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'TOUGH LOVE'
Emotional Chris Eubank Jr opens up on becoming father overnight after brother’s death and how he won’t copy his star dad
Boxer says nephew will have his family's fighting genes but hopes he doesn't take that path
CHRIS EUBANK Jr wants to hit the boxing jackpot to give his nephew the life he deserves.
In July 2021, Raheem was only a month old when his dad Sebastian — the younger brother of Chris Jr — died of a heart attack in Dubai, aged 29.
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It meant uncle Chris became a dad overnight and three years on Raheem, who has just started school, is now chasing him around the practice ring ahead of his middleweight clash with Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
At 35, Eubank Jr looks unlikely to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a world champion — with a scrap against nemesis Conor Benn likely to follow.
But he explained that the total devastation that struck his family left him with a new drive in the shape of a nephew he now treats like his own son.
He said: “I remember going to my brother’s grave for the first time and that’s where I first met Raheem and I held him in front of the grave and it calmed me down.
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“His energy and him being very quiet while on my chest gave me peace.
“I felt then that everything would be OK.
“I felt that we might have a second chance here.
“I love that little boy. I use Raheem as a tool to strengthen my will and my soul and my spirit.
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“Raheem is going to live a long and fulfilled life and I only have a few years of boxing left.
“So I need to do everything I can over the next three or four years to make sure he has the best life he can possibly have growing up.”
Chris Eubank Jr shows his boxing skills in brutal punch bag workout
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The death of Sebastian understandably took a terrible toll on his father, Chris Eubank Sr.
The theatrical but granite-hard two-weight world champion was suddenly weak and vulnerable and preyed upon — saying things that caused a rift with his eldest son.
The flare-up was exacerbated by Eubank Sr’s disgust at his son stripping down to 157lb to face Benn, who failed a drugs test before their October 2022 grudge bout was called off.
Sadly, especially for little Raheem, who is now three, the gladiatorial gene pool is not fully reunited yet.
Dubai-based Eubank Jr said: “We should be able to help Raheem without boxing involved.
“But there is still a wedge between us. Until the day I retire, I don’t ever see that wedge not being there.
“It should not be that way but he is set in his ways and he can’t seem to separate the boxing business from being a dad.
“I don’t need Chris Eubank Sr the boxer, businessman, coach, mentor, advisor.
“He is in a better place now. He was dealing with some demons — and he still is.
“But he has got over and through a lot of things and he is in a much healthier state of mind, thank God.
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“I am very happy about that. I speak to him whenever I can, I keep up to date with how everything is going. I am hearing good things now, when a year or two ago I was not.
“I am very grateful that we have managed to get through that part of our lives.”
Eubank Jr makes his heart-breaking overnight transformation from super-cool uncle to doting dad sound like a doddle. But it means he is now in a rush to give Raheem the little sibling he himself adored in Sebastian.
And then he has to wrestle with the idea of both of his boys following down the brutally hard path that his dad, brother, cousins and uncles have all walked.
He explained: “Once I was put in this position for Raheem, people saw a different side to me, a softer side.
“Spending time with Raheem makes me think more about having my own son, giving him a brother and raising them together.
“His dad was my brother and we grew up together and I want to give Raheem that.
“My new role means I have to teach Raheem — I cannot be Mr Nice Guy all the time.
“He has got to learn that certain things are not good or OK. In a sports setting, tough love and strict rules breed success.
My old man would say...‘What are you doing? Get back in the f*****g ring and work and learn and take your licks like a man’.
Chris Eubank Junior
“Nine times out of ten, if you don’t have the tears, punishment and discipline, then a kid is not going to flourish in sport, especially boxing.
“My old man would watch me get hurt, he would watch me get beaten up and tell me, ‘Get back in the ring’.
“There were no hugs, there was no, ‘How are you son, are you feeling OK?’
“He would say, ‘What are you doing? Get back in the f*****g ring and work and learn and take your licks like a man’.
“That would break a lot of people, let alone kids, but it pushed me.
“Not everybody has it but you need it to survive in combat.
“I have a very soft spot for Raheem because of our situation, so I don’t think I would want to go through it with him.
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“Would I love to see him pursue a boxing career? No, I don’t think I would love it.
“I know his mother will not want him to do it — but his father did it, I do it and our father did it, so he has the genes, he’s part of our gene pool.”
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