New focus for wiser Eubank

BOXING

Chris Eubank has promised to become a more ruthless fighter in the ring - and a more responsible person out of it. Eubank insisted yesterday that he was "stronger and wiser" after losing his World Boxing Organisation super-middleweight title to Steve Collins.

"The loss was good for me," said the previously unbeaten 28-year-old, who fights Bruno Godoy, of Argentina, in Belfast on 27 May.

He said: "I wasn't stale, but when you have been champion for so long you don't learn a great deal. You have a tendency to break basic rules. A lot of good habits start to drop.

"The defeat has opened up my mind to a multitude of things. Now I have focus and clarity again."

Eubank hinted strongly that he had not abided by a strict training regime and also admitted that he had not always been responsible with his multi- million pound earnings. "Not being born to parents who were accountants was probably my biggest mistake," he said.