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Chris and Harlem\u2019s partnership was announced by Wasserman in late October<\/p>\n
Chris, meanwhile, takes a moment and a breath before weighing in. \u201cWhat does it mean?\u201d The 57-year-old has always taken his time choosing his words, and it has always made him a mesmeric orator. \u201cIt means I\u2019m delighted. Delighted. I\u2019ve given him tips over the years, and every tip I\u2019ve given him, I\u2019ve seen him actually carry them out in fights. Even just coming up from Brighton this morning in the car, the amount of information that I\u2019ve been able to give him, it\u2019s like: \u2018Is he gonna be able to actually take on board this much experience and wisdom? Not only in boxing, but also to do with the media, the public, being still. Is it going to overload him?\u2019 But it\u2019s fun. When I get up, I pull him up; and when he gets up, he pulls me up.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of the day, the duo will be back in Brighton, where their fighting family have roots \u2013 including Simon\u2019s twin brother Peter, and Chris\u2019s son Jr. It is there that the unbeaten Harlem will box Schwarzkopf, marking the Brighton Centre\u2019s first fight night since 1991, when Chris retained his WBO middleweight title. Three years after that bout, to the day, Harlem was born. <\/p>\n
Some will call it coincidence; Harlem, with his feel for the spiritual and the divine, might point to something more. <\/p>\n
The 29-year-old also has a feel for philosophy. \u201cI think I\u2019ve always been attracted to philosophy, and the philosophy of fighting, because it\u2019s so real,\u201d Harlem says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing fake about it. When you step in the ring, you see someone\u2019s personality in true form.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Harlem faces off with Timo Schwarzkopf ahead of their bout in Brighton<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the only vocation that\u2019s real,\u201d Chris concurs. \u201cAlmost all vocations are pretend, but when you get hit, there\u2019s no pretence behind it. I think of our trainer, Charlie; he\u2019s a fireman, and he\u2019s beautifully placed, because his spirit teaches what Harlem has to do when he\u2019s in a fight. If it\u2019s not going your way, you\u2019ve got to stay in that fight, and if you get knocked down, you\u2019ve got to get up and run back into the fire. Do you have the courage, the testicular fortitude to do what most people can\u2019t do?\u201d Chris, wearing a glinting badge in acknowledgement of Charlie\u2019s service and his own unique role as a US city marshal, turns to Harlem. \u201cI was gonna say, \u2018I pray it doesn\u2019t happen to you.\u2019 Sorry, it\u2019s not like that; I pray it does<\/em> happen, because that\u2019s how you cut yourself away from the rest of the pack. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the warrior, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re creatures of irony, because we really are here to protect and bring peace, but in the ring we\u2019re fierce<\/em>!\u201d Chris leans forward as he says it, contorting his face into a mock kind of menace. Now, he is posturing as only he can. Then, he leans back and laughs. \u201cSorry, I\u2019m taking over the interview, but this is why I\u2019m here, because I\u2019ve got to give you copy!\u201d<\/p>\n Chris, who places much focus on the idea of \u201cprotecting\u201d Harlem, takes over a few times. I wonder if Harlem minds, but he smiles softly as if to suggest he doesn\u2019t. I certainly don\u2019t \u2013\u00a0as keen as I am to hear from Harlem.<\/p>\n Harlem during his victory over Miguel Antin in March<\/p>\n When I ask the younger Eubank what he will be thinking as he emerges in front of a home crowd in Brighton, he manages, \u201cYou don\u2019t have time for thoughts. I\u2019m ready, I\u2019m ready to go, I\u2019m ready to\u2013\u2013\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cInflict punishment,\u201d Chris cuts in, before apologising to Harlem again. \u201cI\u2019m sorry! But that\u2019s what I\u2019m here to teach: He has to inflict legal punishment on his adversary. That\u2019s right. I\u2019m gonna teach you a quote by…\u201d he searches for the name, thinking of Samuel Johnson but saying Winston Churchill. \u201c\u2018Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.\u2019 So, treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle. The battle has already started, Harlem\u2019s job is to eviscerate them. We\u2019re here to smash<\/em> it, we\u2019re going to smash<\/em> it.\u201d Again, Chris is posturing in trademark fashion. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you walk into that arena,\u201d he continues, \u201cand you hear the crowds booing you \u2013 or cheering, but it\u2019s better when they boo \u2013 oooh, it\u2019s beautiful!\u201d <\/p>\n There will be no boos in Brighton. Harlem will be the hero, Chris his mentor. But for all that Chris feels he can teach his new mentee, he effuses about his nephew\u2019s learnings so far. To Chris, Harlem is a \u201cpure\u201d soul and a \u201csweetheart\u201d. As a boxer? \u201cBeautiful, brilliant, sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n They will hope for a sweet homecoming.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2023\/11\/06\/11\/GettyImages-1478545494.jpg\")
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