“Started Smoking”: Chris Eubank Jr.’s Brother’s Death Left Eubank Sr. in a Dark Spot

“He was standing in the water close to shore, watching the sunset at Cove Beach in Dubai,” Salma Abdelati, the widow of Sebastian Eubank, said in a statement after his passing on July 9, 2021, at the age of 29. The tragic departure of Sebastian Eubank affected the entire Eubank family, but slightly more Chris Eubank Sr., Sebastian’s father, as revealed by Chris Eubank Jr. The result was catastrophic for their relationship, as the pre-existing cracks between Jr. and Sr. started to grow. According to reports, Eubank Jr.’s younger brother suffered a massive heart attack while swimming in the sea at Cove Beach in Dubai, where he lived. Post-mortem reports revealed that Sebastian had a pre-existing heart condition that had gone undiagnosed.

This meant that even if Sebastian Eubank was out of the water when the heart attack hit, doctors wouldn’t have been able to save his life. Despite the tragic news, Sebastian’s widow, Abdelati, said, “I am grateful that he was able to spend a few short and happy weeks with his son before his death.” Though time gradually began to heal the family’s wounds, it took a toll on their relationships, particularly between Chris Eubank Sr. and Jr. Tensions between them had been evident since 2019, when Jr. chose to pursue his boxing career independently, stepping away from his father’s guidance, but Sebastian’s death made things much worse.

While appearing in an interview with Steven Bartlett of The Diary Of A CEO, Chris Eubank Jr. pulled back the curtains on how his father dealt with the trauma of losing his son and how it ended up affecting them. Recounting their separation and his brother’s passing, Jr. said, “He started smoking ma*****na, I guess, to deal with the hardship of losing his son.”

Jr. acknowledged that everyone deals with trauma in their own way. “I can’t fault him for that. But I think that changed him as a man, in terms of his mindset,” he shared. Jr. confessed, “It caused an even bigger gap between us, which we never recovered from, up until last weekend.” 

Chris Eubank Sr. was earlier heavily opposed to the fight between his son and Conor Benn, the son of Sr.’s rival Nigel Benn. The 58-year-old had highlighted the severe weight gap between them to suggest the fight shouldn’t happen, and promised he wouldn’t be in Jr.’s corner if it did. However, when the fight night came, Chris Eubank, in a shocking change of heart, put his personal qualms aside to join his son during the fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“Since that night before the fight & every day since then, it’s been all love between me and my old man,” he told the host. In fact, things might be even better between them now.

Chris Eubank Jr. recounts his father sleeping on a hospital stretcher 

Following his unanimous decision win over Benn on April 26, Eubank Jr. was taken to the hospital for a few days. “He didn’t leave the hospital, and when I say didn’t leave the hospital, I mean like he’s sleeping on one of these stretches outside my room, just in the hallway,” Eubank Jr. told the host.

This seems to have meant everything for Eubank Jr. It made him realize, despite the things that have been said and done between them, “A man who is going to stay by his son like that—that’s love.” Eubank Jr. now aims to build on their common ground and promised that “our relationship is only going to get stronger and stronger and stronger.”

That said, even though the entire family took the brunt of Sebastian’s death, it seems to have affected Eubank Sr. the most, after all, losing a son is unimaginable. However, by the looks of things, everything is heading in the right direction. What did you think of Eubank Jr. and Sr.’s journey back to each other?

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