Ray Close Eammon Loughran and Sam Storey. In his seventh bout he beat Rocky McGran to win the vacant Irish Super Middleweight title. He successfully defended the title against Terry Magee, the older brother of Eamonn and Noel, in Dublin in 1991. In 1993, he defeated Vincenzo Nardiello to win the EBU European Super Middleweight title in Italy. Later the same year Close faced Chris Eubank for the WBO Super Middleweight title. In what would be the first of his two fights against Eubank, the match was declared a draw. After an October win against Ray Domenge, Close again faced Eubank in
Chris Eubank Jr. the fight to the point that his trainer, father Chris Eubank Sr., began imploring the referee to stop the fight. Following the eighth round, the elder Eubank instructed Eubank to stop hitting Blackwell in the head. The referee finally called a stop to the fight at 2:21 in the 10th round, and awarded Eubank the win, and the title, by TKO. Blackwell was taken to hospital with bleeding on the brain, and was placed in a medically-induced coma for treatment. After re-signing with Matchroom Sport, it was announced on Sky Sports on 18 May 2016 that Eubank will fight on