Chris Eubank announced his retirement from the ring in October 1995. He made a quick comeback in 1996, however, defeating Luis Dionisio Barrera and Camilo Alarcon. After Steve Collins withdrew from his WBO super-middleweight title defence against Joe Calzaghe and unexpectedly retired in October 1997, Calzaghe was matched against Eubank for the vacant title with eleven days notice. Eubank had been scheduled to box at light-heavyweight on the undercard. Eubank was knocked down twice and lost on points to Calzaghe, but saw his popularity rise as a result of managing to finish the fight against his more fancied opponent. Eubank then added
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