Chris Eubank Jr. was never meant to become a boxer. In fact, he wasn't even meant to know his father was one.
"I must have been about 10 or 11 years old and I went to a sleepover," Eubank Jr. explained to ESPN, sat in his gym in Hove, reminiscing about his youth. "Going through the VHS tapes to watch a film before we go to sleep and I pick one up, and my dad's on the front cover. What's this?
"I popped it in and he's fighting. That was the day I found out."
Suddenly everything made sense to the now 28-year-old, who for so long, simply did not know what his Dad was doing to earn a living. It must have felt like an injection of realisation.
"So this is why people are running up to him in street, asking for pictures and autographs," he continued. "And why we get to eat for free in restaurants. I didn't understand why that was happening as a young kid.
"My father made sure I was never exposed to his fighting lifestyle all the way up until I was a young teen. I never stayed up to watch his fights.
"I guess he would tell my mum, 'make sure they're in bed on the night'. He would never talk about boxing to me, I didn't really know much about what he did."
That night clearly changed Jr.'s life forever.
And all of a sudden, he wanted to be a boxer, just like his father, and not even he was going to stop him.
"When he started, I was going through a divorce at the time and it was better for him to go away and be away from the streets here in Brighton," Sr. said. "And as I had agreed to him boxing, I told him what he needs to do, which is: 'you're going to go there to Vegas and you're going to learn the hard way.'
"People will push you around and they will intimidate you. There's no better teacher than hardcore experience. They will beat you up. If you go away and do that you may have a chance."
The training didn't just take place in boxing gyms either.
"One day some people walked by the house and they used a racist word," he continued. "I dragged the two of them in and brought them down the side and told them off. My children are watching that. That's part of the training."
Startling tactics -- perhaps -- to scare Jr. away from the brutal fighting lifestyle that he had lived himself and one he didn't, at first, want his son to endure as well. But it didn't work.
"Get on with it," Sr. said of his decision to not travel with Jr. to Vegas. "No one watched me [when I trained in America]. I wouldn't say it was intentional [in avoiding Jr.'s amateur career in America]. In fact me not being there reinforces 'get on with it'.
"I spoke to Mike Tyson [when Jr. was in Vegas]. I said 'Mike, you see him in the gym?' He said yes. 'What do you think?', 'He's good but he likes the girls'.
"When I heard that, he's going to block himself. But the work ethic was ferocious. Non-stop. Obsessional."
Getting on with it is exactly what Jr. did while in America. He became Nevada's Golden Glove champion after just six fights -- something his father didn't -- which is another significant moment in the Eubank story, and another tick in Jr.'s quest of surpassing his father's achievements.
On paper, to a boxing newcomer, this reads like a fairytale father-son sporting story destined for a happy ending. But truth be told, it's been far from that.
"Sr. is far too involved", and "his father's only there because he craves the spotlight" are two common barbs from spectators. Both statements have also come from opponents, such as upcoming competitor George Groves, who Jr. faces in the semifinal of the Super Series tournament in Manchester on Saturday.
There are also conflicting stories that suggest Sr. has influenced -- and stopped -- a mega-fight against middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, and a rematch against Billy Joe Saunders.
Another criticism is Jr.'s lack of traditional boxing trainer. He trains himself, he claims.
"What trainers don't understand is that support systems for me -- or for the level of calibre fighter that I was or how I was trained -- are counterproductive," Sr. said, before suggesting they restrict the creativity of a fighter. "The trainer I adored, he was the dream trainer. After three weeks, he sacked me, 'I don't have time for you'.
"You are on your own. The only thing you have is that code -- the warrior's code."
The Eubanks live by the 'code' and their own methods. The former champion is passing on his knowledge and even claims Jr.'s defeat to Saunders was the "best thing to happen" to his son.
"It's called an itch," Sr. said of the defeat. "He will always want to scratch it and all the time he wants to scratch that itch he'll be hungry [to win]."
While the way the pair go about their business will always baffle some -- along with Jr.'s equally mysterious upbringing -- they remain thoroughly pleased how things have evolved, even 18 years on from the discovery of that life-changing tape.
"I understand and accept that me and my father will always be compared," Jr. explained. "I'm never going to be able to get away from that no matter what I achieve in the sport.
"I'm happy to be compared to my father. We have the same name, we're in the same sport. It's just my job to go out there and be the best fighter I can be."
And despite Sr.'s parenting -- who he himself reflects upon as "harsh" at times -- the relationship between the two is healthy.
"That's Daddy," Sr. said, just after explaining how he's proud of his son mainly because he is well mannered. "I'm always going to be there watching because boxing is so cruel.
"I believe in Jr. We have on our hands what I would refer to as a force of nature. He is ... A beautiful thing."