Cyrus Christie takes inspiration from uncle Errol

The quickest glance at Cyrus Christie’s social media feed tells you that the Ireland defender has athletic interests outside his own discipline.

There are photos and with them fulsome praise for Anthony Joshua, LeBron James, Conor McGregor and more besides. But as he faces into a potentially career-shaping few months, iconic inspiration is found much closer to home.

Errol Christie is a former all-conquering amateur boxer who dominated Europe, a wildly hyped professional prospect who worked under Emanuel Steward at Kronk Gym, sparred Tommy Hearns and once knocked Chris Eubank’s tooth out in training. In retirement, he wrote a memoir that was labelled a cultural touchstone titled No Place to Hide: How I put the Black in the Union Jack.