Johnathon Banks is using the teachings of Manny Steward with Chris Eubank Jr.
And the fighter-turned-trainer who coached greats like heavyweight icon Wladimir Klitschko and middleweight star Gennady Golovkin towards the end of their careers can see the same winning mentality in the Brit.
Banks will be in Eubank Jr’s corner for this weekend’s family-based grudge match against Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The British middleweight has been working with Banks for a year now and they’ve prepared for this fight predominantly at Churchill’s Boxing Gym in Lambeth, London.
But there’s a touch of Detroit and the famous Kronk gym in this camp. Banks, a former cruiserweight and heavyweight contender, was trained by the late Steward, who coached some of boxing’s best ever. He then assumed the role of former world heavyweight champion Klitschko’s trainer when Steward fell ill and passed away in 2012.
“It’s about paying homage to the late, great Manny Steward,” said Banks. “90 per cent of the conversations I have with Chris and other fighters start ‘The late great Manny Steward said…’. I don’t give my opinions, my opinions don’t matter.
“It was Manny who asked me to take over from him with Wladimir Klitschko. That was an honour.
“Why me? I had to keep it going. I wasn’t even a trainer then. I didn’t think I could train a fighter but I did everything I saw Manny do and I still do then. It was like a plug going into a socket, it fit.
“The reason I train fighters is because of Manny Steward. I don’t do it my way, I do it the way I was taught. It’s the most winning system in boxing, why not stick to it?”
Banks worked with serial winners in Klitschko and Golovkin towards the latter end of their great careers. Eubank Jr, 35, is not on the level of those former champions but Banks still sees something in the Brighton man that’s similar.
“He has a ‘I want to win mentality’ like them. That is what it takes to keep pushing forward,” said the Michigan native. He compares right up there with them. It’s the mentality that I look at. I look at the mentality and if you have a willing mentality and a ‘I’m willing to do anything mentality’ that’s the most important.
“He would have liked his mentality. A lot of people may not understand that when it comes to Manny, he liked mentality more than talent because you can do more with mentality than talent. I think he’d have liked Chris a lot.”
When it comes to mentality, Eubank Jr will need a strong one this week. His father, two-weight world champion Chris Sr, won’t be involved in the fight week.
He labelled his son “a disgrace” for his egg-throwing antics at a press conference in February and he doesn’t want the fight to take place because Benn is coming up to middleweight while they’re restricting his son to a 10lb rehydration clause on fight day.
“I don’t believe it will affect Chris,” said Banks. “But after the fight it may affect him more after the fight. It’s a very sensitive topic and private discussion that he made public.
“Chris is a professional and his focus is strictly on the fight. Both of our goals are the same and that’s to not let anything change our focus on the task ahead.”
But when it comes to the rehydration clause, which is a contract stipulation rather than a rule, Banks is unsure why Benn’s team were insisting it was put in there if he truly believes he can beat Eubank Jr.
The American trainer said: “I’m like this; if I’m 160lb and I’m looking at light-heavyweight [Artur] Beterbiev and I really, really want to fight him, why would I add a hydration clause in there?
“If I believe I can beat him and I’m the smaller guy coming up, then just let me fight him. It makes no sense to me to put the stipulations in.”
The fight is being billed as ‘Born Rivals’ as it is being built on the rivalry of the pair’s fathers given Chris Sr and Nigel Benn had two classic clashes in the 1990s. Yet it is still a contrived hatred which has been further tarnished by two anti-doping test issues for Benn for clomifene when they were supposed to fight in 2022.
Benn, who denies any wrongdoing and UK Anti-Doping’s case was dismissed by the National Anti-Doping Panel, has played up to the villain narrative. Yet the Londoner has not yet shown anything near the quality of his father while Eubank Jr has also flattered to deceive on some of his biggest nights. Banks still believes his man can go on to elite level if he wins this one at the weekend.
“Do I believe he can win the big fights? Yes I think he’s still growing in the sport,” he added.
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