I met Eubank once whilst wandering around Knightsbridge in London on a sightseeing weekend with my son. It was tossing down with rain and he had just came out of a church with a lady. I asked him politely for a photo and he said “One second, I just want to get this lady into a taxi that’s waiting for us”. I swear I thought he would just jump in the taxi with her and drive off, but after getting the lady into the taxi he walked back along to where we were in that pouring rain and got his photo taken with us. I’ll never forget that, he could have easily just dismissed us and disappeared but he didn’t. He had time for us and was a proper gentleman.
Was waiting in Liverpool St for my train after work. Rush hour, thousands of ppl. I spotted two chaps from a mile off dressed and walking different from all the office workers. Instantly recognised him. Everyone else staring up to the departure boards. I got my phone out and amazingly he randomly veered in my direction. Stopped him, addressed him as Mr Eubank and asked if I could take a photo which he happily stopped to do. Thanked me and carried on. Top bloke.
Yeah he's a legend. We used to see him training in Brighton during the height of his career. He'd be jogging up and down the seafront. He'd always give us a wave, everyday.
Never had the pleasure of meeting Chris or any of these good guys. Great story about Chris he seems a proper gent and a very interesting and honest man.
I've never seen a boxer who could take a punch like eubank but there is one boxer other than Nigel Benn who ain't there and that's Michael Watson ,let's get one thing straight Watson was better than Benn and eubank something both have admitted
Classic how Steve Collin's was trying to say Roy Jones Jr ducked him and then Eubank started probing into why Collin's didn't fight Calzaghe. Eubank's a legend hahaha
Disagree, Collins went over tracked Roy down to his doorstep looking for that fight (Which Roy admits here) and Roy still ducked him. Roy then went on how there were other factors his promoters/manager. I understand why Collins was annoyed he tried hard to make that fight happen. I can understand why he didnt want Calzaghe then, he was prepared to take the stick of Calzaghe if the carrot of Jones was on offer. When it was clear he wasnt going to get Jones he didn't want Calzaghe. Calzaghe was risk with no reward.
@@XavierMarciano jones didn't duck Collins. none of collins' final 14 fights were in the US, and back then it was essential that if you wanted to fight the best fighters in the world (jones, Hopkins), then you fought in the states because it's the networks whose favour you want to garner. knocking on jones' door does bugger-all. so disrespectful to say that the P4P king who fought Hopkins and toney, would duck steve Collins. laughable too.
The fact that none of them sound 'punchy' makes me happy although that knobhead Collins certainly doesn't! Eubank is just fantastic btw, what a guy, a hell of a good fighter too, loved watching Collins stumbling over his excuses lol!
Was a terrific boxer and world champion. Didn't have a great rival at the time, eubank, benn and Watson had a great three way rivalry which helped their legacy as great fighters.
@quacquac 51 he beat them both when they were both finished after having wars in the ring and fights with terrible consequences for their opponents. Benn was shot to pieces when Collins fought him, and the only 2 big name wins on Collins record are Benn and Eubank when they were finished.
@quacquac 51 you are a typical deluded thick paddy, trying to big up your own people like you lot always do 🙄 Watch Benn fight Gerald McClellan, he is a completely different fighter than the shot fighter Collins fought. Collins doesn't have wins on his record against top Americans like McClellan and Iran Barkley. Keep deluding yourself that Roy Jones ducked Collina too 😂, more like Collins wasn't on his radar because he was only a name in Ireland, fighting for WBO titles that weren't even recognised as legitimate world titles in America in that era.
Richie Woodhall has so much class when he speaks, no wonder he's heavily involved in commentating and GB/Olympic boxing. Great ambassador for the Sport
Agreed... Technically he was a very gifted boxer and his amateur pedigree was impeccable... He just didn't seem to have that extra edge that was needed.
Absolutely spot on the money. He is a real gent. The ego of Collins was the one running wild. Joe sat there nice and quiet with the knowledge that he would have beat them all and did..
He seems like a really well adjusted person, considering the kind of person you need to be to become a top level amateur and a high level pro it's no surprise that so many ex fighters end up having difficulties, but Ritchie seems to have a real sense of perspective.
Great coach too, one of the unsung heroes of the GB amateur set up which continually produces Olympic medalists and wins medals at elite amateur boxing championships. Guy knows his stuff.
Eubank nearly as annoying as hes son and another way of saying he put him eloquently in his place is saying he is a patronising prick who showed know remorse or empathy for years towards a man he seriously hurt in the ring. Horrible man
And calzaghe ducked all the American great fighters at the time Hopkins toney Roy Griffin all of them when they were in the prima and ready to fight he refused to come to the USA and gave stronger opposition
japneet singh This really bugs me about attitudes to fighters. Apparently if you don’t go to USA your hiding and can’t travel and fight yet how many American fighters over the years step outside of the USA? For the record Calzaghe offered to fight RJJ but Roy priced himself out of the fight as did most of the top opposition when Calzaghe tried to arrange fights with them. His fitness, accuracy, durability, boxing ability, will to win & overall work rate is second to none. All the top guys knew how dangerous he was and that’s why they avoided him. People call Lacey a hype job because Calzaghe absolutely annihilated him and in doing so destroyed his self confidence as made him a shadow of his pre Calzaghe fight self. Looil what he did to Kessler also total domination and he too lost an edge after fighting Calzaghe. Look how the younger guys struggled against a weaker Kessler and that confirms how good Calzaghe was. Nigel Benn said he wouldn’t have beaten him and Chris Eubank confirms how hard he hits and how fast and only survived the fight so well because of Joes lack of experience at that time. All fighters have had poor nights and Joe has had his but all of these have been down to a broken left hand in rounds 1-3 yet he’s still one and with one handed combos. The worst fight he had was with that goon Robin Reid who gave a lifetime best performance against Calzaghe with one hand and going through a terrible divorce suffering depression and although close he did enough. That’s a champion right there and I think e would have adapted to RJJ and won on points by sheer volume because nobody has been as strong and quick as him in later rounds. He’s basically the same in R12 as he is in R1. It’s devastating
Proper idiot in real life... he was literally my fave athlete of all time until I met him in Dubai and he basically approached and groped the mrs. Still love him as a fighter but an absolute scum bag of a person
Love how Eubanks first contribution was to call out Collins on the Calzaghe issue. Found out later that Joe and Chris came up with this 10 minutes before they went on to wind him up!
Collins was only beaten on points 3 times. "Collins stepped in as a substitute in a WBA middleweight title fight after Michael Watson was injured in training" he fought Mike McCallum the champion at the time "with the fight being close early on before McCallum started to tire as Collins gained momentum in the later stages to bring a close finish at the end of 12 exciting rounds. McCallum got the win by unanimous decision. His other losses were "In 1992, Collins lost a majority decision to Reggie Johnson in a closely contested slugfest for the vacant WBA middleweight title". "Collins then lost by split decision to Sumbu Kalambay for the European title in Italy". All of his only 3 losses were close and he was never knocked out, you are the good laugh.
Eubanks quote is a defeatist quote and he should never be able to become a Top Boxing Coach with such attitude. There are tons of Sports Stars, whether they are Boxers, Footballers etc, who aren't blessed with the Talent Eubank had but aspired to be better, and we're better because of their Inner and Self Beliefs and great honest hard graft and attitude . In other words, what chance does Boxer A have of beating Boxer B, if he doesn't believe it himself? I hope Chris Jnr doesn't take his advice or have such a low opinion of himself because he'll never make it to the very Top with such a negative attitude.
@@yeetwchybaban No disrespect to you but Eubank ducked Mike Mc Callum in 90, probably after seeing how well he beat Watson, April 90, the man was happy beating up lesser Class Opponents until Collins found him out, it's really as simple as that and his attitude is a defeatist one also.
I met Chris Eubank in Brighton What a humble man and absolute gentleman,an honour to meet him and so gracious when asked for his autograph I hope he continues to prosper
I have not considered that. Present day boxers would have fought 12 times maximum, within that period. So, we should carefully examine present day unbeaten records.
Maybe I was a bit strong but I was paraphrasing. Felt like Collins went on the show with an agenda, and that agenda was to get a fight with RJJ. Annoyed me how he kept going on about planning fights. Like Joe Louis and then Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get hit...
@@Lukey111 Well, that’s not really what I said. I said that even Calzaghe knows that didn’t fight the real Roy Jones Jr. The guy he fought in 2008 was a shell of himself. He wasn’t confident, he didn’t have the same stamina, most importantly he’d lost some of his reflexes. Everyone knows this. Not to mention Jones is three years older, and he put his body through more than Calzaghe ever did. Calzaghe might have been at the end stages of his prime, but I can tell that he was still very close his prime. Guys who are out of their prime don’t throw that many punches. His feet were still moving, his stamina was still there. Jones was still the bigger puncher, but he couldn’t slip the punches the way he used to. He couldn’t move the way he used to. To me this fight was the modern day version of Rocky Marciano knocking out a graying, balding, Joe Louis who had come out of retirement to fight the champion. That’s why no real boxing historians regard Marciano as being Louis’ level despite beating him. Calzaghe was a great fighter, my eyes tell me that. But it’s very hard to assess how good he actually was because he did want to fight in America, which is basically the major leagues of boxing. It’s sort of like an American soccer player (footballer) deciding to stay in America and play. No matter how talented he is, the major leagues of soccer are in Europe. He isn’t going to get credit for dominating in America. Personally, I don’t think Calzaghe beats 168 pound Roy Jones Jr. That was the best weight class for Roy. Seeing what he did to James Toney, was eye opening. Calzaghe got dropped and hurt by a way past his prime Roy. I think Roy would have hurt him worse in his prime, maybe stopped him. Calzaghe has never been that hard to hit. Calzaghe would have missed more punches too on account of Roy’s reflexes, and that would have drained his energy and left him open to be countered by a quick fighter like Jones. I’m not saying the fight would be a complete wipeout, but I think Roy would be a solid favorite. That’s not disrespectful to Joe, that would probably be the case with any fighter challenging that version of Roy.
34.23... That touch on the shoulder from Eubank to Woodhall was the perfect way to round off Richie's incredibly honest and humble assessment of his career. Each of those others guys will have really appreciated those words and respected his dream being realised. Still I revisit this episode to watch Eubank troll Collins, which is even more amusing knowing the back story of Calzaghe and Eubank setting it up!
Collins: "The doctor pulled me out of the fight". Eubanks: "No-one has every heard that before". Calzaghe looks at Collins, smiles, thinking Bullshitter!
Really shocks me how they could all remain so calm with Collins' constant interruptions. Joe's face says it all. Tries to get his answer in, and rolls his eyes as Collins butts in.
Yeah. Steve only made a fool out of himself talking to one of the greatest to ever do it If eubank says fighting you is suicide... Then you are a certified bad ass
@Bijan Mehrpour he shouldn't be sat round a table of ex world champions ? Including a man who beat him and another one he ducked out of fighting? Really ? Your comment is ridiculous
@@Gargamel616 it's more than far fetched it's ridiculous to even suggest he's more worthy of a seat than the rest of them I agree Roy Jones Jr was an amazing boxer but all this in his prime talk i don't get when did his prime leave him the first time he lost ?
@@badboy-dn5vt If you follow a boxer closely you know when he's past his prime. One such example, James Degale was just past it against Badou Jack, and way over the hill against Eubank Jr. Likewise David Haye v Bellew 1. Real boxing fans know that RJ Jr was past it when he fought Calzaghe ( who is an all time great also).
Totally disagree. Most overrated in my life time. Fought over the hill fighters and avoided the best, when they were at their best. Absolutely nowhere on a top 20 even of Britain's best. The British public never warmed to his "slappy style". He was never adored the way Bruno, Hatton, Benn and others were. Now I'm NOT saying these are all better fighters than Joe, please be careful when you read what I've written. I said CLEARLY the British public never WARMED to him, the way they did to the others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lol he beat a bunch of washed up fighters. I do respect him for getting dropped and coming back to win within a fight but again, against over the hill fighters.
I love how when Eubank calls Collins out on his BS and then Joe has his little quick say... Collins doesn't even look Joe in the eyes. He was always spooked by Calzaghe... It's a known fact.
Eubank surprised me here. Very humble and respectful. Him admitting that he would not have fought Roy Jones Jr in his prime as he was so much superior to him? Vow! I wasn't expecting that.
@@yosoydpfknr2855 Eubanks thought the idea of fighting a prime Roy Jones was pointless because it would just be asking for an ass whopping, taking on a fight where there wasn’t any hope of winning. A sure loss for no real reason.
Richie woodhall, great fighter, tough as old boots, working class hero, conduct of a true gentleman. All great great fighters, particularly Calzaghe, my late fathers favourite fighter, most underappreciated champion of all time. Volume & pressure to put anyone on their toes. As an irishman ofcourse Collins a legend on this island. Tough as they come. Wish Benn was there hahah
Calzaghe: Do you think I was a big enough name after beating Chris? (Eubank) Collins: To me, you weren't the champion, you beat Chris for the vacant title Calzaghe: Did you think about fighting me after that, beating Chris Eubank? Collins: Nods with an ignorant "No" ...Calzaghe would have wiped the floor with Collins 🤣🤣 I never realised that Collins was such an absolute arsewipe.
Johnny Nelson is the most brilliant personality in boxing. Thank you, Johnny, and thank you to Chris Eubank for keeping it classy and thoughtful. Calzaghe brought me to this interview, but Eubank kept me here. Boxing royalty.
He wasn't quite,when Johnny Nelson called him out for hiding in the valleys most of his carrer! Got defensive straight away. Then the truth always hits a nerve😉
Eubank may just may have caught him out as Roy himself says it was one fight he thought hmm i want mega money to face him n it will be a war because no one stops a prime Eubank hit him on the chin n he smiles ok he went over but mainly due to standing in a constant pose
Anything can happen in boxing. The prime thing in boxing is a fallacy. Tony and Hopkins were the only 2 legit boxers on his record in his (prime). Not saying Jones is not one of the best to do it. But smoke everyone not necessarily. But tbh the only 2 I would give a fair chance to would be Calzaghe and Eubank.
@@caboosemd123 of course that was joes prime, year before he placed his highest ever p4p rank of 3rd in ring magazine (only time he ever broke top ten) and landed the nost punches in a bout of 1200 something odd punches. Name a more prime joe than that, and stop embarrassing yourself.
Calzaghe trained by his dad in a hut in a Welsh valley and became an hall of famer , true greatness as man and a fighter (loyalty) a unique life story and career that will never be repeated
And for me Roy jones is the best of all time which is not wide recognised because the fact he went on for too long and in the eyes of the casuals count his Lata career losses As failure and bad career Insread of realistic that in his prime he was arguably the most gifted fighter of all time
I get the feeling that Steve has lost a lot of sleep over the years thinking about the past. He looks so uncomfortable and annoyed the entire interview 😆
None of yous obviously remember Steve he was an animal in the ring he beat prime Ben and prime Eubanks he would of beat Roy hands down. Calzagagy fight can't call that one joe had it all
Eubank ducked Jones and toney. Calzaghe ducked froch collins decided to retire that's a big difference he only had motivation to fight Roy he called him out after every fight he had as champion. Eubank never called out anyone he was happy in his own bubble and its eubank that's bitter collins was trying to promote fight with Jones and eubank was trying to get his own back for his losses to collins no love loss there he completely dismisses collins even in his life story documentary never mentioned collins barely. Collins was just as good as eubank and has his number
Steve Collins clearly has a giant chip on his shoulder, so I had great fun watching Chris Eubank spend the entire show politely winding Steve Collins up!
Chris is definitely one of the most humble person I have met. He happened to stay in the same hotel as us in dubai and he was such a gentleman when I asked for a pic and he also gave me his autograph and was not rude or displeased.
Joe Calzaghe, legend, quiet, relaxed, composed, no ego, no bragging, the real deal, the ultimate real deal. Class act. I remember watching Joe talking on telly, my mrs came in and said 'Who's that'', I replied 'Joe Calzaghe', great boxer and my mrs said ''He is too good looking to be a boxer'', it still makes me laugh to this day.
I’m Irish so would have supported Steve Collins back in the day but Roy Jones in his prime would have whooped anyone at the that table before breakfast. Easily the most talented followed by Calzaghe.
@@jaderriusboykins9254 : Calzaghe did not just beat him, he destroyed him. Prime or not Prime, he destroyed him! Not in his prime, agreed. Calzaghe still had a lot of development ahead of him. Collins beat Benn twice, but Benn was not in his prime. Ali was not in his prime when he beat Foreman. Tyson was not in his prime when Lewis destroyed him. Liston was not in his prime and neither was Clay in their prime. Clay won. Marciano beat Lewis who was not in his prime. How many more meaningless renditions of Not in his Prime do you need?
@@josephmaxwell5033 just saying Roy was a shell of himself during that time. His prime was at 2003 and earlier. My GOAT is Lennox Lewis. Greatest of all time in my eyes. He beat Mike Tyson bc he was the better fighter. He'd whoop him at any point of his career. Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman is my favorite Ali fight. I'm not really a Roy Jones Jr fan tbh my guy at that era is Bernard Hopkins. Simply stating a fact that Roy wasn't in his prime when he fought Joe Calzaghe and most likely would've beat him if he were in it
@@jaderriusboykins9254 : You don’t say anything about styles. The best Ali fights are Fraser and Norton, because they had different styles that nullified Ali. Lewis was an absolutely great fighter, Ali even said that he was the best along with Joe Lewis, in his prime of course!
Richie woodall is the most humble respectful person I have ever heard speak! What an absolute legend being so passionate yet 100% polite and respectful through out... that's the image boxing needs not all this bum this dossier that... take a bow
Jack123 and he knows that, he’s the most comfortable in their own skin around that table because he knows what he achieved was the best he could get out of himself.
@@Jk-ph3zy LOL, keep dreaming. Calzaghe barely squeaked by a grandpa Hopkins while Roy beat him with one arm in his prime. Virtually toyed with a prime James Toney, one of the greatest lb for lb fighers of all time. RJJ reigned as the top #1 pound for pound for how long, and that was while Mayweather was champ. I think you must've forgot.
To befair Steve deserved the Jones fight and Roy made him wait and kept running. Steve never lost a fight as champion.... The Jones fight should have been made.
@harold mccoy Yes Jones is the best but he still ducked a few fights. Just fight Collins - he had WBO belt and had beaten the 2 other champions 2 times each. If Collins wasn't worthy no one was
I met Chris Eubank at an airport in Cyprus when I was in the Army in the 90's. I was with a lot of my mates and he was the perfect gentleman giving us all autographs. Great character a warrior and a stand up guy.
My favourite fighter of these is Roy Jones jr. His skill, charisma, and the way he dismantled brilliant fighters gives me great pleasure. By the way I’m a Brit and I love Joe Calzaghe. Pete 🇬🇧
You can say what you want about Chris, but when I met him about 15 years ago outside a bistro having a coffee on his own. He noticed I was waiting with my young son until he finished his phone call so I could get a picture. He immediately cut short his call introduced himself and asked me if my son wanted to sit in his massive truck. We spent about 10 mins with him and he was an absolute gentleman and brilliant with my son who was more interested in the truck. Top guy. Ive met Nigel Benn in Windsor who also was top drawer and Steve who I tried to convince the merits of supporting Hibernian FC rather than Celtic Fc for which he is a fan. (Which was nice)
@Dawn of the Dad A receipt mind you! Well played, that was funny , but you are a true friend for that one - well played, would he still have the autograph?
Eubanks fought Calzaghe with just 11 days notice, and did so after Steven Collins withdrew from that fight and announced his retirement--relinquishing his WBO super-middleweight title. (That backdrop of information should be in the description).
Steve: I didn't even know who Joe was when I was champion that's why we never fought. Also Steve: I pulled out of my fight with Joe. We were supposed to fight. Well. The Doctor pulled me out. Well, no, I pulled out so I could fight Roy Jones instead. But I didn't fight Roy Jones.
@@samuelstuart4632 Many boxers want the big money fights, Calzaghe wasn't as famous at the time and was 8 years younger than Collins. Look at how long Deontay Wilder has lasted not fighting very good boxers. Then when he's 34 he fights Fury. He wanted to make as much money as he could. Collins wanted Jones Jr not Calzaghe and people claim he dodged Calzaghe because he thought he wouldn't have beaten him but he more than likely knew Calzaghe would have been a tough fight but wanted Jones jr big money fight instead. Collins had a health scare while sparring at age 34 and retired because of it. That was 1997 and Calzaghe only started competing in 1993.
@@user-yp3oj5se1i they were just at different points in their career. Same as Calzaghe when he vacated to go to America to finish his career rather than fight Carl Froch. Froch wasnt a huge name internationally at the time so why would he when he can cement his legacy against Hall Of Famers, something which he badly needed to do in his case