By James Slater – Remember when, at the peak of his fame in Great Britain, WBO middleweight king called boxing “a mug’s game?” Well, the 45-year-old legend might just be about to risk making a mug of himself by making a sensational return to the ring some 14 years after his last fight!
The monocle-wearing, eccentric former two-weight champ had admitted he has felt the urge to fight again after watching his son box; even to the extent of getting in touch with former archrival and fellow Brit Nigel Benn.. Eubank told U.K tabloid The Sun that he urged Benn, also long since retired, to “do it again.”
“I’m a light-heavyweight now and when I look at 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins I think, ’if he can do it why can’t I?’ To get back in the gym now? Wow. To be hit again, to be hit in the chest, to be able to withstand a shot to the face, that is a dream for me, it is my fantasy.
“I was even talking to Nigel Benn and I said, ‘Come on kid, we’ve got to get it back on.’ It would be a fantasy for me to box again, especially on the same bill as my son.”
So, is Eubank – a genuine love-to-hate figure in the early to mid 1990s, until he suddenly gained popularity after his brave but losing effort to new star Joe Calzaghe in 1997 – serious, or is he simply being clever in drumming up added publicity for his son’s fledgling pro career?
Eubank is 45-years-old today (46 in August), yet he looks to have kept himself in shape. Looking trim and solid, Eubank didn’t take way too much punishment in his career, aside from the last two or three bouts at the end (to cruiserweight Carl Thompson and to Calzaghe). Stranger things have happened than a Eubank comeback. I can’t in any way see Benn coming back himself, though.
Eubank did say that he will only make a return to the ring if he gets public approval first.
“First I would need public backing,” he said. “I would never want to do anything to compromise the respect I seem to have as a boxer.”
One of the most complex and hard to understand athletes you could care to name, it’s hard to tell if Eubank is serious about a comeback or not. But one thing is sure: fans would tune in to watch the return of “Simply The Best” if it did actually happen.
Eubank is currently 45-5-2(23) – could those numbers be about to change?