• Middleweight

Could history repeat itself for Chris Eubank's family?

Chris Eubank junior's team say it has been difficult to find willing sparring partners © Getty Images

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On Monday, Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Junior finally sat down together but there was no stare down, no face-to-face antics. I'm pleased about that because the final stare down should be after the weigh-in and not after every single press conference.

"I still don't trust him to control his emotions," said Eubank. This, remember, is why he missed an earlier conference. His father had taught him how to resist the urge to retaliate if pushed, but on Monday the fighting son arrived without his father, without any security. "I took the train from Brighton on my own - I will be in the ring on my own." Eubank was calm, precise and very confident.

"He can't look me in the eye - he has realised that this is a different level," said Saunders. The triple champion was very talkative, joking his way through the highly-anticipated conference.

The pair meet for the British, Commonwealth and European middleweight titles as part of the Bad Blood show at London's ExCel on Saturday. There are a few single tickets left, with 20,000 sold.

Eubank is still a novice in some ways, having fought 18 times and in some fights failing to break a sweat. He has never had a mildly competitive fight, never gone beyond eight rounds and has no idea what it is like to be under pressure in a real fight. However, don't be fooled by raw statistics and traditional thinking.

Saunders fought at the 2008 Olympics, he is unbeaten in 20 as a professional fighter and has gone the full 12 round championship distance five times. In his last six fights he has met four men who, like Eubank, entered the ring with unbeaten records.

"Forget the records and the statistics," said Ronnie Davies, who trained Eubank senior and was at the hospital on the night that Chris Jr was born. "This kid is special, better than the old man. I've never seen anything like it - never."

Team Eubank claim that they have made the grade on the road in sparring wars with men like Carl Froch. The Froch sparring session was part of Froch's preparations for his rematch with George Groves. "There was pressure on the spar - it was a fight," said Froch.

Team Eubank also claim that it has been difficult and expensive to get men to travel to Brighton and spar for this fight. I have seen some of the sessions and they have been brutal; they reminded me of the hard work in private sessions that Chris Senior put in all those years ago. People said that he was not ready for big fights and that was based on his image, not on his ability.

"It is too easy for people to dismiss me because I have not been 12 rounds - that's a mistake, a simple mistake," added Eubank junior.

Saunders has been out in Spain preparing in isolation, running on beaches and taking long, cool evening walks. It has been his first real camp, a time away from his family and his horses. Is it also a sign that this is not the easy fight that too many people predict?

"I have made the sacrifices here and that is what a champion has to do," said Saunders. "I don't have to fight him, I want to fight him and I want to beat him. I don't like him. This will be one of my easiest fights."

When the fight was first announced it looked like Team Eubank had jumped too far into the boxing void; when Eubank Jr failed to show up for any of the conferences there was idle talk that he, his father and Davies had seen sense and would pull out.

"This fight is not about looking at a man at a conference, or saying something stupid or pushing somebody - it will be conducted inside the ropes and that is where all fights take place and where all fights are won," said Eubank senior.

In 1990 Eubank Sr was 24 and had won all 24 of his fights when he beat Nigel Benn for the WBO middleweight title. Eubank entered the ring as the underdog on that occasion, his reputation compiled in obscurity and Benn helped his opponent's cause by not preparing properly. It was a shock, I was there.

There is clearly nothing wrong with the way that Saunders has prepared but the total lack of fear inside his camp is mildly disturbing. In the brutal 1990 fight Benn discovered after a round or two that he had underestimated Eubank Sr and it was too late.

On Saturday we will see if history can be repeated.

Nigel Benn underestimated Chris Eubank Sr in 1990 © PA Photos

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