Full transcript: Chris Eubank on London Real
0:02 The critics who always speak behind my back. Maybe I want to hear them remind me. He’s back. The great pretender. I hope this time he gets hurt.
0:21 I love these guys. They give me fuel.
0:26 If you want them to reach your objective, you want to achieve it, you’re going to have to be obsessive. You’re going to have to be obsessed. Feel what you do. Feel it. If you’re not feeling it, it doesn’t matter.
0:38 It’s Chris Eubank Jr. How do you explain his prowess in the ring? Junior has that obsession, that genius, that magic. Genius is obsession, but it’s in one area. You studied the sweet science for so much of your life. How do you walk away from it? Do you miss it?
1:04 You can’t walk away from it. I am it. And even when I dance, really unboxing, the credit belongs to the man who’s actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the one who strives valiantly. What was the worst day of your life and how has it shaped you as a human being? When I fought Nigel Ben, I stood like this. It was to mask this. The risk must be taken.
1:44 That’s why you are not the realest. That’s why we’re here. We’re tired of sitting still, watching it happen for others. Let’s do it. I’ve just spent the last 45 minutes with our next guest, and I haven’t seen him in probably nine months.
2:18 And it’s just always super special being with this man, because I feel like I’ve just got a master’s degree in something. Just walking around Mayfair with him, and he really embodies everything that London Real is about. He was one of the first guests we had in the new studio. And so for us, it was a big achievement as a team. And it was actually the first guest that Mr. Julian Bales booked, and he made it all happen.
2:48 And so everyone on the team had real ownership in making this episode happen. And Luis was super excited with the video, and we all poured our hearts into the production and into a lot of the montages you would have seen. And I remember after the episode dropped, I got a call, and I was traveling in Europe, and it was this gentleman on the phone. And he said, Brian, he said, no one’s, you know, I’ve been covered by media my whole career. He said, no one’s ever done anything like this. And I said, oh, you know, Chris, you know, we really like what he said. No, no, Brian.
3:19 He said, this is really special what you guys do. And so so we always have a very special place in our heart for this gentleman. But if you don’t know too much about him, here’s a little bit more about this epic fighter. If you laugh, you risk appearing to be a fool. If you weep, you risk appearing to be sentimental.
3:49 If you reach out for another, you risk rejection. If you love, you risk not being loved in return. If you place your dreams in front of the crowd, you risk ridicule. If you go forward in the face of overwhelming odds, you risk failure. Risk must be taken for the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
4:25 The person who risks nothing has nothing, does nothing, is nothing. Well, in the world of ego is nothing. That person may avoid suffering, pain and embarrassment, but that individual will not learn, love, change, feel or grow. Only the person who takes the risks is truly free. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Chris Eubank.
4:59 Thank you. That’s very kind. OK, so I understand that we have only about 15 minutes, which is not cool. OK, so where do I start? Feeling, feeling, feeling.
6:00 Targets. OK, let me start on targets. We all have our objectives we want to achieve. Being accountable is all about achieving those objectives. Herein lies the way in which I achieved mine.
6:23 And it doesn’t matter what you pick, so long as you mean it. And when you mean it, you feel it. And you use your guide, your intuition, your spirit to get you to that objective. So here is the way I did it, and it will work for you, too. There is a word called minutiae.
6:53 Step by step, you climb, you climb, you climb, you climb, you persevere, you persevere, you persevere. You keep on climbing, and you keep on working towards your target. I didn’t do it this way. I wouldn’t have had the time. I needed to be aggressive.
7:14 I wanted to see that I was making progress. So the target, the objective, obsession. Now, people, when you hear that word, you think, well, sectionable, uncomfortable, negative connotation. No. Here I am, just a man.
7:51 And I will say to you directly and forcefully, my objective was to win. Win that championship. So you, in whatever field you’re in, boxing, tennis, law, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. If your view is that you’re going to climb and one step at a time, it’s not going to beat me because my obsession will always trump you, always. Because I have a fever with this.
8:30 It’s a fever. It never stops. If you’re not obsessed, another word for obsessed is, no, I’m actually not going to tell you what the other words or the synonyms are because it may look as though I’m being self-absorbed. I’m not. I’m talking about achieving your objective.
8:50 So the guy who gets up every day and runs in boxing, the guy who goes to the gym every day, and he does his job and his duty to the best of his ability, he will never beat me, at least for the first part, when I was in my youth. Why? Because it’s not enough. It’s not good enough. It isn’t obsession.
9:17 In my view, in my mind, he’s going to have to kill me. He isn’t prepared to do that. He’s only prepared to actually do what he’s supposed to do, which is, well, in boxing, play this game. I’m not playing a game. It wasn’t a game for me.
9:33 I was obsessed. So, listen to the teacher in class. Teacher’s talking. I’m listening, but I’m also blocking that shot. I’m blocking that shot.
9:44 I’m slipping that punch. I’m slipping that punch. I’m catching. I’m catching the uppercut. Catch. Weave. Catch. Weave.
9:52 I’m obsessed. As I’m walking home, I’m walking, and all of a sudden I’m doing like this. And if you had a camera on me, you’d say that this young man is sectionable. That’s why I made World Champion. That’s why I defended it 18 times.
10:20 You are good at what you do. I’m obsessed. I’m going to win. So, re-evaluate the way in which you see your process. Perhaps minutiae.
10:51 Perhaps if you keep your eye on the target, the minutiae will work itself out. Ingredients to stay on track, feeling. Feel what you do. Feel it. Feel it.
11:13 If you’re not feeling it, it doesn’t matter. I’ve trained for fights because there were fights I was involved in and I knew I could beat the opponent, so I trained as I was supposed to. I trained hard, but there wasn’t any feeling. And where there’s no feeling, there’s no intensity. And when you don’t train with intensity, you’re wasting your time.
11:39 Intensity. Feel. Mean it. You know, you are amazing. We are amazing as human beings.
11:48 We have all what we need within us. It’s not outside of you. You’re not going to find it outside of you. You take a gap here to go and look at the world and find yourself. You are right where you are.
12:01 It’s all within you. Feeling. Let me hear that music again. Just wear that music. I go to these, well, it doesn’t really matter.
12:15 In fact, don’t even play the music. So when I’m dancing, I don’t need the music because I’m feeling. I’m feeling the spirit of dance, the happiness, the joy, the passion, life we’re living in. We have this opportunity to realize life. I don’t need the music.
12:57 It helps. I suppose it stops me from looking sectionable. Mean it. If you’re obsessed, then you definitely mean it. Actually, no, let me tell you this.
13:22 I only have a few minutes left because minutes seem to go very quickly with these speaking engagements. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing is original. Nothing.
13:49 So, steal. Steal. Steal from anything that resonates with inspiration or appeals to your imagination. Steal. Devour.
14:14 Devour old movies. New movies. Music. Paintings. Photographs.
14:29 Poems. Dreams. Random conversations. Steal ideas from them. Architecture.
14:46 Bridges. Street signs. Trees. Clouds. Bodies of water.
14:56 Light and shadows. Select only those things to steal from that speaks directly to your soul. If you do this, your work or theft will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable. And what we fail to calculate is that originality is non-existent.
15:29 You are that old. You are not the first one to think of the ideas you’re thinking of. There are no originals. Originality, again, is non-existent. And don’t bother trying to conceal your thievery.
15:57 Celebrate it. Share it. Inspire others to do it. Because it isn’t where you took it from. It is where you take it to.
16:32 The first thing I saw, make a deal. The reason why a lot of people are going this way, then all of a sudden they’re going this way. And then all of a sudden they’re going back on themselves. It’s because they don’t make a deal with themselves. It’s a key thing.
16:56 Make a deal with yourself. That way you are on one track. And remember the universe gives you one thing. Master the one. Everything else comes.
17:07 You’ll be happy when you master the one. You try to be a jack of all. You try to master three. You ain’t getting anything. One.
17:17 One thing. Again, if you make that deal with yourself, no one can knock you off track. Integrity. Integrity. This is a deal I’ve made.
17:45 This now is a great idea this person has now told me. But I’ve made a deal with myself. I’m not going in that direction. I’m staying on course. You will get there.
18:00 You will. It’s always going to be dependent on your feeling. Because attracting things to come your way is real. But you have to have your mind on it. Not three things.
18:12 The universe doesn’t know what to give you if you’re concentrating on three things. One. One thing. So before I take this quest giving time from Brian. So I spoke about feeling.
18:48 Passion. Passion is fuel. So if you have no interest in something but it’s going to bring you a great deal of money but you don’t have an interest, you will not have the energy to stay in it. I remember, no, that’s too long a story. Do what you love rather than actually speaking around it.
19:21 Just do what you love. Do what you are passionate about. That is your fuel. Look, study the word obsession. When you’re obsessive about something think about the girl you married or the girlfriend or the boyfriend that you want.
19:43 The reason why you usually get them is because you’re obsessed. Well, either that or you’re locked up for stalking somebody. But again, come back to manners. Be obsessed but have good manners and you should achieve your objectives. Brian, would you like to?
20:07 I would love to. Thank you Chris. Make a deal is what you said. Make a deal with yourself. Make a deal with yourself.
20:23 That’s right. And so many of us, we just don’t do it. No one thinks of that because everyone automatically thinks you do a deal with someone for a prize. It’s always with somebody else. You never think of it with yourself.
20:41 But when you do actually do a deal with yourself, it’s powerful because remember you can’t lie to you. You can’t lie to yourself. So when you make a deal with yourself, so much is listening to you. The universe is listening to you. And the center of the universe is yourself.
21:05 So it’s yourself that’s listening to you. You’re telling yourself, you know, you’re activating your, you’re activating your brilliance because it’s obvious that we are brilliant. We can see. We can see and we can make sense of what we see. That’s all you have to know that you’re brilliant.
21:34 So activate all the rest of the insurmountable magic that we have access to. Again, it’s not outside of you. It’s about tapping into you. And tapping into you means making a deal with yourself. And then you have the process of time, how long before you actually realize your objective.
22:03 The key to making it is persistence. It may take a long time, but you’ll get it. You can speed that up with the application of persistence. So you’re searching, you keep on pressing. I’m going to use, my son, Junior, he is obsessed.
22:36 I am convinced that no one out there is going to actually beat him. He’s learned a very tough lesson from one loss he’s had. But his magic, his genius, these are words you can’t use when talking of yourself. I can with my son. Magic, genius, obsession, same thing.
23:01 He’s obsessed. He has that magic. Nothing can stop him from this work ethic he has is remarkable. I don’t see how he can miss the target. What comes along with this is common sense.
23:23 So what could knock him off track is if he doesn’t look left or right when he crosses the road. Use your common sense. If he looks left and right, he’s not going to get run over. I don’t see how he can miss his target because the work ethic is obsessive. And the rest of these guys are just working really hard.
23:47 Do you get that? Did you ever imagine you would have a son that became a boxer? Not with the obsession that he has. And when I was, I mean, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I didn’t have the depth that I have now, so I couldn’t calculate the things I’m calculating now. And you’re hearing my calculation.
24:19 So, you know, I didn’t understand the word obsession. I never used it 10 years ago. Genius. What is genius? You hear it and it’s just a throwaway thing.
24:31 This guy’s a one-off. He’s a bit quirky. He’s a genius in his field. No, we can make sense of these words. Genius is obsession.
24:42 But it’s in one area. Einstein was a genius in one subject. He wasn’t a genius as a boxer. It’s in one area. So, Junior has that obsession, that genius, that magic.
25:05 And, in fact, we all have it. But you have to clear away all the things which are clouding your intuition, your guide. Your intuition is your guide, your spirit. You’ve got things which knock you off track. We have to conform towards the society in which we live.
25:29 How do you explain his prowess in the ring? His name is Chris Eubank, Junior. Is there a genetic component or did he watch you as a boy? Did he see who you were? How can you explain it?
25:48 I can’t. You know, for me to explain it, I would have to have genius in this regard. In this regard of being able to explain. I’m just a guy. I’m good at what I do when it comes to boxing.
26:06 But there’s no way I would be able to understand the mechanics, the minutiae of how he does what he does. What I do know is that he has it. He has this energy. And what is for sure, what makes him distinctive, is that you know when you look at him. When you look at him, you know he is obsessed.
26:36 Now that’s the key. We’re all walking around like, I want this guy to see me as a normal person. I don’t want to have anyone perceive me as being abnormal. I want to get along with everybody. Nah, not me.
26:54 In boxing, when I was coming up, I would have appeared to be a complete arsehole. Well, you know, if you want to be exceptional, you can’t act ordinary and think you’re going to be exceptional by behaving ordinary. To be exceptional, you have to behave exceptionally. I believe you said that Chris Jr. will never be the boxer you were, but I think you meant it because he’s not going to be trailblazing the way you did.
27:40 You didn’t have your family with you, and he has you. Can you explain those comments and what you meant? I think the terminology revolves around the critics, my friends. They say, will he be as good as you? Of which the common sense answer to that is no.
28:03 How can he be as good as me? He is himself. My job as a father is to make sure or to inspire him to be better than what I was. That is my duty. That is what I yearn to do.
28:21 That is what I want. It’s not a fair question. Will he be as good as me? When they take my career into consideration, they’re not just speaking about my ability to fight or my record. They’re looking at my job.
28:49 They’re looking at my monocle. They’re looking at my demeanor. They’re taking my truck into consideration. They’re taking my anti-war protests into consideration. The fact that I have committed to memory so many philosophies which will all resonate with you, I’m feeling you.
29:18 I’m a human. He doesn’t have this outlook yet. He will do, but he doesn’t have it yet. His outlook is to make champion of the world. He isn’t thinking about anything else, which I can’t blame him for.
29:33 I would like him to take the human condition into consideration, but he doesn’t have time for that. He is obsessed with the one thing which is where his mind should be. It’s not fair. There’s no way he can be as good as me because they’re not just taking, as I say, my ability. It’s all that comes with.
29:55 I mean, some years ago, I used to speak with a lisp. That’s a huge thing. It’s one me, huge column inches for years. I mean, the truck and the amount of parking tickets that I’ve actually had with this truck, that is another. It’s a huge part of the personality, so it’s not fair to say, will he be as good as you?
30:20 In boxing, I believe he has. No, I don’t believe. I know he has the ability to be better, and my job is to actually help him. Job. My duty.
30:33 Duty. I’m daddy. What else? What else is there for me to want with my son? I’ve got to bring him to a position where he can be better so he can step out of my shadow, which I believe he already has.
30:54 In his last fight against a guy called Spike O’Sullivan, he beat this young man to within inches of his life. The Irish spirit. He kept on coming back. He kept on coming back. He wouldn’t quit.
31:10 His corner had to pull him out and say no more. There’s no sense in you staying in this fight because you can’t beat this young man. The British public knows you as a character. The man with the monocle, with the Peter built, sometimes into caricature. And yet, when we watch you on London Real, you speak for two, two and a half hours, and you are very deep.
31:40 Will the British public ever realize who you really are? In five years, ten years from now, will they say, I understand, Christian Eubank, or will you always be to dress the character? This is, I would say, unimportant. It’s unimportant. What’s important is that I do not bend to being what they are comfortable with.
32:12 We must remain true. If you have the spirit of a maverick, run with it. It’s not like I can change a course now anyway. I’ve been doing this too long. I have no choice.
32:50 You studied the sweet science for so much of your life. How do you walk away from it? Do you miss it? No. You can’t walk away from it. I am it.
33:02 Obsession means it never leaves you. That’s what happens when you’re obsessed. It never leaves you. So even, I mean, even when I dance, really, I’m boxing. The reason I can teach youngsters how to box well is because I’m living this.
33:32 It’s a fantastic metaphor for everything. It has all the ingredients which makes a person holistic. Fantastic because I’m tough, supposedly. You would say, well, of course you’re tough. No, no.
33:56 It’s a skill. Fighting is a skill. It’s only that I was obsessed in learning this skill and what came along with this skill are all these virtues of which if I do not embody, I don’t mean anything. You know, I mean something to, I suppose, the onlooker because I am a contradiction in terms. I’m tough, yes, but I am so gentle.
34:35 Okay, and let’s talk about being gentle. You’re gentle when you’re feeling. If I talk down to you, then I’m not feeling because if I talk down to you, it’s going to make you feel bad and it’s going to make you dislike me. So if I’m feeling you, then I’m always going to be, I’m always going to be on the same level, the same terms, the same, I’m never going to override, push you around. I’m never going to make you feel uncomfortable.
35:07 I’m going to appeal to you. And that contradiction in terms is what makes distinction. So whatever you do and however good you become at what you do, it is secondary to feeling. Be we, not I. When you use the word I, you are on the verge of being despised.
35:32 Me, me, me, I, I, I did this, I did that. Not interested. Is there a chance you’ll fight again? Nigel Benn’s name has been mentioned. You’re also 49 years old.
35:49 And as I said during our interview when you shadowboxed, you’re a very scary man. Nigel is far scarier than I. And I’ll tell you for why. In my view, he doesn’t have feeling. He’s always intimidated me.
36:12 He still intimidates me. And it isn’t nice. It isn’t nice being afraid of people or someone. I’m afraid of him. I can still beat him.
36:35 But I’m afraid of him. So let’s just talk about being afraid of things. You’ve heard and you know the meaning of courage. Courage. So courage is when you are in fear, but you still move forward and address your objective.
36:56 I’m afraid of him, but I know how to beat him. Being able to beat him is about putting myself through a process of rehabilitation that will be extremely tough to do. If I do it, would I like to do it? Yes, I would like to do it. Why? Because all of you should always dare.
37:30 Dare. If you don’t dare, you always go back and look and think, why didn’t I dare? I can tell you about daring. You never, ever fall on your face. Never.
37:49 So many people step back. I’m going to watch what happens to him. He wins. Even when he fails, he wins because he stepped forward. His name is there.
38:05 All you have to do is conduct yourself with manners. You never lose. Just a reflection on that. Look at the guy on the dance floor. He has no sense of rhythm.
38:26 All the girls love him. He gets the girl. Why? Because he dares. Not only that, he doesn’t care, in actual fact.
38:48 But he’s not embarrassed enough to sit back and say, I’m too cool for that. That guy doesn’t get any girls. He stays at the back of the dance floor looking like that. But he stays there. He doesn’t get anything.
39:00 But a guy who’s acting all crazy, who can’t dance, dare. Nature never lets you down. Don’t worry about embarrassment. You know, one of the things I promised myself is that I will not go back over any thing that I said in my last interview. Because I want to actually tell you now the philosophy on risk.
39:34 But you know it, so I’m not going to say it. Take the risks. Take the risks.
39:44 Speaking of risks, you went to Australia recently. Is that scarier than going in the ring? No. No, of course not. And explain Australia to people that don’t know what you were doing down there.
39:56 OK, so I went into this program called I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Can you explain what that is to people that don’t know? This is a program where 10 to 12 individuals go into a camping area in a jungle and they really have to get along as best they can for, I don’t know, some 20, 26 days. You’re fed very little food. Your toilet is a dunny, so it’s a wooden and you’ve got to empty it and you do chores and when the people get hungry, then they get ratty and you see all the elements of personalities coming out and it makes for spectacular television because one in four people in this country watches it.
40:52 What is really queer, excuse the term, is this. Is that on London Real, on the interview I did, called English with Brian, I said specifically, that’s why you wouldn’t have seen me on any of those shows I’m a celebrity, do this. I’m a celebrity, get me out of here, do that. I don’t do things like that, I’m a warrior. Okay, my wife said to me, my new wife, she said to me, these people have been asking you for seven to eight years to go into the show.
41:30 You’ve always turned them down, I think you should do it. Now, I was recently married and again, in my head there’s no way I would do this. Why? Because I’m not one, I shouldn’t be eating bugs. I shouldn’t be eating bugs, nothing wrong with eating bugs but the perception that the programme gives is, oh, he or she is doing something undignified and he takes himself too seriously, which actually I don’t.
42:07 And even if I did, I understand the play. If you do something, go in 100%, don’t go in half-hearted. In for a penny, in for one pound. Give it your all. If you’re supposed to be having fun, then have fun to the best of your ability.
42:26 Like what Ali said, if you’re going to be a road sweeper, be the best road sweeper ever. So that little trick I knew. So my wife said to me, the reason why you should do this is that people should know you for who you are, for your personality, for the wonderful things you have in your mind, for your kindness. This is what she said. I said, this I can’t do because it may send out a wrong message.
43:01 Okay. Maybe she said, okay, fine. She didn’t say anything about this for about 10 days. In actual fact, she didn’t bring it up to me. We were talking about how a partner should support or how partners should support each other.
43:25 And she was saying something like, if a man and a woman are in a relationship and the man wants to just put his feet up by the fire and relax and not go chasing anything but be happy with his life and is satisfied and content, then the woman should support that. But if a man has drive and he is trying to reach for objectives, then the woman is no good to the man if she doesn’t inspire him, if she doesn’t help him to realize his potential. This was completely out of context to this particular show, but it brought back the show to mind and I said to her, this subject having not been brought up in the last 10 days, I said to her, I’m going to do that show.
44:27 One of the key things she said to me 10 days before is people should see you for who you are, your kind man, and people should see that. I said, I’m going to do the show. Now, here comes the potential problems and all the risks. Okay. If a man puts his hand on a woman, every person in this country who hears about it, you will never have credibility.
45:15 You’re finished. And so you should be. Do not put your hands on females in a negative or with force. You don’t do that. So if you should speak unkindly to someone, if you should say something to someone which is negative, or if you should attack someone, anyone who hears it, they don’t forgive you for it because the people who are listening to you are people.
45:46 They have feelings. So everyone takes it personally. They internalize what is being said. How would they feel if it was done to them? Okay.
46:05 So dangerous in as much as there are people in there, there are people who are going to be in this environment who are going to try and make and play games, let’s say, which is the norm, which is what the producers want as well. How did you rate yourself in the game playing category? I don’t play games. I’m real. I’m real. I am truly kind.
46:37 You see, you can’t hide who you are. So address yourself. Do not be mean. Do not be mean-spirited. Do not be bitter.
46:49 All of these virtues, they work. Okay. If I go around talking of I love my fellow man, then the public at large think and refer to you as wet. They don’t understand how people can talk like that, and so people don’t. So the next word down, which you can always apply, is kindness.
47:21 Always be kind. Or… Always love. Always. When you love or when you’re kind, you are gentle.
47:37 When you’re gentle, you’re powerful. When you hear a bully on a train or in a pub, and they’re shouting out and they’re beating their chests, so to speak, you think little of them, and you know what they are. When someone is kind, there’s a frequency. You feel them. You feel them.
48:07 So I’m just going to cut back to the jungle. The way I handled myself in the jungle was by feeling. Now I have seven-year-olds shouting, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum! It’s crossing you back! Because the mothers liked me.
48:24 Why? Because I was kind. There was a lady called Lady C, 66 years old, and… Forgive me, Lady C, for saying this, but tyrannical. Hmm.
48:38 Staunch. You know, a storyteller, educated, an IQ of 154. She thought at times she was being bullied, and the way she dealt with bullies was with a corset tongue. I said to her, why so heavy on Tony Hadley? She said, when you’re bullied, the way you deal with them is like that so that they never come back.
49:14 Not my method. Anyway. What I did throughout this programme is protect her. Protect her in as much as I didn’t want her doing any of the heavy lifting. I didn’t want her down at the creek where we do the washing and hang the washing out to dry because there were lots of stones.
49:40 One trip, one trip. One fall, and she would have been in serious trouble. She should never have been down there at the creek. So my job was to protect her. And in so doing, it seems I’ve won the respect of so many people who didn’t know me beforehand and only knew me as, you know, the showman.
50:09 Or, you know, the character, the fighter. And what I pointed out to the viewers is that we all have within our families mother figures like Lady C. Only they don’t put them on television. So it’s not like no one understands her. She is how she is, and she’s not going to change.
50:31 And what did I say earlier about embracing? Maybe I didn’t say to you. Embrace. Embrace everything. Whatever you don’t embrace will damage you, will give you a problem. Embrace.
50:46 If someone calls me a tosser, I say, my mother used to call me the same thing. I’m trying to change. Give me a chance. I don’t know if any of you have seen my truck, but I do drive a Peterbilt truck at seven and a half tons. I’ve had people come up to me and say, who do you think you are?
51:15 Driving around in a truck. Do you know what your carbon footprint is? Who do you think you are? I look down and say, I’m sorry, I have a willy this big. And this is the way I make up for it, and I’m sorry, I have to drive this one.
51:39 And they look up, and they laugh. The ice is broken, and immediately acceptance. This guy doesn’t take himself too seriously after all. This guy does not take himself too seriously after all, they think or they say, because who would ever joke about such a small willy? Nobody would really do that, so the guy’s got to be all right.
52:18 Self-depreciating. He’s got to be okay. As they walk off, I do have a tendency to want to tell them, I’m a Jamaican. Do the math.
52:36 Would you ever do the celebrity experience again, and what did you learn from the process? I learned that when you’re living, when you’re dealing with people, feel. That’s what I learned. Feel, it works. Or another way of putting it, stop using your head, use your heart, and use your head to manage what your heart says.
53:14 This is your king, and this is your advisor. This will always tell you the right thing. Then you have to articulate it and manage it to how the listener can digest it. The king, the advisor. You mentioned Muhammad Ali.
53:43 You are campaigning for an honorary knighthood. What does he mean to you, and why are you doing this? Muhammad Ali, when you’re talking to people and you’re giving them good ideas, you will sometimes see them go like this. It means you’ve inspired them. So he mentions the word, the name Muhammad Ali, and what happened?
54:27 Inspiration. You see, now here’s a man who, see, yes, you’re a fighter, but he felt, he was feeling. He refused to go to the Vietnam War. He’s feeling. He stood up for his beliefs.
54:59 He’s feeling. He stood up for equal rights back in those days. He’s feeling. He inspires me because before he fought Sonny Liston, I think, as reported, there was like 154 real threats on his life. Fear.
55:32 He’s a man. He had to have fear, but he still went forward.
55:39 So, you know, you have those who teach by example, and he is, he is the father. You have a fellow, the great fighter in Floyd Mayweather Jr. who says, you know, he deserves to be called the best ever, TBE. The reason why boxers like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, the reason why they come out against him is because you can never be better than your father. My father, by the way, worked at four Dagenhams, smoothing iron 90 pounds a week, 40 hours a week work.
56:31 I will never be his equal. And I’m so glad that when I look back, whatever he said was gospel. Never argued with him, never talked back to him. I have 19 World Championship wins, and I will never be my father’s equal because he’s my father. I am his seed.
56:54 Well, okay, so let’s jump back across now to Muhammad Ali. He is, metaphorically, the father of boxing. Nobody can be better than the father. No one, you know, Floyd Mayweather Jr. wouldn’t have had to go through the hardships that Muhammad Ali went through, one.
57:20 Two, this was a different time. You know, it’s a clear path, mostly today. It’s a clear path. It wasn’t a clear path in those days. He opened it up so that two fights ago, Floyd Mayweather Jr. made $180 million.
57:47 That could not have happened without Muhammad Ali bringing boxing into the forefront of the imagination of the public. They say the sport of kings is horse racing, and because of Muhammad Ali, they call boxing the king of sports. Do you have a relationship with Floyd Mayweather? I called him the other day and he picked up the phone. What do you think of him?
58:24 He picked up the phone. Floyd is, he is, he is still in progress. His career isn’t finished yet. In my view, he hasn’t retired. A man like him would never allow that record not to be beaten if he could beat it.
58:58 He has a fighting spirit, and that record is Rocky Marciano, 49-0. It would seem to me that he will have one more fight and then that fight not only would make him better than in terms of being an unbeaten fighter with that record, but also will earn him maybe a quarter of a billion dollars. I don’t think he’s going to step back from that, and I encourage him not to. No, trailblaze, open the doors wider for us. Are you a fan of mixed martial arts, the UFC?
59:44 Have you heard of an Irishman named Conor McGregor? He fights a lot, he talks a lot, he’s audacious, takes a lot of risk. What are your thoughts on him and the sport? The answer is that I love the sport. I don’t understand the sport, but I love it.
1:00:07 It is causing a great deal of interest within the community at large. Brian, let me ask you a question, actually, before I go back to that. Why would you ask me a question where there is a negative answer? A negative answer is possible. You know you’re never going to get it.
1:00:30 It’s never going to happen. I’m going to keep trying. Embrace, embrace, embrace. I know nothing about UFC. I know nothing about UFC.
1:00:38 To me, it looks ungamely. They’re on the floor. You know, boxing is pretty. UFC doesn’t look pretty, but I love it. Embrace, embrace.
1:01:34 Whenever something comes towards you which has a negative connotation, no, don’t go that way. Embrace. Do I like it? Of course I don’t like it. I love it.
1:01:49 UFC, a guy wins four or five rounds. He’s well in front. Now let’s look at the skill content of this martial art. It only takes for a person, the winner, or the guy who’s willing, to make one wrong move with his hand and he’ll get tapped out or choked out. So there’s a great deal of skill involved here.
1:02:14 So we must give appreciation for what we don’t understand. People wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t inspirational. Everything has its value. So embrace. Last question.
1:02:33 I’m going to open it up to the audience here. What is your biggest challenge as a man right here presently in your life? My biggest challenge outside of my family. So outside of my children because my children. That place is so boring.
1:02:52 Not understanding that they’re going to actually embrace everything that I’ve taught them. But they don’t know yet. And what they’re wasting is the most valuable of all commodities, time. And you can’t get it back. So outside of my family, the most challenging thing for me is to get my mind around.
1:03:40 I can see the objective, which is Nigel Ben. But to get myself into that shape so that my life is not taken because that’s really what’s on the line. You can’t go into these. You can’t go into… Okay, let me make it shorter than that.
1:04:01 Have the right attitude for the job you’re doing. And the correct attitude is that I really have to be on fire to get myself into the condition to fight such a man. You have to be willing to give your life and it just so happens in this case this man wants to take mine. And I would be a fool to be thinking any way different. Have the right and the correct attitude for the job you’re doing.
1:04:30 That’s my biggest challenge. I will also say this to you. I’m 49 years old. Let’s just go with the math or what is said, I have another 51 years to go. It seems that the first 49 has been a long ride.
1:04:54 Now I want to climb. I want to make this instrument of mine capable of climbing, jumping off of high ridges into rivers. I want to dance. I want to dare. I’ve never been more alive than when I was in danger, being chased by the police, fighting National Front when I was a kid.
1:05:36 Exciting times. Fighting in front of millions of people always having to hold your dignity. I want to eat, ice cream, strawberry, and cream, ice cream, haggandires. I want to run. I want to sprint.
1:06:01 I want to swim. I want to live. I want to take those risks. I want to have an effect on my audience. I want to inspire them to say, if he can do it, then why can’t I with what I want to do in my life?
1:06:23 You know, let me tell you what, it’s going to be very difficult, almost impossible to actually get my body into that shape, to step back into the cauldron, the kettle, the boiling pot. It’ll be so difficult, but it is possible. And I’m a dreamer. Maybe I want to hear them remind me, the critics who always speak behind my back. He’s back, the great pretender.
1:07:10 He’s back. I hope this time he falls on his face when he rolls through his ropes. I hope this time he gets hurt. I love these guys. They give me fuel.
1:07:28 Because I’m going to prove you wrong. I’m going to try. I’m going to try. I’m going to try and prove you wrong. It reminds me of the critic.
1:07:38 You see, it isn’t the critic who counts. Not the man who points out where the strong men stumbled or where the do of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who’s actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the one who strives valiantly, the one who errs and comes short again and again, the one who understands the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, the one who spends himself in a worthy cause, the one who knows at best in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he should fail, at least he fails while daring greatly.
1:08:28 So that his place shall never be with those cold or timid souls who know neither defeat nor victory. I love you, critics. You keyboard warriors, I love you. I’m embracing you. Keep on firing at me your criticisms, your storms and gales of criticism.
1:08:53 I need you. I need your fuel. Bring it. How do we make this fight happen? How do we make this fight happen?
1:09:20 London Real Promotions. You know, whenever something is said, always think everything is possible. Everything is possible. We don’t bat anything away. We embrace everything.
1:09:41 So you make a joke. Who knows? It could be done by London Real. Who knows? Certainly you’re going to be there.
1:09:46 Certainly there will be, if it does happen, there will be more of these seminars. Imagine watching me train. Oh, my goodness. That will put some hairs on your arse. That will put some hairs on your arse.
1:10:02 The challenge of life. I’m still in search of respect. I still want to inspire. That incandescent rage that sits within me, which was, it was lit. When someone pressed me when I was a child, that energy, that rage, the rage for respect, you know, why can’t I?
1:10:51 Why can’t I? Why does it have to be someone else all the time? Oh, this person’s just scored with a jackpot and this person’s just won. What about me? Well, you can.
1:11:08 The key word is staying in character, stay in character. I heard some years ago they gave a fellow who had been sweeping the streets for the government for 60 years, gave him an award, a CBE. He did what Muhammad Ali said. He sweeped the streets and he was the best in the world at it. He was honored by the Queen.
1:11:39 Stay in character. You don’t have to do something magnificent out of the blue. Oh, all of a sudden he started to fly. It’s not going to happen. Just stay in character.
1:11:52 Do your job to the best of your ability. The more you feel, the more people will start saying, look at this guy. The more you feel, because when you’re feeling, you’re on your job. And if you start showing that obsession, if you start showing that obsession, people will move away from you. But it means you’re climbing.
1:12:21 It means you have your eye on the objective, not on the minutiae. Look to the target. Keep your eye on the target. Yesterday I took my son to Munich. For him to have his arm looked at.
1:12:39 This particular doctor, who is eminent, I mean he is one of the best in the world, he gave him all this information on his back and on warming up muscles and how you have to warm up slowly. You’re only concentrating on the big muscles. But you have minutiae muscles, little muscles. Warm them up and then warm them down. This guy is speaking really good common sense, but I didn’t know about any of this.
1:13:18 I didn’t know anything about nutrition. I didn’t know anything about resting your muscles. I didn’t know anything about taking a rest when you had injuries and colds and bad backs. So how did I do it? I had my eye on the target.
1:13:41 The minutiae is worked out. We are amazing. You will find a way. So in boxing I will tell you this, which I stand strong with. Support systems are counterproductive.
1:14:00 How do I know? I didn’t have them. And I got there. But you have all these people who are, oh, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to eat that.
1:14:09 I’ve got to do that at that time. I’ve got to do this. You ain’t going anywhere. You’re thinking too much about too many things. Think about your target.
1:14:18 Visualize your target. Work towards your target. Feel your target and see what happens. It’s a better route than doing the minutiae. Minutiae.
1:14:34 Chris, I think that conversation was even more epic than our first. Really? I think so, yeah. Do you remember what I was telling you? I never remember what I talked about.
1:14:47 I believe that too. Chris is going to join us later upstairs for drinks at 6.30. But I want to just take a few questions from the audience now. So if you do have one, raise your hand and we’ll get a mic to you. In the very back, the passionate man with the tie.
1:15:01 And we need some mic. No, it’s working. That doesn’t sound speechless. First and foremost, I just want to say thank you for your presence, Chris. Brian, the brother over there who got up, Brad.
1:15:31 Talking about feelings. I’m feeling bloody nervous right now. But very, very emotional as well. You talked about being afraid. I want to know if we are seen what afraid, whether or not we are seen afraid the same way.
1:15:58 And I want to also be afraid with you. But carry on. So if you could please explain to me what afraid means to you. Okay. Thank you.
1:16:16 Okay. So my afraid and your afraid is the same afraid. It is the same afraid. Where I’m really trying not to use what I use back in this particular section that we did in London Real English. Only the person who takes risks is truly free.
1:16:42 But in that, you have the answers. So, you know, go back and look at that. Okay. It goes like this. If you laugh, you risk appearing to be a fool.
1:17:04 If you weep, you risk appearing to be sentimental. If you reach out for another, you risk rejection. My afraid is the same as yours. If you reach out for another, you risk rejection. I have the same fear as you would have.
1:17:25 I don’t want to be rejected. If I place my dreams in front of the crowd, I risk ridicule. I fear my afraid is the same as yours. If I go forward in the face of overwhelming odds, I risk failure. I’m afraid of failure, just like you would be afraid of failure.
1:17:53 But risk must be taken. For the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. If you don’t risk anything, you don’t get anything. You don’t have what you want. You may avoid suffering, pain, embarrassment.
1:18:15 You may suffer embarrassment. But you will not grow. You will not change. You will not love. You will not feel.
1:18:29 You will not change. Only the person who takes risks. Only that person is truly free and has the opportunity to rise. If that is what you want to do, you have to take risks. And fear will always be there.
1:18:46 Otherwise, we would all be what we want to be. We would all be world champions in our fields. You want to be accountable to the group that we are. Well, if you’re going to be accountable, you’re not like everybody else who are sitting in the shadows, hiding. So if you’re here, you have a duty to target, move towards these objectives, these dreams.
1:19:22 That’s why you are London realers. That’s why we’re here. We’re tired of sitting still, letting it all happen, watching it happen, happening for others. Let’s do it. And you know what?
1:19:40 All I can do is teach by example. So the most difficult thing I can do is fight this man again. And I’m doing everything in my power. Everything to step up to that plate. Why?
1:20:00 Because I can’t. And that’s the reason why I will. Hands up. We’ve got time for two questions. Like I said, Chris will be with us tonight, so you can ask him one-on-one.
1:20:13 You, sir, right here in the front. Can you give him a mic? Yes, Mr. Edinburgh Real. I’ll go to you right afterwards.
1:20:20 Go ahead. Chris, thank you for coming. You said before that you were afraid of Nigel Ban, but you never showed it at all. Do you believe being psychologically strong and mentally fit is just as important as being fit and physically having skills? I’ve lost you on that, so you’re going to have to ask me that, because that’s about two or three questions.
1:20:44 That may have been four questions in one. Or maybe that’s what I would like to do, is break it down. So can you just ask me the first part of that again? You said you were afraid of Nigel Ban, but you never showed it. Can you just let me answer that one first?
1:20:59 My memory isn’t that good, so I have to sometimes… You’re supposed to laugh at that. What I’d like to do is just address that first part first. When I fought Nigel Ban in the first fight… Can you clip that here?
1:21:29 When I fought Ban in that first fight, I stood like this. When I moved, I moved like this. And then I move again. Every time I moved, it was to mask this. I was petrified.
1:22:12 I have an audience of 10,000, 12,000 people in this auditorium. I have 16 million people watching on ITV. 60. 16. 16 million.
1:22:22 16 million people. My heart is like this. But the demeanor, why? Because if he sees that, it’s going to have this effect on him. When he feels beaten, when he feels beaten up, when he feels exhausted, and when he feels like he’s just about to quit, that shaking of my leg will make him persist that bit longer.
1:23:07 Don’t give him anything. I gave him nothing. I gave him steel. What? When he hit me with those shots, not that I went back and moved and ran, I came back at him.
1:23:24 I came back at him. You are not beating me. This isn’t about money. This isn’t about anything other than honour. You’re not beating me.
1:23:35 I am obsessed. I haven’t been doing this for seven years for you to hit me with a shot and knock me out. That’s not going to happen. So if you think I wasn’t afraid, you think that I’m not human. No, I’m human.
1:23:54 We all shake. We all have fear. My fear is no different from yours. The difference is if you want to achieve your objective, how much do you want it? If you’re not obsessed, then you’ll give up.
1:24:07 Well, I don’t want it that much. I’ve fought people. And I’m going to draw the spirit out of you as quickly as I can. Hit you hard. Move forward.
1:24:17 Hit you again. Move forward. Hit you again. Back off. Swivel my shoulders.
1:24:22 Back on you. Hit you again. All of a sudden you’re thinking, hold on a minute. This is not… I didn’t sign up for this type of game.
1:24:30 And these guys, they quit. Because I’m not playing a game. I’m there to hurt you. I’m there to hospitalise you. Or make you think that.
1:24:39 To get you out of there. I’m not playing a game. So… So do not… Please do not think that I wasn’t afraid.
1:24:48 I was petrified. The next part of the question? In mind boxing now, do you feel that being mentally strong is just as important as being physically fit and physically able to do the job? You see, look. You see, did you hear that?
1:25:04 Look, he’s saying… He’s saying… Do I think it’s important to be mentally as well as physically? The physical is only a consequence of the mental. Everything is here.
1:25:19 You have to do your work. You can’t stay in bed at 5.30 in the morning when you should be running. You have to do the work. And when you’ve done the work, when you’re in there, as soon as he hits you, your common sense tells you, oh, no, no. You don’t want this.
1:25:36 You know, quit. But you’re obsessed about getting the championship so then you’re willing to take all that the person has to give and overcome because you’re obsessed with getting that championship. You’re willing to pay the price. You’ve paid the price in the life you’ve been living in that you’re not thinking, it’s going to happen for me on tonight. This may be my night.
1:26:01 That particular night, that particular day when you’re competing for the job, for the position, whether you get it or not isn’t dependent on what happens on that night. It’s dependent on the years, the months, the weeks and hours leading up to the contest. If you’ve paid the price, then you should get the dividend of session. Last question. Hi, Chris.
1:26:36 Hey. Brad Burton, when he spoke earlier on today, spoke about the greatest day of one’s life and the worst day of one’s life as kind of reference points as to, I suppose, your path. What was the worst day of your life and how has it shaped you as a human being? Wow. The worst day.
1:26:57 Especially now as I don’t see negatives. No negatives.
1:27:06 You see, if I calculated what you ask, you understand that there isn’t a negative day. If I calculated what you asked with the mindset of the fact that there are no negatives, then the worst day in actual fact was my best day because it put me on a particular path. Yes? Okay. I mean, I can’t think of, well, I can give you two answers.
1:27:39 One is actually real and would go in accordance to what you ask, but I don’t want to give you that as the worst day. Okay. So then, all right. Look, you see, what you ask is actually not a fair question. It’s not fair because, you know, this is an inspirational seminar.
1:28:12 This is not something which is, you know, negative. This is not something that is, everything is supposed to actually promote. Okay. So, okay. So, it goes like this.
1:28:25 You laugh, but it’s not funny. And you’ll see the gravitas of what I mean when I tell you the answer. In actual fact, I don’t know whether it’s the right auditorium for this because I don’t want any, I don’t want this to come back up. We can leave it out. You can leave it out, yeah?
1:28:47 I promise. Okay. It’s a very awkward question to ask me. And for the environment in which we sit where we’re trying to be inspired, it’s dark. Is it?
1:29:16 Okay, then. Well, I’m happy. I’m really happy that you feel this way about it. And, you know, just, I’m going to come back to that. But to say this, I am just a guy.
1:29:58 I remember what I said at the start. No one is an original. We’re all copying, so steal, make it your own. So, if I have done it, ordinary little me, if I have done it, with the insurmountable pressure that comes from two accidents like that at the same time, with the criticism which was heavy and ugly, if I can still be here today and I’ve done, I mean, I went on to be champion after that still four years, defending it, as I say, well, 18 times. If I went on to do that, what can’t you do?
1:30:58 But if you’re not obsessed, it doesn’t matter. Sit back, have a glass of wine, put your feet up in front of the fire. If you’re not obsessed, you ain’t going anywhere. There’s nothing wrong with you not going anywhere. There’s nothing wrong with sitting at home in front of the fire with your slippers and not wanting any more and not wanting an exceptional position.
1:31:21 There’s nothing wrong with that. And it’s actually, I feel a little hurtful for you because most of you, if not all of you, are on that path. So I feel a little sorry for actually saying this, but this is the environment in which you sit. This is London Real. This is an academy.
1:31:43 If you want to reach your objective, if you want to achieve it, you’re going to have to be obsessive. You’re going to have to be obsessed. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be here. You’re just playing games. You’re just turning up to actually meet people and network.
1:31:57 I’m not a networker. I want you to be champion, not the networker. So do what is necessary for you to achieve your objective. If it is networking, then network. But get the job done.
1:32:13 Get to the target. Thank you. Chris, it’s always an honor. Always an honor to have you. Thank you for your trust.
1:32:32 Thank you for your candor. London Real is you and you are London Real. Thank you. In so many ways. Thank you.
1:32:39 You inspire us and we do feel like you are a part of us and you are. And thank you so much for your time. My pleasure. Chris Eubank. Thank you.
