Chris Eubank Jr: I Was Paid $**** For The Fight! The Night Before, My Dad Finally Opened Up!

Chris Eubank Jr. (0:00)

You're the first person I've really spoken to about this type of stuff. I was in hospital after the fight. 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, some of them are 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 gonna die.

Steven Bartlett (0:24)

Chris, you haven't really spoken since that 12th round with Conor. How do you rate your own performance?

Chris Eubank Jr. (0:29)

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.

SPEAKER_3 (0:41)

Use the jab, Chris. Use your feet.

Chris Eubank Jr. (0:43)

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.

Steven Bartlett (1:06)

Was Connor faster than you were expecting? Yep. Was he stronger than you were expecting?

Chris Eubank Jr. (1:10)

Yep, when it was about who wants it more. My old man's there. I've got to show him I'm capable of great things. We have been estranged for years.

Steven Bartlett (1:18)

But what caused that relationship to strain?

Chris Eubank Jr. (1:21)

I sent him a letter and that broken, I get emotional thinking about this.

Steven Bartlett (1:27)

What did that letter say? Quick one before we get back to this episode, just give me 30 seconds of your time. Two things I wanted to say. The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning in to the show week after week. It means the world to all of us and this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Back to the episode.

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.

Chris Eubank Jr. (2:31)

Fucking crazy is pretty accurate. Yeah, it was a fight that I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting to be involved in.

I genuinely thought that I was going to go in there, I was going to have my way with this kid, blow him out of the water, you know, watch him quit, watch him crumble under the pressure. That's really what I thought was going to happen. And thank God that I was wrong. Because if that had happened, it would not be a fight that is now going to be remembered for ever. 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 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, may 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 underwhelming, to say the least. And those three fights, the total amount of punches landed was less than just the fight with me and Connor. So the fight with me and Connor, I think we landed maybe 1500 punches. In their three fights in total, only 1400 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 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 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.