IF Chris Eubank Jr is โInsta-famous,โ as George Groves describes it, itโs due to the training footage he puts out on social media. These clips show him hammering bags, blasting out rapid combinations of punches and are, he says, an accurate reflection of how he trains.
Eubank explains, โI always train usually boxing is always middle of the day, two or three oโclock, sometimes a little bit earlier. I spar a lot. I spar as much as I can, which is tough because people donโt want to spar me. Itโs tough to get sparring partners down.
โWe do what we must, especially for a fight coming up. You have to spar. Outside of that, itโs every day graft. Running, Iโm running the hills, Iโm running Brighton beach. My strength and conditioning classes. I tried a bit of Bikram Yoga at one point. But I had to stop that since I moved up to super-middleweight because youโre losing a lot of weight, youโre sweating in that heat, which is counter-productive to someone whoโs trying to gain weight. Itโs a life style.โ
He has a coach, Ronnie Davies, and guidance from his father, Chris Eubank Sr, but insists he is in control of his training set up, an unorthodox arrangement in boxing. But Junior argues, โI know what Iโm doing now. Iโm at the stage now where Iโve been there, Iโve done it. So the input, the instruction, itโs still there but they know Iโve got things under controlโฆ You can [do it] because I do and I am where I am.
โIโve been doing what Iโve been doing for so long, why would I change now?โ
In fact he queries Grovesโ approach. Referring toShane McGuigan, Grovesโ trainer, Eubank said, โHe has chosen to entrust his preparation and his fitness to a man who has been with him for two or three fights. Extremely irresponsible in my opinion. He uses language like โweโ. Weโre going to do this, weโre going to do that. Shaneโs going to get me ready. That is ignorant in my opinion. If I lose, I lost because of I made a mistake. When I win, I won because I did everything right. I think George is using the word we because when he loses he has someone to push that blame on. The camp didnโt go right, Shane didnโt do this, our nutritionist didnโt do that.
โI take responsibility for my actions. Iโm not leaving the most important fight of my life, Iโm not giving anyone else that responsibility, Iโm not putting it anybodyโs hands but my own.โ