight limit.

I was 0 .05 pounds over the middleweight limit.

I didn't mess up on the rehydration clause, so the next day I didn't go over the 10 pounds.

But the fact that I had to restrict what I was eating and drinking after my weigh -in, that takes percentages off of your performance, naturally.

So you check in at £160 the day before and the rehydration clause says, is it 8am the next day you have to weigh again?

Yes, so it was between 8 and 12.

Okay, so 8 and 12, you have to weigh again.

So I think at 12 o 'clock I weighed in at 169 .4.

Yeah, so you can't gain more than £10 overnight, Which means you can't be drinking too much, or eating too much of what you want to eat.

There should have been no rehydration restriction in the first place.

If you'd said no to it, would the fight have still gone ahead?

Yes. So why didn't you say no to it?

Why do you think? They paid you more?

Absolutely. Did you get paid an eight figure number for this fight?

Yes. Okay. I was so confident in my ability to beat Conor Benn that I thought, you know what, if you guys want a rate restriction so badly, I'll let you have it.

Did you get paid the same?

But you got to show me the money.

I'm not doing it for free.

You named your price, didn't you?

Yes, I did. And Turkey said yes.

Yes he did. The first number you named?

You fucked up. I should have got, aw man, I could have got public cars or you know.

You should have doubled it and then come down and met him halfway.

But that's the thing, when you're negotiating with promoters or broadcasters, you know, you come in high, expecting them to come in lower and then, you know, right, no this and then that.

That's usually what happens.

Because the Saudis are not normal people.

They don't have normal money.

So a number that you think is great to them, it's just, yallah.

But again, I said, I'm not greedy.

They paid me life -changing amounts of money.

That's another reason why I did what I did in that ring.

I have a duty to boxing, to the people, to the fans.

We can't be making the types of money we're making and give half ass performances.

That's disrespectful to people, to the sport, to the fans.

We are blessed, we are privileged to be in these positions.

Earn your keep. Do you get paid on the performance of the fight as well, or do you just get paid a lump sum?

How does it work? Because you called Turkey His Excellency, you said a big number.

He says yes. Do you get incentivized on how the fight does in terms of pay per view?

That is what that's all that all comes in the contract.

So you have your purse, and then you will agree on - if we get to 500 ,000 buyers, then I get a percentage.

And then if it hits 600, I get a percentage.

So you work it like that.

Or just say, all right, we'll just pay you this lump sum, and then we get all of the pay per view.

It just depends on how you negotiate.

And so you got part of the performance element as well?

I'm not going to go into details on that specific part of the contract.

In my head I'm trying to figure out how much that one fight made you because...

Can you tell me how many multiples it was more than your previous fights?

I'm just trying to go out and give me sort of an idea of the scale of this in terms of a financial - I mean you said eight figures, right?

How much more of a scale do you need?

No but I mean, what do you normally get paid?

Normally you're getting paid seven figures?

A couple million. Okay, fine.

So this is like five times more potentially?

Minimum? Yeah, it was a you know, I don't have to box again.

Let's put it that way but the beautiful thing is, at 35 years old I'm still hungry.

I'm still hungry for success in the sport, I'm still hungry for accolades, I'm so hungry to please the fans.

You know, a lot of times, this happened throughout history.

Fighters will get paid big for a fight, and then they lose that hunger.

They lose that dedication, that respect for the industry.

Oh, well, I've done it now.

Now I'm gonna, you know, let's go to the club, let's pop the bottles, let's celebrate, let's travel, let's buy this car and this watch, this house.

I was gym today, I was, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, I'm okay, it's okay." That's the trap that so many fighters fall into.

And that's why I have so much respect for Floyd Mayweather.

He has made a disgusting amount of money, and his performances and his dedication never ever, ever changed.

That is incredible because guys, they make their first million and their heads gone.

Oh, made it. All right.

Cool. No, it's not cool.

You know, boxing is a lifestyle.

It isn't one training camp.

It isn't one fight.

It is a lifetime of dedication and sacrifice, which is why I never gave up going through all the things I was going through leading up to this fight because I know I've put the work in since I was 14 years old so it doesn't matter what's going on in these two months I've served my time I've been through the trenches time and time and time and time again and I've always found a way to survive so I'm gonna do it now Not, oh, well there's weight clauses and my dad is giving me issues, and this and that and that.

So I, you know, this is going to be tough.

Maybe I shouldn't do this.

No, you're gonna get through it.

Just like you got through that treadmill run, just like you got through that cut and that fight, just like you got through in that cramp in your leg, in that fight, you build up a tolerance for pain and suffering.

You did look like a man possessed.

At moments in the fight, to me, you looked like a man that had nothing left in the tank, but one that was still possessed, as you've kind of said, by something else.

Because even when it looked to me like there was no energy left, your arms were still swinging and you were still marching forward. So it was always confusing to me because when I feel like that, I don't have that reserve tank, which was something else, I actually can't swing my arms. There was no reserve tank.

There was nothing left. What's going through your head in those moments when you've got no energy, but Connor Bennett's in front of you and there's still minutes left in the round?

Are you thinking? Is it, like, all conscious?

What are you thinking?

You know, I remember going back to the corner in the, maybe the eighth round, seventh or eighth round.

And I could hear my trainer and my cornerman.

Gotta use the jab, Chris.

You stay in your jab.

You're good. Control the jab.

Use your feet. I looked at him.

I said, It's too late.

It's too late. I'm sorry.

What's gonna happen is gonna happen.

You'll see. There was a look of confusion on their faces.

You know, when you have an instruction from a trainer and a team, you're supposed to abide by it.

So when I'm telling them it's too late, it's too late...

I had already gone into war mode.

Once you commit, as a fighter, once you commit to a certain path you're going to walk down, Now, it's pretty much impossible to then switch back.

I had a cut from a headbutt.

You know, the blood was going down into my eye, I couldn't see.

Fights can get stopped from cuts.

Soon as that cut happened, I knew that there was no more boxing.

There was no more jabbing.

There was no more technicality.

There was no more being pretty with it.

Defense. Nope. It's go time now baby.

We're gonna see how much this kid really wants it.

Cause I want it. I don't know how much he wants it.

We're gonna find out, let's find out.

Come forward, you attack, you walk through the punches.

It doesn't look good.

doesn't look pretty.

It's not boxing, it is trench warfare.

You know, when you're dehydrated as well.

After the fight, my face is swollen up.

And that's not from the punches, that's from severe dehydration.

It's this weird thing where like, when your body doesn't have any moisture in it and you're dehydrated, your face puffs up.

I think it's just that the Skin is weak and it just puffs up.

And that's what I was suffering with most in hospital was just complete dehydration.

It got to a point where I was in the hospital and I was lying in the bed and they had drips, IV drips to get all the, the liquid into your, into your system.

And my bladder was full.

Like I really needed to pee.

For about two hours, I'd get up, go to the toilet, I'd stand under the toilet.

Come on, man. Come on.

And I would not go.

And I'm dying to go.

That's how dehydrated I was, that my body would not let any liquids, any moisture go.

It was holding onto everything.

There were moments in that hospital where I'm feeling, you know, I caught myself in an MRI, seen my face was all puffed up.

This massive cut across my eye.

My headache is crazy.

You know, I'm feeling sorry for myself.

This is fucked up. You know, I got my family around me.

Some of them are crying and I'm like, this is really...

this is so bad. I'm lying there.

I got my mask on, oxygen mask.

I can hear everything that's going on.

Somebody, we're in a ward, somebody gets wheeled into the room next to me.

And it's only, you know, there's no walls.

It's like sheets just separating.

I'm looking up, oh man, this is so bad.

Get me the morphine, get me the morphine.

They can't get you the morphine until they sign off on some stuff.

So I'm waiting there.

This is so bad. And then I hear the doctor say, we have to operate on it now, otherwise he's going to die.

I heard that from the other room and I thought, oh my God, I'm great.

I'm blessed. I should not be feeling sorry for myself at all, And because I knew I was in pain, but there's a guy next to me.

He's about to die. What am I doing feeling bad for myself and complaining about a headache and a cut eye?

He's about to die. And I don't know, you know, they willed him off.

And I don't know what happened to him.

You know, I pray that he's okay.

But that put everything into perspective for me, you know?

I'm okay. I'm blessed.

I'm going to be okay.

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When you talk about the fight you say what we did you're referring to you and Connor did.

Have you got a newfound respect and appreciation for him because before the fight that was certainly not the case.

I said it after the fight I wasn't expecting him to be able to do what he did in in terms of show the heart and determination and the will to win, he never gave up.

I didn't know he had that in him.

I hadn't prepared for a 12 -round fight like that.

I thought that I would get to five or six rounds.

He'd start feeling the pace and he'd look for a way out.

He did not do that.

So in that respect, I have respect for him.

The fight finished.

I did not shake his hand.

I didn't congratulate him.

I didn't speak to him.

I didn't hug him, which is what most fighters, pretty much all fighters do after they fight And especially a fight like that, you would expect that.

I couldn't do it, I didn't have it in me, because in my mind, this kid is still a drugs cheat.

He still tried to cheat in our first fight, failed two drugs tests, never owned up to it.

Denied it, denied it, denied it.

No apologies, no admittance, no madding up.

I can't forgive that.

I can't respect that.

I can't shake that hand until there is some accountability.

He's not gonna give it.

I have to set an example to the kids that are watching this fight, that are watching these scenes.

You know, if you cheat, if you take performance in answering drugs, you don't get respect from me.

I can't give you that respect.

Because there are kids who are saying, oh, well, he was doing drugs a couple of years ago, he got caught.

But now it's okay. So this really did bother you.

I wasn't sure if that was just part of an act to sort of promote the fight.

like you know the egg slap, the constantly berating him about the doping ban that he had.

So July 2022, or September 2022, Conor Benn failed two voluntary anti -doping tests for Clomiphene, testosterone -boosting substance and therefore the original fight was cancelled.

The UK Anti -Doping Association formally suspended Conor for a doping violation.

They reinstated Conor after citing egg contamination and then reinstated Conor's suspension following an appeal.

Ultimately, in November 2024, Conor was cleared to fight after the panel ruled that they had failed to prove intentional use.

I wasn't sure if you were actually really bothered by this or whether it was part of the promotion of the fight.

Bothered is an understatement.

Really? Yeah. I don't hold grudges.

I am... I'm a man that can forgive.

Never forget, but I can forgive.

But when it comes to something as serious as drug cheating in this sport, you saw what we had to go through.

So if somebody's got something in their system, which is going to make them fight harder, take more punishment, react quicker.

You know, that is a form of attempted murder, in my opinion.

You're going into a fight with extra weaponry.

It is possible that he didn't intentionally take something, in your view?

Have you considered that?

Do you know, for me as just an onlooker, I saw him, the emotional impact it had on him.

I saw him in tears.

I saw him talking about suicidal ideation after that came out.

And there was part of me that did wonder for a second, maybe something did happen.

Because that is the reaction of someone who is truly, deeply devastated in a way that an innocent person would be.

And imagine if he is innocent, imagine if he didn't intentionally take something.

You can be suicidal and devastated After getting caught doing something you shouldn't have done, you can still have that reaction.

Let's say that he did unintentionally take these drugs.

Somebody slipped something into his drink.

Somebody contaminated his eggs.

somebody injected something into him when he was at a doctor's appointment.

I don't know, however you want to fantasize this beautiful story, let's say that this impossible thing has happened.

As a fighter, as an athlete, you only have a few jobs that you have to do.

You have to train hard, you have to go to sleep on time, you have to prepare, you have to make sure that your diet, your fluid intake is on point, so that you have the energy to go into these fights, into these sporting events and be able to compete at the highest abilities you can.

aside from that there's not much else we have to do as an athlete.

It's your job to know exactly what you are putting into your body, whether it's food whether it's fluid whether it's drugs.

You have to know that's your job.

So if you're irresponsible enough to let somebody slip something by to where you have you We failed not one but two drugs tests.

If you're irresponsible enough for that to happen, then you're still a cheat.

Could you shake his hand now?

I told you, I didn't shake his hand after the fight.

One, because he's never owned up to it.

And two, it's very likely that we are going to be fighting again.

You slapped him with an egg in a press conference beforehand and you were fined 100 thousand for that slap with the egg?

Do you regret the egg slap?

Worth every penny, my friend.

Really? Yeah. It was a symbol.

It was... It wasn't an act of violence.

It was an act of justice.

It was an act to make sure that for the rest of his life, he will never be able to forget what he did.

people will always know Ben Yeager, at that time a human kitten with an egg that will go, that will be with him for the rest of his life.

And that's what he deserves for failing those drugs tests.

So many times fighters, they failed drug tests.

They serve a little band, they pay a fine.

They're back in the ring and people kind of just forget, kinda just get swept under, oh I don't talk about that.

Come on, you know, he's doing so well now, come on.

He served his time.

No, no, no, no. This kid is not, he's not getting that.

I'm going to put this egg across his chin.

There's going to be pictures that are going to circulate around the world.

That memory will stay with him for the rest of his life.

He will, he will always be known for that.

Why was it an egg? Why did he get it with an egg?

Oh, because he was treating it with drugs and there was a contaminated egg or something like that.

I want that story to live with him.

There's a rematch clause.

I'm assuming the rematch clause, I don't know how these things work, but I'm assuming you get paid the same again.

You get paid more. You get paid more to do the rematch. Absolutely.

Really? Yeah. You know, that's business.

You know, the fight will be bigger.

Okay. The fight will sell more pay -per -views.

It will sell more tickets.

it will, there will be a, you can't, you know, you can't get paid the same.

If you lose, you get paid less.

That's how boxing works.

So if you'd lost this fight you would have got paid less?

Significantly less?

I mean it would still be incredible numbers.

But yes. And you'd lose millions.

If you lose the fight.

For sure. Interesting.

But that's, you know, that's not just because we're working with the Saudis, that's boxing in general.

They say in boxing you're only as good as your last fight.

But if you win, you can demand more the next time.

If you lose, well, you lost. So we're going to give you this.

So this rematch clause, if you decided to walk away now or Conor decided to walk away now, is there any penalty?

That's a good question.

I don't know if there's a penalty.

Well, yeah, I'm, maybe I could be sued.

Okay. Yeah, there's probably, you know, all that stuff I have, you know, lawyers that deal out all the small print.

But, you know, in all honesty, you know, I was like, you guys want to sign a rematch cause for this?

No one's going to want to see a rematch after I do this what I'm going to do to you.

That's what was in my head.

I was like, they're contracting me.

They have to deliver a rematch. They have to pay me this amount of money minimum.

this is amazing, because I'm going to go out there, I'm going to blast this guy out, and then you know people are probably aren't going to want to see a rematch. So this is amazing that I'm going to actually get it contracted in now.

Did you even think that in the day before the fight when you were struggling?

Did you even think you were going to blur him out?

Even when you were struggling?

That's how much I didn't respect the not even the ability, because I knew he had ability, But the mindset will get people around you Encouraging you or floating the idea of you pulling out of the fight because of your health condition I Never said I had a health condition you are you know kind of Listening to what I've said and that's what you've taken away from it.

I'm not confirming or denying that just to make that clear I'm not going to answer that question either.

Okay. So does that mean that there is going to be the rematch this year?

I mean, contractually, that is what is on paper.

Taki's already booked the arena, I hear.

He's already booked it in September.

I doubt that it's already been booked, but, you know, they have their plans, they have their direction and, you know, with the Saudis, when they want something, they get it.

You know, nobody stops them from doing what they want to do.

So it's very likely that that fight will happen again at some point this year.

And do you want that fight next?

I want what the fans want.

And, you know, if the fans want to see it next, who am I to say no?

You know, it's a fight that's inspired people.

I got friends calling me up, messaging me, oh my son, I took my son down to the boxing gym for the first time today.

Like it's getting kids into gyms. You know, I never wanted to box, he plays football every day.

Now he's in the boxing gym.

He send me pictures of him in the bags and stuff.

It's amazing. Crazy.

How much better do you think you could be as a percentage?

You know, you dance back in your corner now.

You're going to be a bit more versed in, I guess, preparation with the weight cut or whatever.

You pointed out a few things you said you would have done differently.

Well, I've fought him.

I've lived with him for 12 rounds.

I know what he is, what he's capable of.

So in that aspect, the next fight for me should be a hell of a lot easier, because you know I'm one of them fighters you know all I need is, all I need is to experience at one time.

And then I know what to do with you.

And that's how I've always been, especially in, like, sparring.

I remember the first time I ever went into a gym, I can't remember if I told you the story, but I got my ass battered for three rounds.

The first time I ever went to a boxing gym.

But I knew what he was.

I knew how strong he was.

I knew how fast he was.

I knew the type of punches he threw.

So after two months of training and preparation, I got back into the ring with that same guy And I battered him.

That's all I thought about.

You know. So I believe the same thing will happen with Connor.

I won the first fight.

And I got to experience what he is.

There's so many things I know now about him that I can practice, perfect, tweak, tailor my performance to, to take advantage of his weaknesses.

And he will probably do the same with me.

But my experience is so more superior to what he is, in terms of what I've done and the guys I've faced.

I know how to capitalize on being in a ring with somebody before that he doesn't.

I've been in rematches before.

I've rematched Liam Smith who beat me in the first fight.

And the second fight blew him out of the water.

So I know what it is to do that.

He doesn't. Was Conor faster than you were expecting?

Yep. Was he stronger than you were expecting?

Yep. Stronger, faster, tougher.

And more, most importantly is...

more mentally prepared...

and more mentally willing to put it all on the line.

That was the most shocking thing to me.

I didn't think he...

had that in him to stay in there and show that dog.

We both had to be dogs at the end of that fight.

And throughout the entire fight, I didn't know he had any dog in him.

I thought he was a type of guy.

If it's not going my way, I'm gonna look for a way out.

He's not that guy. So how does that feel knowing now that you're getting into the ring again potentially in September this year with someone who is absolutely unwilling to quit.

That is an absolute dog.

That is also learnt from you.

Is there not an element of you that goes, fuck, I know, I'd, you know, I'd rather avoid that.

I've got eight figures in the bank and, you know, I could, I could buy a boat.

I could chill or I could go back in that ring with that dog and might bust my eye and be back in hospital.

I'm gonna have to go through the cut, weight cut again and dehydration again.

And... You know, I'm sick in that way in that I love being in these positions where...

What's going to happen?

Am I going to be able to do it?

I live for that. I live for those moments.

These are the moments that when I'm 60, 70, 80 years old, I'm going to look around and be like, wow, I did that.

You're sick in the head.

Well, you have to be sick to be in a fight like that, come out of the ring a week later and think, you know what?

I can't wait to do that again.

That is kind of sick.

You know, I'm dehydrated, I'm caught, I'm tired, I'm in pain.

There's something sick about it, but you have to be wired differently to be a fighter of any type of grade.

You can't be a normal human being.

Most human beings, when they're in painful situations, what can I do to avoid that?

I want to get into it more, see how far I can go.

Can he break me? No. But let's find out if he can.

So talk to me about the walkout.

The fight was legendary, the build -up was legendary, but the walkout was also legendary.

I watched the walkout 50 times.

Yeah, I watched it about 15 times.

It was iconic. It made me fall in love with the Dre song.

Yeah, that's my anthem.

That's the song I've been walking up to for my entire career.

So to have an orchestra playing that behind me was special.

It's simply the best as well?

Yeah, simply the best. Which I'm guessing was a last minute edition.

Absolutely. We're supposed to have an artist. We were in talks with Central C.

He was going to bring me out.

And then, you know, the last minute, my old man came into the picture and, you know, we had to cut out all these other things we were going to do.

Your dad requested a song, didn't he?

So he said, what do you want from me?

What do you think I want?

I said, I don't know, Dad.

You want a hug? He said, I don't want anything.

And then later on, he said, you know what, there's one thing, there's a song that I want you to play at some point in the walkout.

And I'm like, here we go.

We've already got simply the best. We've got a whole orchestra for my song, Dr. Dre.

How are we going to squeeze in some random song I've never heard of?

But, my old man's my old man.

And I was actually kind of annoyed because I'm like, you know, the truth is you haven't been around.

You have been a part of the fight.

You haven't been a part of the whole setup.

We've had all these things, you know, preparing for the show.

And now all of a sudden, you know, you're coming in and you're saying you want this song.

I'm like, you know what?

You being there is what's important.

And if you're saying that's what you want, we will find a way to put it in.

And I listened to the song, and I was like, I didn't get it.

I thought, that was just one of my old man's kooky requests that, you know.

Even on the night, I'm up on the stage, we walk up onto the stage and look out into the crowd.

There's simply the best song stops.

And in my head I'm thinking, oh man, that would have been so much better to just keep that going, you know.

And then this kind of ethereal tune pops out over the stadium.

And I'm looking out into the crowd, and I'm starting to see people well up.

I'm like, jeez this guy, how does this guy do?

He always, even when you think he's crazy or wrong, he's right.

And this song was like, it just worked perfectly with the whole scene.

Me and my old man finally standing together and there's this like peaceful song that comes in and we're together and it's like a beautiful moment that I never thought would happen.

That wouldn't have happened if it was just simply the best because it's a different vibe.

It took the energy out and it went boom!

And for everyone to focus on what was actually happening.

So we're there and we're listening to this song and it's an amazing moment.

And then it dropped into the orchestra.

It was just perfect.

And it dropped into the beat as you started walking, it was iconic.

And it's like, you can't script this type of stuff.

People say, I keep hearing people saying oh I was like WWE.

Like you know, but in real life.

And I've never watched WWE so I don't really know what that means.

But someone was telling me, you know, well, obviously everything's scripted, but they act like it isn't.

So like the commentators and, you know, but it's all so it was like that.

But it was real and it was happening in front of everyone for the first time.

everyone's like what and these were real reactions it wasn't it wasn't fake the way your dad like stepped out the car and put one leg out and then you hear the commentators like scream.

it was yeah it was - even that moment so it's like you know if I was on that side of the car because we're in the Rolls -Royce but what if I was on that side so then we park up and then it's me that gets out obviously it's it's still a very cool moment but it's different when it's That was a good moment for him to be shown, you know.

And then I come in from the side and we hug and we walk in.

And you couldn't hear that the arena had erupted.

No, I didn't know until people were talking about it.

Billy Joe. He tried to get into your dressing room to do your hand wraps, caused a scene outside with our friend Nappa, who I've known a long, long time.

Billy Joe. You had a fight with him in the past. He got the decision in that fight but it was a contentious fight.

How do you feel about Billy Joe?

There's very few people in the sport, in the planet really, that I genuinely dislike.

He is one of those people.

Who do you dislike more, Connor Bennett or Billy Joe?

Well Billy Joe is a drug cheat too.

So Billy Joe, yeah because not only is he a drug cheater but he is actually a real scummy human being you know.

And I don't talk about anybody like this.

So if I'm saying it about him there's a reason.

He is a bad, bad person, a terrible advocate for the sport, just a real low -life human being.

And I don't say that about any of the guys I fought.

I'm not even saying that about Conor, even though he cheated, he's still somebody that, You know, I can see some of the things he does and I can see why people will like him.

There's nothing to like about Billy Joe Saunders.

And for that reason, I would love to get my hands on him, because he does have a win over me that I don't believe he deserves, that many people say that he doesn't deserve.

A lot of people say I won the fight.

and it's kind of something that's been hanging over me for so long.

And I just know that I can be him and I just know how much of an enjoyment it would be for me to set that record straight.

So, that's another fight that's a possibility in the future.

So if you could draw your future, if you could plot your next three fights and you had to decide right now, what would those next three fights be?

In a perfect world.

I feel like the demand for this Connor Benn fight.

Is at an all time high right now.

So I feel like that would be the fight to make next.

Then you have Canelo, that is a fight that I've been wanting for.

And you know, the years, and I would love to share the ring with that man, and then we could throw saunas in at the end of it, you know?

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I have to play you this video, which has gone viral, you know this video.

I mean, I often tell Christopher that boxing is a business that you never see middle -class or upper -class youngsters become champion because you need hunger, you need to be hungry and the fact that you've kind of been brought up within these four walls here and you've been protected I don't think you're gonna be hard enough.

I just want to try, I just want to see what it's about.

If my enemy can do it, why can't I do it?

That's the argument.

Have so many people come to understand you take a beating is this what its about?

No, not for me and I hope that you are not stubborn and kind of...

That's what you're, you're stubborn and bullheaded, that's why you've made it.

So you're saying he can now you don't want him to be stubborn and bullheaded.

Listen you know for the guys you don't make an unboxing, you know, it's tragic.

it's a tragic business to be in.

But I know. You're convinced he's not going to make it, just let him go until he boils himself out of it and he's not bothered anymore.

Yeah, and by then, all those good looking features would have gone.

You know what they say?

Let me tell you what, trust me.

Don't you, Christopher, just leave it alone.

And you know what? OK, so this is Christopher.

Remember what they said, right?

OK, am I bad looking?

Right. OK. Why are you putting that into the kid's head?

Because I don't want him to fight.

I don't want him to fight.

Everyone gets hurt.

Everyone gets defliggenated.

everybody get you what you're seeing is irrelevant at this time because it may not happen it's like worrying about what might not happen you let me let me just bring this point to you i would never want when i have kids for my daughter to be in the car crash so what do i do i say i'm not buying your car and you can't drive is that the right thing to do?

I just want to try it.

okay, okay, I will um I'll let you try.

All you've got to do is tell me the word. If you tell me, I'll help you.

okay? Darragh, I already said yes.

Stop saying things I know.

I want to do it. You want to do it?

Yeah! okay. As there's one to watch, there'll be one to watch. But, I so hope there's one in Moxie.

What's going on there in that video that I just played?

Fear, that's a father who is, is thinking about all the things he's gone through, and fearing that his son will walk into that, you know, into that industry, You walk down that path and have to go through all those things that he went through, that he worked so hard to kind of keep his family away from.

So you've got Lennox Lewis siding with you, and that's your mother.

And she's also trying to persuade him to let you have a shot at boxing.

When you watch that video now after everything that happened with the fight we just all watched, where there was almost 70 ,000 people in an arena, people watching all over the world, it's been this global phenomenon, not just in the UK.

But I was in America and this weekend and it's the people are talking about it there How does it feel to look back at that video?

Scary man, it's scary.

I Mean everything he's saying is right He's completely right, you know Boxing is a tragic sport for the people that make you get disfigured and used You know disfigured I've been used plenty of times It's scary to think about how far we've come from that moment in time.

All the things I've gone through, the things I've done.

And he had every right to feel the way he did.

because champions, hard men don't come from those backgrounds that you saw.

That was filmed in a multi -million pound house.

I went to private school the next day after that interview.

Kids that live that life don't accomplish anything in such a barbaric sport, because there's just too much pain and suffering you have to go through.

And there's too many times where naturally you'll look for ways out.

Now, the kids that come from broken homes, poverty, and, you know, nothing.

They don't have any other doors to open and walk through.

so when they go to the gym and when they go into these fights, if I don't get through this door, I don't eat, I can't pay the rent, I can't feed my family.

For me, when I'm looking at that door that I have to go through, whether it's in a gym or in a fight, I know that if I don't make it through that door.

There's a door there and a door there and a door there and a door there.

And if I'm experiencing too much pain to get to that door knob to open it, I can just step back.

You know what? All right.

Let's go over here.

Football, business, acting.

I could do whatever I wanted with the position I was in as a kid.

I still wanted to walk through that horrible, painful, nasty boxing door, and open that door and you walk through the door and you get punched in the stomach. And you go through that and then you go walk through the door and you get cut above your eye.

And just keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking.

And there's all these other doors, say, come, come, come, come, come, come.

We'll just, just take the easy route, take the easy route.

No, I'm staying here.

So, it was so much harder for me to do what I was doing, because there was so many other choices.

And my father thought that as soon as I reached that first door, I'd be like, you know what?

Nah. He said it, I'm not going to be hard enough.

And nine times out of ten, kids are not hard enough in that position.

but I was hell bent on proving him wrong and proving myself right.

I knew what I had in me.

I felt what I had in me, anyway.

I didn't know. You never know until you're in those positions, but I just, the strength and the, you know, that feeling inside of me was so visceral.

I was like, there's no way I can't do this.

Like, if I put everything into this, how can I fail?

Maybe he was calling you a bluff.

That's another crazy thing that I used to think about.

Was he saying this to make me...

to make me push harder?

Because he's thinking, all right, well, if I say, oh, he'll be great, when he gets to those painful positions...

he's already kind of got my...

I've already got his blessing.

So it's like, oh, well, you know, he's behind me anyway, regardless.

So, you know, I tried my best. Or does he want me to be at that front door thinking my man, he said I couldn't do it.

Am I going to let him be right?

No. Well, he did put a chip on your shoulder in that regard. For sure.

Massive, massive. I saw the press conference with you and Eddie Hand, and Frank Smith is like your brother -in -law?

Unfortunately, yes, he is.

He and my sister have been together for a long, long time, which is an extremely wild thing to think that… The CEO of MapTroom Boxing is basically your brother -in -law?

Yeah, you know… Do you get along?

No, absolutely not.

You don't get along?

No. We were okay. We were fine for a couple of years, for a number of years.

I even spent Christmases with them, but it got to a stage where...

I started to see Matrim, Eddie Hearn and himself trying to block me in terms of the business side of the sport.

You know, I am with a promotional company called Boxer.

Boxer and Matrim, which is Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith are, you know, deathly enemies, they are arch -rivals.

So they do anything they can to screw over Boxer.

I'm with Boxer. So Frank Smith is trying to sabotage, or was trying to sabotage certain things going on in my career, being a part of Mattroon.

As soon as I learned that, it doesn't matter that you're in a relationship with my sister.

We are not, you know, we are never gonna talk again.

We are never gonna be cordial again.

You are working against me.

He was sitting in that arena on Saturday night, praying that I lose.

Why didn't you sign to Mattroon?

Did you try? They, they, they offered.

Why did you say no?

I don't trust Eddie Herne.

I don't trust Frank Smith.

I don't trust Materam.

These people are, they're dangerous.

And, you know, it's, it's, it's crazy to think that, yeah, he is with my sister.

I don't know how that relationship came about, but love is a peculiar thing.

And you're good with your sister, obviously.

Of course. Of course.

She was there in your corner for the fight.

Yeah. And I was actually thinking, I'm going to ask her, how does it go?

Like, you know, you guys go back home together, you guys are lying in bed.

I've just won. Connor Ben's just lost. What do you guys like say to each other, you know?

like, because Frank is distraught that, that, that Connor Ben lost, you know, that's their golden boy, that's their ticket.

You know, I'm my sister's, I'm my sister's brother.

So you've got two completely opposite sides in the same bed.

What do you guys say to each other?

You know, it's just, I want to ask that question.

We have a closing traditional on this podcast with the last guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they're leaving it for.

And the question left for you is if If you could listen to one album for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

One album for the rest of my life it would have to be something timeless something that can be something that lasts you know so it would have to be something like Michael Jackson thriller you know a classic something that in 200 years time you're gonna still have kids listening to it.

That yeah this is this is my jam right here.

Um... Yeah, I guess that would be the album.

Chris, thank you so much for giving all of us, as boxing fans, a moment that we will never forget.

I do have to say, I've been to a lot of boxing fights all over the world.

And one of my favorite fights was this Lomachenko fight that I saw in New York, but without a shadow of a doubt, that is the best boxing fight I've ever seen in person.

And not just because of the fight itself, but because of all of the subplots and all of the inspiration it gives everybody.

watching you go into that 12th round with Connor, and give everything when it was so abundantly clear that you had nothing in the tank, sends a message to all of us that there's so much more within us that we probably don't always realize.

And sometimes it takes, you know, the family legacy or something deep and profound and meaningful for us to find that in ourselves.

But even as you talked about the, you know, I've had certain challenges with my family's family over the years and with my parents, with my mother and these kinds of things.

And there's been fractures and years where I was disowned on all these kinds of things.

And I saw myself in all of that.

You know, my mother had some struggles that she went through which was somewhat similar in elements to the struggles that your father went through.

And I know what it feels like.

I know what it feels like.

So it just gave, it gave everybody so much. And I'm so glad you've been able to go out onto the streets for the first time since the fight and feel that because you brought so much joy.

Both of you, both you and Conor, both so much joy, So much inspiration and memories that I will tell my kids about, and I'll say I was there for that fight.

And I'm so happy for you as well because I know the career journey you've been on and the twists and turns and everything.

So I'm so glad that the public got to know all of you.

Not just the cold faced guy that throws a good uppercut, but the human as well.

And it's in part, I think, because of some of the difficult moments you've been through, like you've stepped out a little bit more and become more comfortable with showing the world all that you are.

And that's the most valuable Chris that I think the world can see.

So, thank you, really, really appreciative.

And I can't wait to see these next couple of fights you have as you close out what has been a remarkable career.

Thank you. This has always blown my mind a little bit.

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[Chris Eubank Jr.: The Unfiltered Truth Behind the Historic Ring War]-[Chris Eubank Jr: I Was Paid $**** For The Fight! The Night Before, My Dad Finally Opened Up!]

📋 Summary

The Crucible of Combat: Beyond the Physical

The Weight of Demons and Restrictions

The Reconciliation: A Father-Son Dynamic

Tragedy and Resilience: The Memory of Sebastian

Principles and Rivalries

A Legacy of Sacrifice

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript