Chris Eubank – Medical Elastic Bandage Manufacturer – Quality Medical Supplies Manufacturer

Early life
Christopher Livingstone Eubanks (later opting to delete the ‘s’ from his surname) was born on 8 August, 1966, in Dulwich, London and spent his early days in Jamaica (from two months old to six years old). On his return, he lived in Stoke Newington, Dalston, Hackney and then Peckham; largely poverished.
Chris attended Bellingden Junior School, and then Thomas Carlton Secondary School from where he was suspended eighteen times in one year and then expelled, despite claiming he was gallantly trying to protect other children from bullies. He then attended Peckham Manor School, from where he was suspended five times in four weeks and then also expelled for the same reason. Chris was then put into care and spent time in various institutions under the care of Social Services.
At the age of 16, his father sent him to New York to live with his mother in the tough South Bronx district.
Boxing career
Eubank made a fresh start in New York, beating alcohol addictions and quitting herb smoking (although the herb is knowledge, smoking cannot be good for any endurance sport) and shoplifting to attend church and school. In his spare time he trained at the Jerome Boxing Club on Westchester Avenue, following in the footsteps of his boxing elder brothers (twins, Peter and Simons Eubanks) back in England. Eubank became obsessed with boxing training and went to the gym every day, even working as caretaker to pay his way. He won the 1984 Spanish Golden Gloves Tournament and also got to the semi-final stage of the main Golden Gloves tourney at Madison Square Garden at aged 18.
He writes in his autobiography that his drive to succeed in boxing came through his drive to become an accepted individual, largely down to subjective bullying from his elder brothers.
He made his professional debut at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino against Tim Brown, shortly after his 19th birthday. About his next 10 fights went largely unnoticed, then in February 1989 he made brief headlines in defeating Jamaican Anthony Logan in an undercard match to a Nigel Benn-headlined show. Benn was arguably the biggest rising star in European sport at the time and Logan had come closest to beating the power-punching Benn in what was Benn’s most memorable clash to date. Eubank had already made Brighton in England his adopted hometown and his sights set on Benn, believing he could beat him.
After a string of impressive stoppage victories following a dominant 10-round decision over American ‘gatekeeper’/’journeyman’ Randy Smith, Eubank captured the WBC International title in 1990. Later in the year, he knocked out an opponent named Renaldo Dos Santos in precisely 20 seconds (including the 10-count!). Before long, he’d won the WBO World middleweight title against Benn (and the odds) in a classic encounter that was later released on DVD. Eubank would defend the title successfully against Dan Sherry, Gary Stretch and finally in an excellent match with Michael Watson. This concluded Eubank’s career as a middleweight, with a 28-0 record.
He was particularly noted for his confidence, concentration and composure, plus an extravangence that had rarely – if ever – been seen before in boxing. That extravagence included a vault over the top-rope into the ring before each fight. His trademark theme tune was Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” anthem. It also included often-hilarious posturing (particularly between rounds of fights).
A rematch with Watson took place in September 1991 at which Watson suffered a near-fatal injury. Eubank was behind on all scorecards when he rose from the canvas at the end of the 11th round to unleash a devastating uppercut to Watson’s jaw. Early in the 12th, Watson collapsed. His condition may have been worsened by delay in receiving medical attention. Eubank contemplated quitting the sport. Commentator Reg Gutteridge claimed he had; “never seen a more dramatic end to a world title fight”.
Eubank had largely been seen as a public hate figure in Britain for some time around that time, due to a percieved arrogance and the UK tabloid press pushing that misconception. In reality, Eubank was probably just a very proud young man. Outspoken as well as courageous, in boxing circles he was even more despised; having famously once referred to the sport as a ‘mugs game’ on national television.
Now the holder of a second title, the WBO World super middleweight championship, Eubank relinquished his middleweight title and concentrated on defending his new crown at the higher weight of 12st to which he was more suited. Eubank never again showed any desire to knock opponents out, preferring to retain his title through points victories.
Nigel Benn moved up to super-middleweight and became WBC champion. The pair agreed to meet in a WBC/WBO unification rematch. In 1993 the rivals would engage in another contest named ‘Judgement Day’ and, watched reportedly by a record 1 billion viewers worldwide, fought thrillingly to a draw.
Don King negotiated the contracts so that he would own both the winner and the loser of Eubank v Benn 2. Barry Hearn claimed that, as a draw was not written into the contract, Eubank was free to sign a new deal with him. He did.
Eubank, despite losing his ‘killer instinct’ after the Watson tragedy, continued to box and claim scalps. He beat former IBF World super-middleweight and future WBC World light-heavyweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani in Berlin. He also defeated former IBF World super-middleweight king Lindell Holmes, two-time WBC World super-middleweight champion “Sugarboy” Malinga, European champion Ray Close and American champion Ron Esset.
After the Benn rematch and the Rocchigiani victory, Eubank signed an eight-fight 10-million deal with Sky Sports for contests in Ireland, South Africa, Manchester, London and Millstreet. Events planned in Paris, Rome and the Middle East were cancelled when Eubank was defeated and lost his title and unbeaten record to Steve Collins in March 1995. In a rematch, Eubank knocked Collins down but lost again in a contentious split decision. He announced his retirement from the ring in October 1995, but made a quiet comeback in the Middle East the following year. His final appearance in a super middleweight title fight resulted in a loss on points to Joe Calzaghe who acknowledged that the 12-round fight was the toughest in his career. Eubank then challenged Carl Thompson for the WBO World cruiserweight title. Eubank floored Thompson in the forth round but refused to press home his advantage as was his custom since the rematch with Watson. The thrilling fight went the distance with Thompson’s strength and durability eventually telling in the later rounds. Thompson won by unanimous decision but the closeness of the fight was reflected in the scoring with two of the three judges giving the fight to Thompson by a single point. A rematch was quickly arranged for three months later and they again fought for the WBO cruiserwight championship in what turned out to be Eubank’s last fight. Eubank had the better of the fight in the rematch but the short rest between the bouts came back to haunt him as his left eye that was damaged in the first fight rapidly began to swell. The fight was stopped at the end of the ninth round when Eubank’s left eye closed completely from swelling. At the time Eubank was ahead on the scorecards. Eubank finished his career with a credible record of 45 wins and 5 losses.
Career outside of boxing
Away from boxing, Eubank comes across as an eccentric. He speaks with a lisp and in forged upper-class tones, dresses as a stereotypically upper-class Englishman (in jodhpurs, bowler hat and riding boots, and famously sports a monocle), drives unusual vehicles (including a customised Harley Davidson and a huge American Peterbilt 379 truck cab which is the largest truck in Europe) and carries a cane. At one time he owned the only Hummer in the U.K and Ireland.
In 1991 and 1993 he won the Britain’s Best Dressed Man award, given by the Menswear Association of Great Britain. In 1998 and 2001 he won the Gold Tie Pin Award. In 1993 and 1995 he won the Daily Express Best Dressed Sportsman award.
In 1991 Chris was the first celebrity to go on TV to talk about the ‘Breast Cancer’ charity, ‘Breakthrough’ when he launched the charity on GMTV.
In the early 1990s, Eubank was caricatured as a puppet on Spitting Image, at the time seen as something of a badge of honour among celebrities.
In 1994 he took over a prime site in the Brighton area, which he called ‘Buckingham Place’. He knocked down the building keeping the grade II faade intact and building 69 flats for the homeless, using 1,250,000 of his own money. The building was leased to the charity Sanctuary Housing Association with the lowest rents in the country. The Prince of Wales’s architect Dominic Richards was impressed with the project and they have discussed carrying out a similar one in London.
He featured on the front cover of Esquire magazine, April 1992 edition, and did a photoshoot for Esquire for the May 1992 edition. According to Rosie Boycott, sales of Esquire went up by 76% when Eubank was on the front cover.
In 1996, he was the guest presenter on Top of the Pops the week Suggs from Madness was at number six with a song called Cecilia; this was a move apparently made to capitalise on his minor speech impediment for humorous effect. The video of a boxer with a lisp saying ‘Six, Cecilia, by Suggs’ was shown on programmes such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks for a long time afterwards.
Eubank and his wife, Karron (married on 23 December, 1990 in Brighton), have four children (Christopher, born on 18 September, 1989, Sebastian, born on 18 July, 1991, Emily, born on 19 April, 1994, and Joseph, born on 23 October, 1996) and have over the years starred in various television programmes. In 2001, Eubank was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary entitled “When Louis Met…Chris Eubank”, in which Theroux and his camera crew accompany Eubank for a period. In 2003, they invited television cameras to follow their lives for nine months; the resulting show, At Home With The Eubanks, was broadcast on Five. In 2001, Eubank appeared in the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4, where he was the first celebrity to be ‘evicted’.
Despite the accident in 1991, Eubank and Michael Watson became close friends, with Eubank accompanying Watson for the final mile of the 2003 London Marathon, which Watsontill showing physical damage from the fight and taking more than six daysompleted to raise money for charity.
Eubank also had his own radio show on Talk Radio called Eubanks People, where he invited sports celebrities including Linford Christie, John Fashanu, Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed into the studio as guests.
He has featured in television advertisements (commercials) for Nescafe, the Royal Mail, McDonald’s, and Jaffa Cakes and has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and Versace.
In 1999, he launched the Dreamcast and in the same year, he appeared in his truck in the music video for the song Turn Around by Phats & Small. Also in 1999, Eubank was one of a small number of celebrities invited to the launch party of the Gumball 3000, as a friend of the founder Maximillion Cooper.
Karron petitioned for divorce from Eubank in August 2005.
In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Eubank was voted the second most eccentric star (after Bjrk). In the same year he was voted third in a Readers Digest poll of Britain Silliest Celebrities.
He has purchased the title of the Lord of the Manor of Brighton. He has used the ancient right of this position to appoint a town crier, Margaret Pracey, who operates in addition to a paid town crier employed by the local authority.
His hobbies include speaking, teaching, philosophy, reading quotations, fashion, dancing, poetry, driving around in his truck, and fighting (mentally and physically) legally.
Bankruptcy
In November 2005, Eubank was declared bankrupt, owing 1.3 million in taxes.
Anti-war activism
On Tuesday, 14 October 2003 Eubank was intercepted by police whilst driving around Parliament Square, Westminster, in his truck, which displayed the message “TONY BLAIR! MILITARY OCCUPATION CAUSES TERRORISM”. He completed a number of circuits before he was arrested and led handcuffed into a police van.
At approximately 15:40 GMT on February 22, 2007, Eubank was arrested outside Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall for a suspected breach of the peace after driving his truck through central London, emblazoned with a message condemning Tony Blair for sending Prince Harry to Iraq.. The banner read “BLAIR – Don’t send our young prince to your catastrophic illegal war, to make it look plausible!”.
On 23 May 2007 he was charged with making an unlawful anti-war protest after parking his seven-tonne truck outside Downing Street. On 16 November he failed to turn up at court over this, an arrest warrant was issued, and he was fined.
Ambassadorship
In October 2009, Eubank was appointed as the first ambassador for gambling charity GamCare, to support and encourage responsible gambling.
Religious beliefs
Eubank converted to Islam as an adult.
“When I realised I had sense, I was on my mother’s knee in church, so I was brought up with God being the cornerstone of my life, and my understanding of Islam is that if you are a good Christian then you are a Muslim. This view some would not agree with, however this is my view. So long as you believe in doing good and not promoting badness then you are God’s man or woman”. – Chris Eubank, 21 June 2006.
Dental Work
In September 2009 Eubank revealed his new dental work which he had undertaken to correct his famous lisp- at a cost of 31,000. The use of crowns, veneers, implants and a bridge had removed the gaps in his teeth and reduced the lisp to a mild whistle. He also claimed he wanted to win back his wife with his new smile.
See also
100 Worst Britons
List of Black Britons
List of converts to Islam
Islam in the African diaspora
Chris Eubank Jr.
References
The Times, page 22, 2 September 2005.
Notes
^ Culf, Andrew (2007-02-23), Eubank arrested after Whitehall protest over prince’s deployment, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/feb/23/iraq.iraq1, retrieved 2008-07-27 
^ Fordyce, Tom (2003-04-19). “Poignant end to Watson’s epic journey”. BBC News Online (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/london_marathon_2003/2958573.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-03. 
^ poll
^ Indymedia article
^ “Eubank arrested in Whitehall demo”. BBC News Online (BBC). 2007-02-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6387231.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-22. 
^ Arrest warrant issued for Eubank
^ “Chris Eubank joins fight against problem gambling”. communitynewswire.press.net. http://www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=6212042. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
External links
Chris Eubank Official Website
Professional boxing record for Chris Eubank from Boxrec
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Housemates of Celebrity Big Brother (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2001
Jack Dee  Claire Sweeney  Keith Duffy  Anthea Turner  Vanessa Feltz  Chris Eubank
Celebrity Big Brother 2002
Mark Owen  Les Dennis  Melinda Messenger  Sue Perkins  Anne Diamond  Goldie
Celebrity Big Brother 2005
Bez  Kenzie  Brigitte Nielsen  Jeremy Edwards  Caprice Bourret  Lisa I’Anson  John McCririck  Jackie Stallone  Germaine Greer
Celebrity Big Brother 2006
Chantelle Houghton  Michael Barrymore  Maggot  Preston  Pete Burns  Traci Bingham  Dennis Rodman  George Galloway  Rula Lenska  Faria Alam  Jodie Marsh
Celebrity Big Brother 2007
Shilpa Shetty  Jermaine Jackson  Dirk Benedict  Ian “H” Watkins  Danielle Lloyd  Jack Tweed  Cleo Rocos  Jo O’Meara  Jade Goody  Carole Malone  Leo Sayer  Jackiey Budden  Ken Russell  Donny Tourette
Celebrity Big Brother 2009
Ulrika Jonsson  Terry Christian  Coolio  Verne Troyer  Ben Adams  Tommy Sheridan  La Toya Jackson  Michelle Heaton  Mutya Buena  Tina Malone  Lucy Pinder
Celebrity Big Brother 2010
Alex Reid  Dane Bowers  Vinnie Jones  Jonas Altberg  Stephanie Beacham  Nicola Tappenden  Ivana Trump  Sisq  Stephen Baldwin  Lady Sovereign  Heidi Fleiss  Ekaterina Ivanova
Categories: British boxers | British Muslims | Converts to Islam | People from Dulwich | WBO Champions | 1966 births | Living people | English people of Jamaican descent | Big Brother UK contestants | Black British sportspeopleHidden categories: Articles needing cleanup from January 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia introduction cleanup from January 2009