WITH a surname like Eubank it should come as no surprise that Harlem, the nephew of Christopher Livingstone, has always had an eye for style.
But his uncle, not to mention his cousin Chris Jr, have also cast a lengthy shadow from beneath which the 31-year-old has battled hard to emerge.
“I knew that I was good enough to do it and to forge my own path,” Eubank says. “I wanted to prove that along the way it’s not just the name that has got me where I am, but that I can really fight as well.”
Eubank speaks from a studio just outside of Barnet, north London as the subject of the latest 1909 Heritage Series shoot. He is in an upbeat mood, chatting between outfit changes but the reality is, the welterweight has just emerged from the toughest period of his career to date.
It is now 12 months since he last threw a punch for pay, when he capped a career-best performance by becoming the first man to stop tough and capable German Timo Schwarzkopf in Brighton. Around an hour later, in the victor’s changing room, he and Eubank Sr sat down and discussed what doors might have been opened by the victory.
The fight had been broadcast live on Channel 5 and one leading national newspaper website revealed that the blog for the fight had been their second most visited page that month, with only Manchester United beating it for hits. Eubank, it seemed, had arrived.
What the nephew-uncle team they did not anticipate was a year of inactivity, especially with no injury problems to report. It was an injury, however, that scuppered a mooted showdown with Adam Azim. The pair had even posed for a head-to-head photo to seemingly announce their all-British clash but Azim eventually pulled out. It was just one of a number of false dawns for Eubank since that homecoming in Brighton last November.
“It’s been the most frustrating period of my career thus far,” he says. “It’s not ideal at all coming off a big win. You want the next step straight away. But I’ve had to be really patient this year and leave it in God’s hands.
“It’s been crazy to be honest. But I feel like I’m on the other side of it now but while you’re in it, it’s pretty dark. You’re just in that regiment but you’re training blind basically. I’m in the gym every day anyway but when you’re going at that intensity, like you’ve got a fight, but there’s nothing at the end of it, it’s difficult.
“But I feel like I’m through the other side now and I’ve got a vision for big fights in the early part of next year.”
Friday night (November 22), as Eubank would agree, is not the big fight he had craved with an eight-rounder against Frenchman Nurali Erdogan topping another Channel 5 show, this time in Newcastle. But it will allow the 19-0 ace a chance to shake off any ringrust before what he insists will be a memorable 2025.
“I’ve been in the gym every day so that gym fitness is already there but it’s under the lights,” he says. “That’s where I like to perform.
“Sometimes you just need a shake out to be able to go into those fights at a high level. In saying that, everyone I fight comes to bring 150 per cent so it’s never just a shake-out, it’s always a tough competitor in front of me and this will be no different.
“Newcastle is a long way from Brighton but it was just to try and get a date in. Originally, the date was supposed to be a few weeks before in Bolton so we had to adjust again. But this was just about getting out as quickly as possible and then we will go back to Brighton soon after this one. That’s the goal. Brighton will be next after this, I just have to lock in and take care of business.”
After spending the last four years boiling himself down to 140lbs, Eubank has now made the decision to campaign at welterweight. So, is a British title shot at 147lbs the plan for his next Brighton homecoming?
“If not something bigger,” he says. “Hopefully, bigger but I don’t want to say too much and jinx anything but hopefully I win here and then it will set up a big fight for a big homecoming.
“Welterweight has felt good. I feel like my body has grown anyway since being in the ring 12 months ago. My physique has changed, I’ve got stronger and I’ve filled out more. I’ve always been in the gym with heavier guys so I think I’ll grow into the weight nicely. When you cut you find out more about yourself but I feel like my body has grown into the new weight already and will now continue to grow even more.”
The move upwards was something his uncle and one-time manager Eubank Sr had been keen on, but the two-weight world champion is now taking a more marginal role in his nephew’s career a year on from their first fight together.
“He wants to step back from the media stuff but he’s still on the other end of the phone,” Harlem adds. “But in the fight night sense he will probably be a bit more reserved than the last one.”
But Senior will be with him in spirit as he continues to climb the ladders towards the sharp end of the sport. Eubank will also be influenced by his uncle’s sense of style as he continues to try and forge his own reputation.
“I always saw what he was rocking and I liked that,” Eubank says of his uncle. “You know, it was different.
“The shapes were kind of very boxy and then obviously the jodhpurs is something different. It’s a kind of statement every time he turns up somewhere.
“He’s communicating a message; a black man rocking the old English attire. It’s kind of a contradiction and I think he likes that message. But I’ll leave the monocles to him.
“I feel like the old school fighters pay close attention to what they wore and they’d make statements with what they’d turn up to the presser in. It’s another way to communicate who you are to the world and I think that boxers have always done that pretty well. Not many can express themselves well outside the ring but it’s one way, one avenue that is good to do that and some fighters through history have done that very well.”
That night in the bowels of the Brighton Centre, Eubank Sr had also called out Conor Benn for a fight with his nephew and not a catchweight clash with his son Chris Jr.
At the time, there was still no resolution to Benn’s doping case following his two failed tests for the banned substance Clomifene but, after the National Anti-Doping Panel cleared him earlier this month, the Destroyer is closer than ever to a return.
“Fighting Benn is something that I’ve made clear I want,” Eubank says. “I’ll take the fight at the drop of a hat and I’m ready to take that fight straight away. But I don’t think he has any plans to get into the ring with me. He has been talking about fantasy fights, calling for people that he’s not going to get in the ring with.
“Obviously, he wants the Junior fight but as well as being a public execution from Junior it’s also a fantasy fight – they’re not the same weight and they are at very different stages of their careers.
“But I’m going to be setting myself up for world title contention and that’s the goal. If we get Benn along the way, beautiful, but I’m very much on my path and there are big names and big fights for me on my path. I’m in a hot division domestically and abroad as well. There are big fights to be made and I’m in the mix for all of them.”
First stop Newcastle and then, all being well, back home to Brighton. “It’s just about taking care of business in Newcastle,” he adds. “That will set up that big year next year with huge fights that will take me towards my world title dream.”
