Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DEGALE BENNT ONVENGEANCE
DAN EVANS (right) reached the third ATP Tour semifinal of his career with victory over Andreas Seppi at the Delray Beach Open in Florida. The 6-4 6-4 triumph over the Italian was Evans’s fifth win in a row. Chunky chasing revenge for his childhood hero, t
JAMES DEGALE will be on a revenge mission tonight for his childhood hero.
The two-time world champion looks to keep his career alive against Chris Eubank Jnr in an intriguing clash at The O2.
The bad blood between the pair has been the narrative for the build-up to the fight. But Olympic gold medallist Degale has another motivation.
At 33, the former IBF super-middleweight champion grew up watching a golden era of domestic British boxing.
It was a time when his opponent’s dad was strutting his stuff on terrestrial TV and involved in two of the most well-known all-british fights.
Eubank Snr stopped Nigel Benn in 1990, before a rematch at Old Trafford – which ended in a draw – captured the imagination of the whole country in 1993.
But Degale was not one of the many who enjoyed the eccentricity and flamboyance of the rope-vaulting Eubank, as he was instead a fan of the ‘Dark Destroyer’.
“I grew up watching them,” said Degale. “I was more Benn, the Dark Destroyer. I loved his attitude. He was a London man, a proper geezer. He was a wicked fighter. I was a fan of him, not Eubank.
“Eubank was an entertainer and a showman, and he could fight a bit. But I was all about Nigel Benn.”
There were plenty of mind games in the build-up to those two Eubank-benn meetings and Degale feels his opponent’s dad is up to his old tricks again.
At a heated press conference on Thursday, Eubank Snr appeared to question Degale’s alcohol consumption on nights out.
“Him and his dad are trying to draw confidence and now they’re making it personal,” said ‘Chunky’. “So I can’t have a drink? I can’t wait to punch him in the face and deal with him proper.
“I’m a normal, successful guy, who has done well for himself. Yes, in my spare time, I go to nightclubs, that’s what everyone does. I’m only a normal guy.
“They’re playing mind games – they’re idiots.”
Eubank Jnr insists he has nothing to prove to his famous father.
Eubank Snr displayed a rare lack of confidence in his son’s ability when he revealed he was “petrified” about tonight’s fight.
The former two-weight world champion has been conspicuous by his absence in the build-up and declined to back his heir to topple Degale, admitting the Londoner has a better pedigree.
But Eubank Jnr, 29, said: “I believe I’ve proven myself to him and the boxing public, that is why I am who I am and have the name and respect I have in the sport.
“Positive or negative, I don’t let his words affect me, He hasn’t been in the country for the last three months, so he hasn’t seen the work I’ve been doing.”