Chris Eubank Jr has become a father to twin boys, hailing the moment as “the greatest” of his life.
In the days before Eubank Jr’s last fight, a defeat by bitter rival Conor Benn in November, he announced that he was a father-to-be. And this week brought the birth of his children, as the 36-year-old boxer shared a photo of himself holding his twins.
His caption on social media read: “I’ve done a lot of great things in my life… This is the greatest.”
In the days leading up to his points loss to Benn, Eubank Jr spoke to The Independent and other publications about his impending fatherhood. He knew at the time that he would be having twin boys.
Chris Eubank Jr, three days before his rematch with Conor Benn (Getty Images)
Speaking on the anonymity of his partner, he said: “My private life should be private, that’s how I have always seen it. What people don’t know and what people don’t see, they cannot target, they cannot ruin, they cannot try to interfere with.
“There’s no benefit, in my opinion, to exposing private relationships to the world. What benefits are there? If you go out and look at all these high-profile relationships, how many of them last? How many of them don’t end up on the front page of The Sun? Cheating, scandal, divorce, whatever it is – social media does nothing but ruin relationships.
“I saw that from very early on, I experienced it with my mother and father. Their split was very public, and it was hard to watch, and it was embarrassing. Everybody knew that my parents were getting divorced, and I knew from that age that, whatever relationship I got into, I wasn’t going to make it public. It’s unnecessary.”
Eubank Jr also laughed: “Remember people thought I was gay at one point? Do you remember [former opponent] Liam Smith calling me gay?”
He continued, “It’s not like I am hiding [my personal life], I just chose not to throw it out there,” and declined to answer one question about how and when he found out that he was a father-to-be.
Eubank Jr also played down the idea that fatherhood could bring forward the end of his career, telling The Independent: “I don’t think so, I don’t think having children has any effect on my career. If anything, they will make me fight harder, because I know now that I have two extra mouths to feed.
“Boxing is a dangerous sport, and you want to be there for your kids as they grow. These types of fights that I am in, they take a bit out of you – they take a little bit of your life out of you. It’s something to think about, but as of right now, I am in love with my life as a fighter, and I don’t see it coming to an end any time soon.”
Chris Eubank Sr hoists his son aloft after Jr beat Conor Benn last April (Getty Images)
Eubank Jr’s initial announcement that he would be a father came in the BBC documentary The Eubanks: Like Father, Like Son, which also featured the boxer’s iconic, fighting father Chris Eubank Sr.
Speaking specifically about footage in which he revealed the news to his father, Eubank Jr said in November: “I had to announce it sometime, I couldn’t just pop up with two kids on my shoulder. My birthday [in September] seemed like the perfect time to tell my father, and that was the scene that you saw on the BBC documentary.
“He didn’t know. The cameras were there, I wanted it to be captured, so it was a beautiful moment that we can relive for the rest of our lives. The BBC has their schedule, so it had to come out. I found out a few months ago.”
Reflecting on Eubank Sr’s previous preference that his son would not box, Jr said: “I learned to have sympathy for his feelings by being around my nephew Raheem [son to the late Sebastian Eubank].
“When you fall in love with a kid, you start to understand that you don’t want any type of pain or harm coming to this human being. I had never felt love like that for anybody really, so that helped me understand my father’s feelings towards me.
Eubank Jr was dropped and outpointed by Benn in their November rematch (Action Images via Reuters)
“Will I push [my kids] into boxing? No. Would I want them to be boxers? I would not say that. [But] I would not stop, forbid or block them, like my father did for me.
“You have some parents who push their kids into the sport – into all sports – but kids who get pushed into boxing… it is dangerous, because if a kid does not have his heart and mind 100 per cent in it, they can get hurt. I would never push them in, but if they want help, if they want to try it, I will be there to support.”
Eubank Jr was dropped twice by Benn in the final round of their rematch, which he lost on points, seven months after beating his fellow Briton via decision.
Their two in-ring meetings came three decades after their fathers’ own clashes, a pair of historic fights between Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn in the 1990s.
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