The long awaited autobiography of Chris Eubank surfaces a month afterMichael Watson published his autobiography. Nigel Benn eclipsed them both bypublishing his autobiography (The Dark Destroyer) back in the late 90s. Itseems as though there is a drought of biographies and autobiographies aboutblack British sportsmen. Dennis Andries has yet to publish an autobiography.Courtney Fry and David Haye have very little written about them. The book is made up of almost three autobiographies: Eubank's life upuntil the victory over Nigel Benn, the Michael Watson saga, and life beyondWatson until the present day. The most interesting of the three is the firstpart. Everyone wants to know what a boxer goes through in order to win achampionship title. The second part should have been a dedicated book on itsown to the Michael Watson bouts. These fights were probably the bestinstalments ever made in British boxing, and yet there were no publicationsdedicated to the fight. When Blackburn Rovers won the Premiership in the1994/95 season, Alan Shearer published his diary. When Chelsea won the FACup in 1997, Ruud Hullit published his diary. But after the Eubank-Watsonfights, no publications were forthcoming. This sin of omission is areflection of the disregard that the literary world has for black interests,but the law of averages suggest that eventually the balance will beaddressed.
The writing betrays a likeable side to Eubank which could have gone inhis favour had a biography been published after the Nigel Benn victory in1990. Clearly, he was not given the opportunity to share his personalitywith the reading public when he achieved world champion status, and the lackof published material on him has denied him of the acceptance that hedesperately craved during his peak. A boxer fights not only because they areskilled at what they do, but also because they assume a new identity whenthey are in the ring that allows their personality to flourish. They arelike actors and singers on stage performing to the public for a basic need:love me and accept me for who I am.
The third part of the book demonstrates that Eubank is a fluent writerwith untapped intelligence. He has the capacity to write manuals on boxingfor up and coming boxers, as well as contributing to the art of war schoolof thought. To a certain degree, he is a bit like Bruce Lee who was aphilosopher and martial artiste. He wrote books on the art of fighting, andhad a lot to contribute to the world's knowledge of martial arts.
The one thing that lets Eubank down is that he cannot decide whether ornot he is African, Jamaican or English. Mind you, he is not alone in thatdilemma because there is a significant section of the black community whosee themselves as Afro-Caribbean rather than English. Clearly, they needmore high profile English role models like Eubank to show them that they canbe Black and English at the same time.
In conclusion then, the autobiography is accessible to the urban readeras well as the sport enthusiast. There are elements in the book that bothJamaicans and black Brits can relate to.
This web site is Copyright © 2000-2010, Diana Hayden
writers-circles.com
39 Lincoln Way,
Harlington, Beds
LU5 6NG
Phone: (44) 01525 873197