Chris Eubank was one of the most memorable guests throughout The MMA Hour special editions from Las Vegas last week.
After his spirited preview for the event, the esteemed former middleweight and super-middleweight champion joined Ariel Helwani on the latest episode of The MMA Hour to give his thought in the aftermath of Floyd Mayweather’s tenth round win over Conor McGregor.
While many boxing analysts discredited McGregor’s early showing in the fight to Mayweather carrying him, Eubank claimed that the Irishman should have brought the same spirit we saw in the pre-fight amble into the contest itself.
“It’s not so much that he carried him…think about the physicality of the two combatants. Think about their spirits,” Eubank said.
“Beforehand, you had the spirits at play. You can see that Conor McGregor absolutely crushed Floyd Mayweather’s spirit.
“He shouted him down. He antagonized his spirit. He pushed his spirit around – he out shouted him, he out stressed him, he out thought him. His energy was so vibrant it was scary. He had dented the spirit of Floyd Mayweather.
“We saw it in the press conferences, even at the weigh-in…especially at the weigh in when he was shouting him down. You saw that the spirit within Mayweather was quiet because he couldn’t compete with it. That’s usually half the battle”
Eubank believes that McGregor should have “run at him like a madman”, in the same that Steve Collins approached their rematch in Cork back in 1995.
“What he needed to do on top of that was run at him like a madman,” he explained.
“Again, that approach can be seen in Eubank vs. Collins 2. When your viewers actually watch that fight, I think you’ll get a ground swell of comments – ‘I see now what you mean’.
Earlier in the interview, Eubank claimed that the polarizing bout evolved both MMA and boxing. He also commended McGregor for contesting the bout in the first place.
“It engaged the globe in terms of martial arts. Boxing and MMA have evolved as a result of the fight. The tactics used in the fight, in the future this will be looked upon by MMA fighters if they should contend against boxers. They will have to better it again, there are no two ways about that. That also proves the fact that we are evolving as fighters.
“I’m more looking to look at the positivity of the fact that Conor was, in this fight, our Rocky.
“We imagined that he would step up to the plate, as he did, to fight the best possible with the best possible tactics to have a competitive fight. It turned out that it went the boxer’s way.
“How ever you viewed the fight, I would like to concentrate more on the fact that he stepped up to the plate. The tactics, as I’ve said before, if he boxes him it’s not going to be much of a contest. If he fought him – I’d urge your viewers to watch Eubank/Collins 2 – you’d see the blueprint.
He added: “No one knows of the blueprint to beat McGregor, but the closest anyone has ever been to that blueprint is that particular fight.”
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