EGO; Powerful enough to make a man. Equally as capable of breaking a man.

Chris Eubank Jr’s ego has helped him become a multi-millionaire, follow in his father’s legendary footsteps and become one of the biggest pay-per-view draws in modern British boxing.

The Eubank swag; an unbridled aura of confidence coupled with the patient and precise delivery of a man with a superiority complex. For fight fans, it’s intoxicating.

Of course, charisma is intoxicating to fans when you’re talking and walking the walk. But it appears as phoney as a Rolex from the Costa Brava when you’re on the verge of being knocked out.

Back in January, Eubank suffered the first stoppage defeat of his 35-fight career.

Former light-middleweight, Liam Smith stood toe-to-toe with Junior in Manchester and sent him crashing to the canvas twice before Eubank was saved from any further punishment by referee Victor Loughlan.

A humbling experience for most, being stopped so dramatically by a smaller and far less high-profile – albeit a former world champion – opponent. But not, it seems, for Chris.

Instead of holding up his hands, admitting the better man won on the night and activating his rematch clause, Eubank has chosen to dive heavily into his bag of excuses in order to rehabilitate his splinted ego.

‘Once in a lifetime shot’; ‘lottery punch’; ‘I was only at 50%’; ‘it was an illegal elbow’. Publicly, at least, Junior blamed everybody but himself for the loss.

Deep down, away from the bright lights and all the media-orchestrated ticket and PPV salesman bravado, the 33-year-old must know he dramatically misjudged Smith’s ability and power last time.

He dropped Roy Jones as his coach and, just weeks ago, appointed Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre – trainer of the planet’s current pound-for-pound #1 Terence Crawford – in a sign of desperation to find his edge.

I was ringside back in January. I was 10-feet from the ring when Smith, 35, dragged Eubank willingly into a fist fight and blew him away. And I saw little to expect a different outcome in the rematch.

I was one of the few who predicted Smith would be victorious in January. That he’d be too smart, too brave, too talented for a weight-drained Eubank. I never expected it to be so one sided.

Chris has even attempted to re-score that fight, telling all he was winning handily before Smith landed his ‘lottery’ shots in the fourth.

But I had Smith two up after the opening rounds, and even when Eubank landed a sequence of uppercuts to take the third, the offence only lifted Smith’s spirits. He was grinning from ear to ear heading back to his corner.

I expect this rematch to be much more competitive than the first fight, with Eubank’s new found respect for Smith seeing him remaining ambitious into the second half of the fight.

But the ego that made Eubank Jr will come back to haunt him once more. He simply won’t take a knee, clear his head, back off when he’s hurt.

And when ‘Beefy’ connects and drops Junior again, he’ll once more find the shots to finish the fight just as effortlessly as he did before.

NICK’S TIP: Smith by TKO 7-9 at odds 11/2