Chris Eubank Sr names former champion he saw no way of beating: ‘I’m glad I didn’t fight him’

Britain joined the United States on the world middleweight stage when Chris Eubank Sr defeated Nigel Benn during their WBO title epic in 1990.

The World Boxing Organization was still in its infancy and his belt had limited significance, but Eubank’s victory at least kept it in British hands a little longer after Benn’s reign ended.

Elsewhere, Jamaican-born New Yorker Mike McCallum held the WBA version, while Iowa southpaw Michael Nunn was in his third year as IBF champion. The WBC belt was vacant, although destroyer Julian Jackson would claim it a month after Eubank-Benn.

Meanwhile, James Toney was just months away from winning his first world title and beginning his rise to pound-for-pound number one.

Eubank held the WBO title for seven months before moving up to super middleweight. One reason, he admits, was the presence of the aforementioned American middleweight who he had no interest in facing, as he candidly explained on Call Chris Eubank.

“James Toney – if he was ever the number one contender for my title, then I would have to fight him. He was a champion in his own right, he was never a contender. I’m not trying to unite against him because I don’t see how I beat him.

“I’m glad Nigel Benn was my opponent. It was him. I’m glad it wasn’t James Toney.

“I didn’t see a way to beat James Toney. You can’t beat guys like that. And the way Roy Jones did it against James Toney was a reflex. I didn’t have the reflexes Roy Jones had.”

Toney’s career would include defining fights against Nunn, McCallum and Jones, and subsequent wins at weight over Iran Barkley and Vassiliy Jirov – the latter earning him the IBF cruiserweight title – even before a brief run at heavyweight.

Eubank’s CV pales in comparison, but the Eubank-Benn rivalry remains one of the greatest in British boxing history.