There are fighters whose records tell you almost everything you need to know about their careers. Then there are fighters like Ray Close, where a simple list of wins, defeats and titles doesn’t really come close to telling the story.
The former European super-middleweight champion has died at the age of 57, and the tributes from across Northern Irish boxing have rightly remembered far more than the two nights for which most British boxing fans will know his name.
But those two nights remain impossible to ignore.
Ray Close twice challenged Chris Eubank Sr for the WBO super-middleweight championship. The first ended in a draw. The second ended in a split decision.
At a time when Eubank was one of the biggest stars in British boxing, Close came extraordinarily close to changing the story.
Ray Close Was Much More Than an Opponent for Chris Eubank
Looking back more than three decades later, it would be easy to see Ray Close simply as another challenger from the Chris Eubank era.
That would seriously undersell him.
Close had been an outstanding amateur before turning professional in 1988. Among his amateur achievements was winning the 1986 Junior European middleweight championship, where he defeated Dariusz Michalczewski – a man who would later enjoy a long reign as a world light-heavyweight champion.
Close also defeated future world champion Fabrice Tiozzo when winning the European Cup in 1988.
Those names matter because they show the level Close was operating at long before he ever shared a ring with Eubank.
This wasn’t somebody who suddenly found himself in a world-title fight.
He had pedigree.
After turning professional, Close won the Irish super-middleweight championship and continued working his way towards European level.
Then, on St Patrick’s Day in 1993, he travelled to Italy and stopped Vincenzo Nardiello to become European super-middleweight champion.
A couple of months later came the opportunity that would define his career.
Ray Close vs Chris Eubank: The Night Nobody Expected
Chris Eubank entered his first fight with Ray Close in Glasgow in May 1993 with a perfect professional record.
Thirty-five fights. Thirty-five victories.
He was the WBO super-middleweight champion and already one of the most recognisable fighters in British boxing.
This was the era of Eubank and Nigel Benn. Their rivalry had helped make super-middleweight one of the most important divisions in British sport, and Eubank had become a genuine television star.
Close was stepping into that world.
And he refused to play the role of supporting act.
The fight wasn’t some heroic performance where Close merely survived against the champion. He competed with him.
Close boxed with discipline, remained composed under pressure and consistently gave Eubank problems.
Even when Eubank dropped him, Close refused to disappear.
After 12 rounds, the judges couldn’t separate them.
A draw.
Eubank remained champion and technically remained undefeated, but his perfect winning record was gone.
Ray Close had done something none of Eubank’s previous 35 professional opponents had managed.
He had stopped him winning.
I Went Back and Watched Both Eubank Fights
I should probably admit something here.
When I heard the news that Ray Close had died, I knew the name, but that was about it.
I knew he had fought Chris Eubank, but I couldn’t sit here and pretend I remembered watching those fights at the time or that I had followed Close’s career closely. I hadn’t.
So I did what boxing fans can do now that wasn’t possible when these fights originally happened.
I went on YouTube and watched both of them.
And having watched the two fights back-to-back, I came away with an even greater appreciation of just how good Ray Close was.
The first fight being scored a draw doesn’t particularly trouble me. It was competitive, Close gave Eubank enormous problems and you can understand why the judges couldn’t separate them.
The second fight is different.
I reckon Ray Close won it.
Obviously, the official record will always show Chris Eubank retaining his WBO super-middleweight title by split decision. Nothing written here changes that.
But watching it back more than 30 years later, without the hype surrounding an undefeated Eubank and without experiencing it as part of the huge Eubank phenomenon of the early 1990s, I’m not convinced the champion deserved that decision.
Close didn’t fight like somebody simply hoping to survive against the star.
He took the fight to Eubank when he needed to, boxed intelligently and consistently made the champion uncomfortable. There were enough rounds where I preferred Close’s work that, when the final bell sounded, I had him winning.
That’s boxing, of course.
Close decisions will always divide opinion, particularly when you’re talking about a fight separated by a split decision in the first place.
But it also made me wonder whether history has been slightly unfair to Ray Close.
Because there’s an enormous difference between saying, “He gave Chris Eubank two difficult fights” and actually sitting down and watching them.
Having now done that, I understand why his name still means so much to people who followed his career.
He didn’t just give Eubank trouble.
Ray Close was good enough to beat him.
Whether you believe he actually did is where the argument begins.
Why Did Ray Close Give Eubank So Many Problems?
Eubank could be an incredibly difficult fighter to understand.
He possessed power, tremendous physical strength, an excellent chin and the ability to produce sudden moments of brilliance.
But he wasn’t always a fighter who wanted to set a relentless pace.
That created opportunities for somebody as technically accomplished and disciplined as Ray Close.
Close could box behind his jab, maintain his shape and refuse to become overwhelmed by Eubank’s presence.
Perhaps most importantly, he wasn’t intimidated.
That sounds simple, but Eubank’s personality was part of what made fighting him so difficult during that period. The entrances, the confidence, the mannerisms and the aura surrounding an undefeated champion could make an opponent feel as though he was beaten before the opening bell.
Close wasn’t interested.
He had spent years competing at a high level and had already travelled abroad to become European champion.
He believed he belonged there.
And he boxed like it.
Belfast Gave Ray Close Another Chance
There was always going to be unfinished business after the draw.
The rematch arrived almost exactly a year later, on 21 May 1994, and this time Ray Close had home advantage.
The King’s Hall in Belfast provided the setting.
Again, Eubank couldn’t separate himself convincingly from his challenger.
Close pushed him throughout another 12 rounds and once again forced the judges into an extremely difficult decision.
This time there was a winner.
Officially, Eubank retained his WBO super-middleweight title by split decision.
As I’ve already said, having now watched it for myself, I would have given it to Close.
That’s not an attempt to rewrite history. It’s simply how I scored what I watched.
For Close, though, it must have been incredibly difficult to accept.
Across 24 rounds against one of Britain’s biggest boxing stars, there had been remarkably little between them.
One draw.
One split-decision defeat.
No world championship.
Yet describing Close simply as somebody who “failed” to win a world title completely misses what those performances represented.
He proved he was capable of competing at world level.
Twice.
And depending on how you scored that night in Belfast, you might reasonably argue he did even more than that.
The Third Fight That Never Happened
There could easily have been another chapter.
A third meeting between Ray Close and Chris Eubank was scheduled for 1995.
It never happened.
The British Boxing Board of Control revoked Close’s licence after an MRI scan revealed two lesions on his brain.
That decision effectively ended his career in Britain, although Close later obtained a licence in the United States.
He fought five times in Illinois during 1996 and 1997 and won every one of them, finishing his career with a knockout victory over Larry Willis in June 1997.
His final professional record is generally recorded as 25 victories, two defeats and one draw.
But once again, the numbers only tell part of the story.
Imagine How Different British Boxing History Could Have Been
There is a fascinating sliding-doors element to Ray Close’s career.
What happens if one judge scores one more round his way in Glasgow?
What happens if Close gets the decision in Belfast?
Suddenly Chris Eubank’s career looks different.
Close’s career certainly looks different.
And the wider super-middleweight landscape of the 1990s potentially changes with it.
Eubank eventually lost his unbeaten record and WBO title against Steve Collins in 1995.
Close had already come desperately close to doing it.
Having now watched those fights myself, I’d go slightly further.
I think you can make a perfectly reasonable argument that Close should have been the man who did it first.
That shouldn’t turn his career into a story about what might have been, though.
Because there was plenty that actually happened.
A European Champion Who Deserves to Be Remembered as One
Sometimes the phrase “nearly became world champion” accidentally becomes an insult.
It makes everything else a fighter achieved sound like preparation for the thing they didn’t achieve.
Ray Close was a European champion.
He was an Irish champion.
He had an outstanding amateur career.
He beat fighters in the amateurs who went on to become world champions.
And when his opportunity at world level arrived, he proved he belonged there.
There is a huge difference between receiving a world-title opportunity and genuinely being a world-class boxer.
Close was the latter.
The fact that he didn’t leave the ring carrying the WBO belt shouldn’t erase that.
What Ray Close Meant to Northern Irish Boxing
Perhaps the most important tributes following the death of Ray Close haven’t concentrated on scorecards or championship belts at all.
Close began boxing at Ledley Hall Youth and Boxing Club in east Belfast when he was just 10 years old.
Following his death, the club remembered him as a true gentleman who was humble, kind and always willing to give something back.
More importantly, they spoke about what Close represented to the young fighters who followed him.
He had walked through the same doors they were walking through.
He had trained in the same gym.
Then he became European champion and challenged for a world championship.
For a young boxer, that matters.
Success suddenly isn’t somebody on television from another city or another country.
It’s somebody from your gym.
Somebody from your community.
Somebody who started exactly where you are starting.
That influence cannot be measured by BoxRec.
Remember Ray Close for What He Achieved
I’ll admit that I started researching this piece knowing Ray Close largely because of the name next to his on the record.
Chris Eubank.
After watching those fights and learning more about Close’s career, I don’t think that’s enough anymore.
Yes, the Eubank fights deserve to be remembered. They were two outstanding performances against one of the defining British fighters of the 1990s.
Close came within touching distance of handing Eubank his first professional defeat and becoming a world champion.
In my view, he may well have deserved to do exactly that in Belfast.
But Ray Close shouldn’t only be remembered as the man who nearly beat Chris Eubank.
He should be remembered as a brilliant amateur, an Irish champion, a European champion, a world-class super-middleweight and a fighter who represented Northern Irish boxing with distinction.
Perhaps the greatest tribute comes from the people who knew him away from the television cameras.
Titles tell us how good a boxer was.
The people waiting to tell stories about somebody after they’re gone tell us what kind of man they were.
By both measures, Ray Close leaves a legacy worth remembering.
Rest in peace, Ray Close.
Did Ray Close Beat Chris Eubank in Belfast?
Now I’m particularly interested to hear from those who watched these fights when they actually happened.
I’ve gone back and watched them more than 30 years later and I reckon Ray Close won that second fight. Do you agree, or did Eubank do enough to retain his title?
Share your memories of Ray Close and your score for the Eubank rematch in the comments.
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