Nigel Benn

[boxguruhawaii]

I know the most Nigel well be rememberd for is his classic beat down of the G man but what do you remember him for besides that night?

[NazNaci1]

Great fights
Eubanks I
Watson
Logan
Barkley
De Witt
McClellan
Galvano I
Morgan
Wharton
Gent

Great KO's
Umara Sanda
Ronny Yeo
David Noal
Winston Burnett I and II
Firmino Chirino (looked like Ali, as I remember)
Quinonoes
Tim Williams
Chilambe
Ian Chandler
Eddie Smith
Dan Sherry
Kid Milo
Robbie Sims

Not so good fights
Eubanks II
Collins I and II
Nardiello
Jimernez
Malinga
Galvano II
Sanderline Williams

The fights aside, some blinding comments, too:

'I personally do hate him' - To Eubanks, prior to the 1st fight.
'Your seriously gonna get hurt' - To Watson.
'Not worth a handjob' - Following his relief at winning vs Galvano I
'They only brought him in to bash me up' - Following his win over McClellan.
His comments on fighting, 'Mexican Roadsweepers'.

A British Legend. End of.

[baby Chris]

that he would not go near Toney..

[gilgamesh]

Should be in "Boxers of the Past"

[Finn]

that he would not go near Toney..

When did benn ever duck anyone?

[NazNaci1]

that he would not go near Toney..

Toney??? Dont agree with that one bit. That's just Toney's smack talking and you believe it. Toney, to this day, is way, way overrated here, on these boards.

Benn fought McClellan, who was in his prime and pound for pound the hardest puncher with some of the smoothest boxing skills, not to mention a fantastic chin and you say he wouldn't go near Toney??

A simple WTF dude??, is in order here

[IKSRTFO]

If anything, Toney and Jones ducked Benn, Eubank, Mcclellan and Watson.

[NazNaci1]

I will simply reiterate that Toney gets far too much praise here for that supposed 'ol skool shit'. He is overrated bigtime.

Hype is a great thing, you either believe it or you dont.

McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo.

If Tiberi beat Toney (and he did beat him convincingly), Benn runs over him. Not a chance in hell Toney could out-slug Benn, not a chance.

[Ketchel]

I will simply reiterate that Toney gets far too much praise here for that supposed 'ol skool shit'. He is overrated bigtime.

Hype is a great thing, you either believe it or you dont.

McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo.

If Tiberi beat Toney (and he did beat him convincingly), Benn runs over him. Not a chance in hell Toney could out-slug Benn, not a chance.

Come on! I was a big fan of Benn but he never beats Toney. Eubank and Benn both stayed well clear of him and Jones.

[Datsue]

A product of his time, a great fan-favourite slugger who was lucky to come along at the right time (massive public interest in the domestic game thanks to free TV exposure, a plethora of domestic rivals & proliferation of dodgy sanctioning bodies).

As much as I love him, one only needs to look at how he & Eubank struggled with Watson, & then look at what happened when Watson fought McCallum, to establish their overall worth in the middleweight division at the time. I don't want to get all circular logic about it because I know the pitfalls of that particular game, but I think it's telling.

The rose-tints that certain of my fellow Brits have toward this era stagger me. I was about twelve but remember being so frustrated that Eubank would only fight shite fighters, not the guys rated in the boxing magazines. Nige had much better wins than Eubank & that one shining moment versus the (now massively over-rated) G-man means his name deserves to live forever, but parochial revisionist nostalgia is a beautiful thing so I won't mention how Turpin would've done him. People forget how vulnerable Benn looked against very ordinary fighters. His chin worried the fvck out of me. I remember him flopping around like a beached fish after taking a tap from Galvano. Because of the mighty stand against McLellan, everyone now assumes he could not be hurt or stopped, which is patently utter revisionist bollocks.

PS: The G-man was a one-dimensional fighter with an enormous punch. He hit hard enough to knock down walls, yes, but also once got outboxed by Ralph Ward. Please stop making him into the second coming of Ray Robinson crossed with Tommy Hearns.

[Ezzard]

Nigel always struggled with durable men who could take his shots and come on late in a fight.

He fought the worst possible tactical fight against Watson and was full of bravado. At times taking shots for no reason. He learned a lot from that fight.

Toney? I’m sure Toney would have won. I’d give Benn more chance with Jones than Toney but… there’s no way Benn avoided him. Look at his record. Toney ate himself out of contention.

Eubank generally fought softer opposition but I don’t believe Benn ducked anyone.

[orbtastic]

I don't think the Toney of around the time of Benn/Eubank II would be an easy fight, it depends how well he managed his weight but I think style-wise, it's a bad match for Benn.

Rob Nieuwenhuizen (easy for me to say) was a good KO, from memory.

[Syntax Error]

that he would not go near Toney..

Nigel Benn never ducked anybody.

He's one of the few fighters that would go anywhere & fight anyone.

He even made use of his passport a few times to go & try & prove he was the best; something some of his contemporaries never got the hang of until they were at the end of their careers or way past their best.

[IKSRTFO]

PS: The G-man was a one-dimensional fighter with an enormous punch. He hit hard enough to knock down walls, yes, but also once got outboxed by Ralph Ward. Please stop making him into the second coming of Ray Robinson crossed with Tommy Hearns.[/quote]


He may have been one-dimensional, but Roy Jones DID duck him.

[dr_devious]

It was all big talk from Toney about Benn and Eubank who were potential rivals at the time, I cant remember Toney's management team ever seriously trying to make a match with Benn or Eubank and I dont see how they ducked him.

[orbtastic]

The link-up was on a Jonathan Ross special the day or week before the fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW3zWZ12ZZY

It was more than talk for them to face each other, there was a proposed elimination tournament organised by Don King and both Benn (FW) and Eubank signed with him for the rematch, which ended in a draw. The proposed rematch between Toney & Nunn didn't come off and it all fell apart. There was still talk of a Nunn/Benn fight as both were title holders and FW had an agreement with DK which led to his fighters appearing over here (Nunn lost on the UC of a Benn fight).

Eubank was fortunate, as DK wanted options on his next 2 fights but he slipped up and forgot to write the draw outcome into the contract, so when he drew with Benn he actually won because he was free to do as he pleased and he then went and signed the World tour with SKY (although his next fight was on ITV).

[Goodnight, Irene]

I will simply reiterate that Toney gets far too much praise here for that supposed 'ol skool shit'. He is overrated bigtime.

Hype is a great thing, you either believe it or you dont.

McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo.

If Tiberi beat Toney (and he did beat him convincingly), Benn runs over him. Not a chance in hell Toney could out-slug Benn, not a chance.

No fukking way did I just read that

[dajuggernaut]

I will simply reiterate that Toney gets far too much praise here for that supposed 'ol skool shit'. He is overrated bigtime.

Hype is a great thing, you either believe it or you dont.

McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo.

If Tiberi beat Toney (and he did beat him convincingly), Benn runs over him. Not a chance in hell Toney could out-slug Benn, not a chance.

No fukking way did I just read that

The location of the poster explains a lot.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Everything has pretty much been covered. Very exciting, a bit overrated now. If Toney came in lazy, which he did quite a bit, Nigel could outwork him. But both at their best, Benn gets knocked out. And McClellan wasn't smooth at all.

I love watching a fat Duran play with him sparring on Youtube. You can tell Benn is really trying to prove something and the old master is rolling his punches and working his tricks. Probably my favorite sparring footage.

[NazNaci1]

I will simply reiterate that Toney gets far too much praise here for that supposed 'ol skool shit'. He is overrated bigtime.

Hype is a great thing, you either believe it or you dont.

McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo.

If Tiberi beat Toney (and he did beat him convincingly), Benn runs over him. Not a chance in hell Toney could out-slug Benn, not a chance.

No fukking way did I just read that

The location of the poster explains a lot.

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

No fukking way did I just read that

The location of the poster explains a lot.

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

I have to disagree with that. He is an exceptional troll. Impervious to reason and dogged in his pursuit of nothing.

[dajuggernaut]

No fukking way did I just read that

The location of the poster explains a lot.

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

Yeah I'm the troll.

"McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo."

[dajuggernaut]

The location of the poster explains a lot.

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

I have to disagree with that. He is an exceptional troll. Impervious to reason and dogged in his pursuit of nothing.

You like me.

[NazNaci1]

The location of the poster explains a lot.

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

Yeah I'm the troll.

"McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo."

Does this mean I have to agree with you? That would require actually valuing your opinion, surely?

Stick to raging on Haye, I always enjoy pulverising your weak attempts at discrediting him.

See you there

[dajuggernaut]

Trolling? Again? Not very good at it, are you?

Yeah I'm the troll.

"McClellan was far more talented than Toney, imo."

Does this mean I have to agree with you? Because you believe otherwise? That would require actually valuing your opinion, surely?

Stick to raging on Haye, I always enjoy pulverising your weak attempts at discrediting him.

See you there

You don't have to agree, afterall it is your opinion, a very dumb one indeed.