Chris Eubank Jr claims his father has shown ‘no interest’ in him or his career for ‘a long time’.
Former middleweight and super-middleweight world champion Chris Eubank Sr mentored his son during his breakthrough in boxing.
The Eubanks’ relationship has become strainedGetty
He also regularly appeared at his fights and press conferences but their relationship in recent years has weakened.
Eubank Sr is no longer part of Eubank Jr’s camps and in an interview with talkSPORT in 2023, he refused to disagree with Simon Jordan, calling his son a ‘charlatan’.
After his win over Kamil Szeremeta, fans are now looking towards a long-awaited fight between Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, who tested positive for the banned substance clomifene in 2022.
Conor is the son of Nigel Benn, who fought Eubank Sr during the 1990s, and called out his potential opponent at the weekend but their fight has been indefinitely postponed due to his positive test, although it is hoped the fight will happen next year.
Eubank Jr is also keen on the fight but when asked whether his father would be involved, he opened up on their eroded relationship.
“I would love for him to be involved,” he said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “The fact that I even have to say that is insane, how is that even a thing?
“That his son is going to fight the son of his arch nemesis all those years ago when he was a world champion, how was it a thing that he may not be there? But, it’s a thing, we don’t talk. He has shown no interest in my career for a long period of time now, he’s shown no interest in me in a long period of time.
“You know, he’s gone through a lot over the last few years and he’s still dealing with his demons and you know, he thinks certain things aren’t right and should be a certain way and they’re not, he’s not happy with it.
“This is how he’s dealing with it, by not being in my life. As somebody who’s lost a son, I think that that’s a pretty insane thing to be doing, an insane way to be acting, to kind of not be speaking to, you know, your remaining kids.
“But, he’s his own man, he’s dealing with his situation how he thinks he should and all I can do is sit and wait and hope that he comes around at some point. But I can’t tell you if that will happen any time soon.”
Eubank Sr was his son’s former mentor during his professional boxing breakthroughGetty
But Eubank Jr says he and his father don’t talk@arielhelwani X
He does not know if his father will be involved if he fights BennGetty
Eubank Jr was then asked if he has recently tried to reach out to his father and replied: “Yeah, I message him every once in a while, I don’t really get much back.”
“He doesn’t reply?” Helwani questioned, before Eubank Jr added: “Yeah. Sometimes he, you know, it’ll be a one-word answer or an Instagram post but there’s no real conversation there.
“It’s sad but, I’m my own man and I’ve got massive things on my plate, in my path that I have to complete, I have to succeed in. So I can’t let anything like that affect me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, I have to be strong, I have to be focused.
“Once my career is done, then I can try, you know, spend time worrying about other people’s feelings but for right now, it’s all systems go man, I’ve gotta be me.”
Helwani then asked if Eubank Jr had heard from his father since he beat Szeremeta on Saturday, but he said: “No, I have not.”
“You know what? For a long time, I kind of tried to act like it was cool,” he added. “People would ask me, ‘How’s your Dad?’
“‘Yeah, we’re good,’ but I got sick of that s*** man. It’s bull****, we’re not cool, we’re not okay and people need to know.”