BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – It’s a cold day in Brighton, the hometown of Harlem Eubank, and he’s the most smartly dressed person on the famous pier. He will soon be asked to go nose-to-nose with Ireland’s Tyrone McKenna and pose for photos designed to sell their March 7 welterweight contest.

The last time Eubank played for the camera like this was 11 months ago when, at the London O2 Arena, he was paraded in the ring alongside Adam Azim and led to believe that the revered up-and-comer would be his next opponent.

The fight with the Boxxer-promoted Azim barely even reached the negotiating table. Many believed Harlem was being used as a smokescreen to deflect the heat from Boxxer’s apparent unwillingness to match their star man with Dalton Smith. 

Whatever the truth, it left a sour taste in Eubank’s mouth. What looked like being a breakout year after he impressively hacked down Timo Schwarzkopf in November 2023 ended up being the most frustrating period of his career. An eight-round points win over Nurali Erdogan was his only action of 2024.

“It’s hard because you’re trying to pursue the biggest fights out there,” Eubank tells BoxingScene. “You put yourself in position, you’ve delivered the performance that warrants that. You get caught up in the politics of the sport. But at the same time, I was in the gym that whole year like I’d had four fights, I was training, multiple training camps, but I just didn’t have the platform to show it at the end. 

“It’s difficult when you’re going at that intensity. I’ve been in the gym for 11, 12 years, nonstop. Not just training camps. When you have a date [to fight], you are working towards it and you’re gearing up and putting yourself through the fire. But to do that, and have nothing to show for it multiple times, it’s dark. It takes you to dark places.”

The darkness of the boxing business was not something Eubank was talking about the first time we sat down together in Brighton. Back then, in early 2017, he was looking forward to turning professional, describing the inspiration he received from his uncle and cousin, Chris Eubank Snr and Jnr. Like nearly every single young boxer about to make their paid debut, he believed that his talent would ultimately win through. That optimism – or naivety – is frankly essential because without it, and if they knew the truth, the vast majority wouldn’t bother to even start the journey. 

“There’s a lot you come across in this game that you don’t anticipate,” Eubank admits when asked to name the one piece of advice he’d give his younger self. “I think the main thing is to be patient and regardless of the noise, keep working on the craft and keep developing as a fighter, everything will come. Don’t get distracted by the politics and everything that’s going on. 

“It’s not easy. It can easily deflate you, sidetrack you and put you off onto another path. You have to have a type of blind faith to keep marching forward and make sure you’re in the gym, you’re working every day to be the best version and the best fighter you can be.” 

Boxing training, even with a fight on the horizon, is a grind. Without a date in the diary, without something to aim for, it becomes even more so.

“This is the politics, the side of the game that can put you off the sport. I just had to keep my head down and stay working and believe in myself,” he says.

“It’s hard. Some days you struggle. Some days you get that spark. Every day is different. You have to keep that consistency and turn up throughout it all. And that’s the advice I’d give to a younger version of myself: Have that blind faith that the opportunity is going to come, the platform is going to come, and when it does, you’ll be ready to deliver the performance.”

Eubank, 20-0 (8 KOs), is an intelligent man. He won’t go into too much detail about the lies he’s been told, at least not on record. He knows his place, for now, and he knows what he’s supposed to do here on the pier today. Scowl for the camera, pretend that McKenna is a bitter enemy and say the right things at certain times.

“It’s a big matchup and the biggest fight of my career against a tough, fan-favorite Irish fighter,” Eubank says of McKenna, who stands a little more than 10 meters away. “This is a huge fight and I’m excited for it. I can show I’m at that level to push on for world title opportunities.”

The Englishman is now 31 years old. The window to his peak might already be preparing to close. And it’s the brevity of a fighter’s career that is the cruellest of all truths in the sport of boxing. Eubank was aware of this, that he needed to move quickly, even when we spoke in 2017. He didn’t start boxing until he was 18 nor punch for pay until he was 22.

The recent months on the sidelines have not yet been wasted, he insists. “I’ve been perfecting my craft. Now it’s time to go in there and show people the work that’s been done behind closed doors over the last 11, 12 years.”

Eubank then smiles politely, dusts down his tan suit, and ambles towards McKenna. The press officers get the fighters into position, the photographers do their job and Eubank, as ever, waits patiently to do his.