Nigel Benn

[Boxingmad]

Is Nige living in Spain now, or is he in England still? Does he still DJ?

He was just one tough warrior. Ruthless and violent in the ring, it's just a shame that he deteriorated after the Mcllellan fight. Malinga would have been lucky to go 4 or 5 in the early days.

He was great in the Gladiator programme with that ex Para who was training him. Eubank really didn't want any part of him really.

I miss those Dark Destroyer days.

Any other DD anecdotes?

[bennie]

Am I right in saying Benn has made more defences of a world title than any British boxer?

PS: I don't count the WBO as a genuine world title

[BubiScholz]

Who is Benn? Is he the guy who fought vs. Fischer?

[BubiScholz]

ah no, he fought Herbie Hide

[jamesmcdonnell]

Is Nige living in Spain now, or is he in England still? Does he still DJ?

He was just one tough warrior. Ruthless and violent in the ring, it's just a shame that he deteriorated after the Mcllellan fight. Malinga would have been lucky to go 4 or 5 in the early days.

He was great in the Gladiator programme with that ex Para who was training him. Eubank really didn't want any part of him really.

I miss those Dark Destroyer days.

Any other DD anecdotes?

I got the impression that it was all much more important to Ben than Eubank, Eubank had already done his talking in the ring, and Benn still had a rather large axe to grind.

[Matchfixer]

Who is Benn? Is he the guy who fought vs. Fischer?

No He's the guy who would have pounded gauleiter Ottke into the hinterland.

[deadpan]

Hell, yeah. He'd have slaughtered Sven.

Imagine if he was just coming through the ranks now. Alongside Watson and Eubank.

I'm all nostalgic.

They had more charisma in their head-lice than Joe Calzaghe has in his entire body.

[J]

Who is Benn? Is he the guy who fought vs. Fischer?

bubi do not start on nuigel benn mate you'll get the internet version of a friggin good hiding trust me.
save yourself the hassle, just friendly advice.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Yeah, don't fornicate with nige mate, he was better than any German fighter you could care to name.

[J]

EVER. and thats the truth

[Bard of Boxrec]

to digress a little, i've been thinking recently about if eubank had been in there with mclellan that fateful night. Would have been a hugely interesting contest. Mclellan was of course a murderous puncher and chris was prone to getting hit. Chris would not have been able to stop gerald.

How does everyone see this? I think Mclellan may have won a fairly close decision with chris hitting the deck a couple of times.

[bennie]

to digress a little, i've been thinking recently about if eubank had been in there with mclellan that fateful night. Would have been a hugely interesting contest. Mclellan was of course a murderous puncher and chris was prone to getting hit. Chris would not have been able to stop gerald.

How does everyone see this? I think Mclellan may have won a fairly close decision with chris hitting the deck a couple of times.

Chris was incredibly durable. He stood up to the punches of cruiserweight Carl Thompson and a young fired-up Joe Calzaghe towards the end of his career, so I think would have sucked it up against the American and done enough to keep his nose in front. McClellan was so used to knocking men over early when he fought Benn, he essentially ran out of steam after the early rounds. He hung in there on guts and pride, but the incredible pace, the exhaustion - coupled with Benn's power, took its terrible toll. Eubank would also have survived the early rounds I feel, and boxed his way to a decision.

[Hardhitters11]

I would go with Eubank on that night he was extremely durable and possessed enough savvy and ring skills to get him through!

Whenever I watch the Benn vs McClellan which is a fair bit I cant help admire both men...I often wonder how good Mclellan could have been as he was a better fighter than benn without a doubt and if he had a few warmups at the higher weight before going in with Benn I think he would have murdered him..

All in the past now though..

[wouter]

Malinga would have been lucky to go 4 or 5 in the early days.

They actually fought in the early days and Benn won a close decision

[jamesmcdonnell]

Malinga is a much underrated fighter, if you look through his record, you start to realise what a classy operator he was. He was 42 when he fought Benn the second time.

[Hardhitters11]

Yeah Malinga had an awful/awkward style and alot of fighters came a cropper because of this including Reid and plenty of others...

He wasnt the best fighter to watch but he sure had an effective style that nullified alot of his opponents advantages...

HH

[Kilburn]

Malinga would have been lucky to go 4 or 5 in the early days.

They actually fought in the early days and Benn won a close decision

Benn supposedly got a home town decision in the first fight but I watched it not that long ago and didn't see anything wrong with the verdict. And I'm a big Sugarboy fan.

[Boxingmad]

Malinga would have been lucky to go 4 or 5 in the early days.

They actually fought in the early days and Benn won a close decision

I've been a fool. Fancy forgetting something like that. I hang my head in shame.

[Boxingmad]

I must ask, actually. What was Nige like as a sparring partner. Did he try to knock them out, or was he OK with them?

[jamesmcdonnell]

Benn did very little sparring, in fact later in his career, he did none. His reasoning was that as he was taking shots during the fight, he didn't want to take them in training too.

Sparring really must account for a lot of the neurological damage suffered by fighters. Those big spongy gloves spreading the impact makes the brain rattle even more.

[stujones]

Surely Lennox Lewis has made more defences than Benn.

[journeyman]

Am I right in saying Benn has made more defences of a world title than any British boxer?

PS: I don't count the WBO as a genuine world title

benn made 10 defences of wbc.

lewis made 16 defences of wbc (including occasional wba and ibf)

can't think of anyone else close to those figures - hamed, buchanan, conteh, ingle, mccullough, hodkinson all stuttered to a halt after three or four defences of real titles.

of course we've had plenty of wbo titlists who've had extended runs, most notabley hamed, eubank and calzaghe.

[bennie]

Am I right in saying Benn has made more defences of a world title than any British boxer?

PS: I don't count the WBO as a genuine world title

benn made 10 defences of wbc.

lewis made 16 defences of wbc (including occasional wba and ibf)

Cheers.

[MightyWarrior]

His one round blast out of Iran Barkley still remains one of the most impressive wins abroad by any British fighter.

Barkley was a fearsome fighter. He'd just knocked out Hearns 2 years before, then lost to Duran in the fight of the year. And Nige was meeting him on his home ground too - he admitted he was "shitting himself" before the first bell, but cracked Barkley with a huge punch within seconds. Iran came back to hurt Benn, then was bombed out on the three knockdown rule.
The Yanks complained that Benn hit him while he was down - whatever

Barkley went onto win the IBF title a few fights laster, then beat Hearns yet again.

[journeyman]

The Yanks complained that Benn hit him while he was down - whatever

the yanks were always complaining about benn - guess it was becuase he kept ktfo'ing their guys. puts into perspective just how good michael watson really was that he had few problems handling both benn and eubank (until that fateful upper-cut).