British boxing legend Chris Eubank was mugged in London yesterday, in broad daylight, as the former WBO middleweight and WBO super-middleweight champ stepped out of a bank. Eubank was attacked from behind, the thief grabbing his expensive Louis Vuitton bag and then running away down the street at a fast pace. Eubank, who is always well dressed in expensive designer clothing, spoke to the media after the “brazen” attack.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned,” the 55 year old said to The Evening Standard. “He couldn’t have known who I was because he wouldn’t have tried it. He was just looking at the prize. It was over in seconds and he was down the road like a sprinter with a baton. I thought, ‘he must be the country’s most brazen crook.’ But it’s a sign of the times – they don’t care about confronting someone like me, so nobody is immune.”
Eubank, a genuinely eccentric person if ever there was one, added how the thing that most upset him was the fact that there were some Belgian chocolates in the bag, and that he did not have the chance to finish eating them! This is a pretty light-hearted story, even if robbery is no laughing matter. But it could have been much worse. We lost the great Vernon Forrest to thieves who were stealing his car and shot the former champion as he gave chase. And quite recently in Mexico, thieves had the sheer nerve to mug the great Julio Cesar Chavez; THE greatest Mexican fighter ever.
It’s not worth thinking about what might have happened had Eubank gave chase today, if his attacker was in fact armed. As Eubank says, acts such as this really are a sign of the times. Eubank, who retired with a 45-5-2(23) record back in the 1990s, remains a household figure in the UK and he and former bitter rival Nigel Benn are soon to embark on a UK tour in which they will come together and speak about their two epic ring encounters.