SHANE McGUIGAN has shrugged off the insults Chris Eubank Sr, and Junior, have slung his way.
Shane, the son of Barry McGuigan, was in the corner of Carl Frampton when he became a two-weight world champion, of course with George Groves for his fourth and first successful world title shot and is doing sterling work with Josh Taylor among others. He is a young trainer but feels little need to defend himself. Instead he believes the comments from the Eubanks are revealing.
โTheyโre threatened. I had an altercation with Eubank Senior in David Hayeโs gym and I feel like that was because senior was so annoyed that David was training with me. Because I feel that deep down heโd probably want to be able to work with David and sit on the side of the ring and mentor a guy like him,โ McGuigan told Boxing News. โI was training all the lads and he came up and tried to undermine me in front of everyone. He said, โSparring.โ Because we were doing padwork.ย (It was Tuesday, we do sparring Monday, Wednesday, Friday.) It was [absurd], my dad got offended by it and I laughed at him. Then he came up to me and gave me an apology. I said, โChris I donโt want your apology.โ He went, โWell, Iโm doing it for your dad then.โ So thereโs respect then between him and my father and thatโs nice. I think he was a fantastic fighter and itโs a shame that heโs losing the respect and credibility. Heโs his own worst enemy. Heโs his own on worst enemy. Thatโs the be all and end all.โ
Frostiness in the build up to the World Boxing Super Series clash between Junior and George Groves therefore is understandable. McGuigan declined to dwell on the Eubank teamโs analysis of the WBA super-middleweight title fight.
โTheyโre not underestimating him behind closed doors. Itโs all a public faรงade,โ Shane said. โI think everything you hear is pantomime. They live in this world where they feel like theyโre a lot more intelligent and cultured than everyone. But in fact theyโre not. And everyone can see them for who they truly are. They canโt say these sort of things and get away with. They canโt go and make these brash statements and comments because it comes back to bite you in the arse. You canโt just shake hands at the end of it.โ
McGuigan continued, โHe [Eubank Senior] says he doesnโt do it for the money, he does it for the love. Come on, letโs be honest. He does it for the money this guy, everything he does is about money. I just hope on Saturday night that he looks after his son. If you have this arrogance and โwarriorโs codeโ or whatever they call it, that heโs invincible. You donโt know. He doesnโt know his son. Everyoneโs got their own brain, everyone takes something slightly differentโฆ Heโs not invincible this kid and neither was Eubank senior. So I hope that for him, as a parent that he does look after him. I hope it never gets to that stage but if heโs taking a lot of punishment, you canโt have this thing that heโs invincible, he can take shots all day long. George Groves is a world class puncher. I think he has to sit back and look at himself. Theyโre definitely phased a little bit. Heโs trying to put me down because maybe heโs a little bit intimidated, a little bit scared. Heโll say that heโs not but he knows that George has finally won that world title, he knows that heโs on form, he knows that heโs looking happy, confident and back to his best. Thatโs probably phased him.โ