Is Saunders trying to avoid a rematch with Eubank Jr?

[palooka]

McClellan was in obvious distress from around the 4th round.

[nitro5912]

Having watched the fight on youtube many times and also the ITV documentary a couple of times, the headbutt was no way the reason that McClellan suffered his terrible injuries.

Benn was catching him with big punches all night, coupled with a poor trainer picking up on signs of exhaustion due to poor conditioning are what led to the terrible injuries

The Fight[edit]
Within 35 seconds of the first round, Benn was knocked out of the ring by McClellan, but came back strongly in round two. According to McClellan's sister Lisa, at the end of the sixth round he said to his trainer "I wanna quit, Stan", a claim Johnson denies.[5]

The following rounds were "a brutal, yet exhilarating back-and-forth contest that saw both combatants give as good as they took".[6] Benn gained control of the fight for the following six rounds, before McClellan came back to take the eighth by knocking down Benn for a second time. In the ninth, a tired Benn was missing his "wild" punches, and the force of one caused him to fall forward and accidentally headbutt McClellan, an incident which appeared to significantly affect McClellan's physical well-being.[6][7]

The fight entered a tenth round; McClellan had never fought past the eighth round in his career. At the midway point, Benn connected with a right hand, causing McClellan to drop to one knee. The referee began his count until McClellan stood back up at seven, and the fight continued after Asaro checked McClellan. Working for American television station Showtime, commentator Ferdie Pacheco described it as "the strangest knockdown I've seen".[5] Shortly after, Benn connected with another right, and again McClellan dropped to a knee, this time allowing Asaro to count him out.[8] Pacheco's fellow commentator Steve Albert opined that it was "one of the most bizarre endings to a fight",[5] while Pacheco himself accused McClellan of quitting.[9]

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who was attending the fight as part of his training by Barry McGuigan in preparation for the film The Boxer, was "dumbstruck" by the fight.[10]

26 Jan 2015 - Gerald McClellan's sister Lisa McClellan talks to James Slater ahead ... Twenty years on from tragic night, Gerald McClellan still asks what happened when he fought Nigel Benn ... I tell him, 'yes, you got hurt, from a head butt.

you also are very clever leaving the part of the quote out from that interview.

He asks me if he got hurt against Nigel. I tell him, ‘yes, you got hurt, from a head butt.’ And he asks me if it was an accident or on purpose. I tell him it was just an accident

it would have been a series of events, the headbutt would have contributed, but ill stick with the fact that he was exhausted and was eating big shots all night long. had he been better prepped for the fight, had his trainer been able to see that his own fighter was exhausted and ready to quit then what happened wouldn't have happened.

the cicrumstances are far more influenctial than the headbutt

[Anzi]

Yes he was tired because he hurt Benn several times badly, to the point were Benn was on the verge of serious knock out, but Benn showed amazing courage to survive each time, this drained the tank of both fighters, when he got caught with the headbutt after Benn had swung and missed badly, it seemed to take whatever he had away and he seemed dazed and was then dropped by lesser punches, then Benn had thrown before. This was not Benn at his hard punching best, but certainly his bravest, Benn took far harder punches, harder then he had taken before in his career.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Having watched the fight on youtube many times and also the ITV documentary a couple of times, the headbutt was no way the reason that McClellan suffered his terrible injuries.

Benn was catching him with big punches all night, coupled with a poor trainer picking up on signs of exhaustion due to poor conditioning are what led to the terrible injuries

The Fight[edit]
Within 35 seconds of the first round, Benn was knocked out of the ring by McClellan, but came back strongly in round two. According to McClellan's sister Lisa, at the end of the sixth round he said to his trainer "I wanna quit, Stan", a claim Johnson denies.[5]

The following rounds were "a brutal, yet exhilarating back-and-forth contest that saw both combatants give as good as they took".[6] Benn gained control of the fight for the following six rounds, before McClellan came back to take the eighth by knocking down Benn for a second time. In the ninth, a tired Benn was missing his "wild" punches, and the force of one caused him to fall forward and accidentally headbutt McClellan, an incident which appeared to significantly affect McClellan's physical well-being.[6][7]

The fight entered a tenth round; McClellan had never fought past the eighth round in his career. At the midway point, Benn connected with a right hand, causing McClellan to drop to one knee. The referee began his count until McClellan stood back up at seven, and the fight continued after Asaro checked McClellan. Working for American television station Showtime, commentator Ferdie Pacheco described it as "the strangest knockdown I've seen".[5] Shortly after, Benn connected with another right, and again McClellan dropped to a knee, this time allowing Asaro to count him out.[8] Pacheco's fellow commentator Steve Albert opined that it was "one of the most bizarre endings to a fight",[5] while Pacheco himself accused McClellan of quitting.[9]

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who was attending the fight as part of his training by Barry McGuigan in preparation for the film The Boxer, was "dumbstruck" by the fight.[10]

so the numerous punches had no affect on him?? but an accidental headbutt whilst in a downward motion did??? sorry but the headbutt didn't have significant affect unlike the numerous punches, lack of stamina because of poor training.

it was a series of events which led to the terrible outcome, but the most miniscule was the headbutt.

We will never know for sure, now that's a fact.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I remember watching it a while back, and there was a lot not right about McClellan that night, he was pushing his gumshield out from early in the fight as if he was struggling for breath. I'd love to know the facts about the training camp he had for that fight, perhaps he hadn't trained correctly and wasn't preparing for a long fight, almost certainly he expected to get Benn out of there quickly.

[palooka]

When I saw Gerald blinking I thought one of Benn's dreadlocks had flicked his eyeball.

He definitely trained and thought it was a couple of rounds blowout. The book 'War, Baby' goes into some detail and is a good read, you can get it for a penny and postage from Amazon.

[Finn]

I remember watching it a while back, and there was a lot not right about McClellan that night, he was pushing his gumshield out from early in the fight as if he was struggling for breath. I'd love to know the facts about the training camp he had for that fight, perhaps he hadn't trained correctly and wasn't preparing for a long fight, almost certainly he expected to get Benn out of there quickly.

I watched a documentary about McClellan and people were saying he had been complaining of headaches etc for months, manny steward also said he noticed mcclellands speech had deteriorated after his previous fight.

[jamesmcdonnell]

When I saw Gerald blinking I thought one of Benn's dreadlocks had flicked his eyeball.

He definitely trained and thought it was a couple of rounds blowout. The book 'War, Baby' goes into some detail and is a good read, you can get it for a penny and postage from Amazon.

Yeah great book that; on of my faves, still got it.

Trouble is, after the event, you can never know what is true, and what is being seen through the lens of the events that transpired, or indeed what relevance the 'facts' surrounding the build-up actually had.

[Boxerbeetle]

McClellan was in obvious distress from around the 4th round.

Yeah, it's a hard fight to watch again, seems so obvious with hindsight that McClellan was badly injured.