Former boxer Chris Eubank talks about the film 'One Night in Millstreet' - the extraordinary story of the build-up to his fight with Steve Collins in Millstreet in 1995. Listen back above.
Former professional boxer and WBO world champion Chris Eubank claims that he is not special, that anyone can do what he has done; but listening to him talk to Oliver Callan about the new documentary ‘One Night in Millstreet’, it’s hard not to see him as a man of extraordinary natural talent, coupled with an iron discipline in every aspect of his training, his dress and his personal presentation.
The documentary charts the build-up to Eubank’s 1995 defence of his world title against Irish boxer Steve Collins – a fight which the underdog Collins took against all odds. Eubank gives his take on Collins’ victory on the night:
"I told you, I’m just a guy, anyone can do it, you just have to have the correct state of mind, and the correct state of mind is what Tony Quinn put and enabled Steve Collins to have. So I congratulate him, I congratulate Steve. And I’m so happy when I go back to thinking about what that did for Ireland. Ireland was popping that night."
Chris Eubank has reaped a kind of victory from such a high-profile defeat at the hand of Collins in the Green Glens Arena. He praises Steve’s win, by claiming that the Irish boxer achieved the impossible in defeating him. Eubank says he loves the movie treatment of the event:
"Let me tell you, this movie is a bombshell. It’s a beautiful movie. Because when you look at Steve, this is about Steve Collins. This film proves to anyone who watches it, that they can do anything. Because for Steve to beat me was not possible. It wasn’t possible."
Collins had engaged the services of motivational speaker Tony Quinn to help him mentally prepare for the fight, and create a persona that would carry him through from public appearances to the ring. Collins turned out at the press conference dressed as an ‘Irish Country Gentleman’ and broke into speaking in Irish from time to time. Eubank says that the technique threw him and that Tony Quinn successfully used Eubank’s own commitment to mental preparation - and exquisite tailoring - against him:
"Why wouldn’t they unnerve me? I’m a serious man. I’m not doing it as a game. Everything that’s to do with the boxing, I take on board and I analyse it – that’s why I became champion."
Oliver Callan puts it to the British boxer that the way in which Collins questioned Eubank’s identity as an Englishman of Jamaican and African descent was maybe a step too far? Eubank pushes back, arguing that it was fair game – it was the only way to beat him, he says:
"Well no, no - you have no other choice – you have to get into my mind. You have to unnerve me."
He says in fighting terms, Collins did exactly what he had to do to win. He sums up the challenge Collins put to him in advance of the fight:
"You– you say you’re an Englishman, we know you’re an Englishman, you act like an Englishman, but you - you’re an African. What have you done for the Africans? He won the fight at that particular, that’s what won him the fight."
Eubank appears not to blame his opponent for using "mind games" to get the win:
"All of that, it made my spirit angry and when you’re angry, you’re not thinking of the objective, which is to score points."
Collins victory in Millstreet came via a unanimous decision. Eubank appears to have some reservations about that decision:
"The decision of that fight, it may have been, um… iffy."
At the time, he kept that view that to himself - a decision he's proud of, he says:
"I’ve never complained about it, because that is not a gentleman. That is not how a gentleman behaves. You always accept a defeat, irrespective of how you feel, because that then shows the champion that you are."
Looking back over his distinguished career, Eubank describes what an extraordinary thing it is, to put your life on the line for the sake of a boxing match:
"You can end up not walking again. You can end up losing your life in there."
Professional boxing is a uniquely dangerous activity, he says. In fact, it is not even a sport, in his view; it bears a closer resemblance to the savagery and bloodshed of the Roman circus:
"I know what this is. It is not a sport. Football is a sport. Team things, kick a ball, pass it. When you’re getting hit, that’s not a sport. That’s called modern-day gladiating. A few hundred years ago, you didn’t leave the amphitheatre with your life."
Eubank was said to have been deeply affected by his victory against Michael Watson, who he fought just four years before the clash with Collins in Millstreet. Watson was left with life-changing injuries following that fight, but the two men have since become great friends, a relationship which he describes to Oliver as "a great love." The peril of the ring was nonetheless part of the attraction for him; he says he took part, knowing what could happen:
"This is the ultimate danger. This is being alive."
The conversation touches on tragedy in Eubank’s personal life, when he lost one of his sons, Sebastian, just days before his 30th birthday. The boxer doesn’t dwell on the loss, preferring to focus on what he has learnt and what he believes the world can learn, from watching Collins’ surprise victory against him:
"Steve Collins, thank you. Thank you for your lesson. You are a wonder."
One Night in Mill Street is in cinemas now.
Listen back here for more great interviews with Oliver Callan.