Nigel benn vs Golovkin

[Arsenal49]

This would be my fantasy fight

[Baby Face Finster]

The only 2 middleweights that I would have favoured over Golovkin were Hagler and Hopkins in their prime.

[jezzamundo]

Assuming it takes place at 168lb? Golovkin via a mid-to-late round stoppage. I don't think GGG is as explosive puncher as Gerald McClellan was, but he's much more technically sound. GGG would have to respect Benn's power and outbox him, gradually breaking him down.

[Enlightened-One]

It’s very easy to buy into the idea that GGG could defeat many all-time-greats, based on how impressive his performances are inside the ring, but we should not forget the obvious fact about the calibre of opposition he has faced being fairly mediocre.

Put it this way, how many fighters are there on Golovkin’s resume, that were in good form and were genuine middleweights, could compare to the biggest names on Nigel Benn’s resume?
• Iran Barkley
• Steve Collins
• Gerald McClellan
• Chris Eubank
• Doug DeWitt
• Thulani Malinga
• Chris Eubank
• Michael Watson
• Mauro Galvano
• Thulani Malinga
• Henry Wharton
• Vincenzo Nardiello

Whilst I appreciate that the ‘Dark Destroyer’ didn’t emerge victorious against all of these men, the fact remains is that he still faced them, which enhances his legacy greatly.

I also believe that Benn’s performance levels dipped significantly after the Gerald McClellan tragedy, which resulted in him becoming a very beatable fighter.

To answer the question posed by this thread… I may still favour GGG to defeat Benn by a narrow points victory, assuming the prime version of the ‘Dark Destroyer’ that competed from 1991 to February 1995.

[Stuarty]

GGG. Benn would've played right in to his hands.

[TheGingerBomber]

As far as I'm aware, Benn couldn't jab. Game over there and then, but I'd pay ppv for it.

[TheGingerBomber]

As far as I'm aware, Benn couldn't jab. Game over there and then, but I'd pay ppv for it.

The super middle weight Benn used his jab more he out boxed Henry Wharton but he wasn't good enough to out box Golovkin

Got to be honest mate I'm no expert on Benn, I just heard his trainer say that he couldPn't really jab so took it as gospel.

[chinarich]

I think Benn would have a chance in the early rounds but if he weathers the storm GGG would take over in the latter half to take a points win. Is the fight at 160 or 168? I give Benn more chance at the higher weight...

[magwitch]

The super middle weight Benn used his jab more he out boxed Henry Wharton but he wasn't good enough to out box Golovkin

Got to be honest mate I'm no expert on Benn, I just heard his trainer say that he couldPn't really jab so took it as gospel.

No worries I grew up watching Benn and while very exciting he did have his limitations.

It’s a little bit alarming (and testament to Golovkin) when someone is leading a poll by 17 votes to 1 to win in a fight.....against Nigel bloody Benn!
Not saying I necessarily disagree, but Benn could seriously have a row. Look at what happened with Gerald McClellan - and McClellan was supposedly going to batter him too.
At some point in the fight, sooner rather than later, Benn would hit Golovkin with something hard. It would have been interesting, that’s for sure.

I go for GGG tho, as I think as well as skill and power he is a very hard man himself.

[TheGingerBomber]

Got to be honest mate I'm no expert on Benn, I just heard his trainer say that he couldPn't really jab so took it as gospel.

No worries I grew up watching Benn and while very exciting he did have his limitations.

It’s a little bit alarming (and testament to Golovkin) when someone is leading a poll by 17 votes to 1 to win in a fight.....against Nigel bloody Benn!
Not saying I necessarily disagree, but Benn could seriously have a row. Look at what happened with Gerald McClellan - and McClellan was supposedly going to batter him too.
At some point in the fight, sooner rather than later, Benn would hit Golovkin with something hard. It would have been interesting, that’s for sure.

I go for GGG tho, as I think as well as skill and power he is a very hard man himself.

Yeah, it's no taint against Benn, he was a tough fella, I know that from the McClellan fight. But GGG would be an idiot to brawl with a brawler like Benn.

[Arsenal49]

I feel like Benn might be able to take golovkin out early due to his power and golovkins lack of head movement. But Golovkin is a lot more skilled and would take him out later

[sharpei_louis]

I put Golovkin on the basis that he seems to have everything, technically sound, good timing and power, good chin. I think on average he's better than Benn, but you couldn't really call this one cause Benn was so exciting, and loved a war and if he could drag Golovkin in anything could happen. I think GGG would have to be at his best and it would probably be a lot cagier than you'd imagine with GGG being careful on the way to a close decision.

[Jip]

excellent fight. GGG by KO

[Bricks]

It’s very easy to buy into the idea that GGG could defeat many all-time-greats, based on how impressive his performances are inside the ring, but we should not forget the obvious fact about the calibre of opposition he has faced being fairly mediocre.

Put it this way, how many fighters are there on Golovkin’s resume, that were in good form and were genuine middleweights, could compare to the biggest names on Nigel Benn’s resume?
• Iran Barkley
• Steve Collins
• Gerald McClellan
• Chris Eubank
• Doug DeWitt
• Thulani Malinga
• Chris Eubank
• Michael Watson
• Mauro Galvano
• Thulani Malinga
• Henry Wharton
• Vincenzo Nardiello

Whilst I appreciate that the ‘Dark Destroyer’ didn’t emerge victorious against all of these men, the fact remains is that he still faced them, which enhances his legacy greatly.

.

I dunno I was shocked that reading that list I suddenly didn't feel too impressed by who Benn fought during his 8 year stay at world level. Yes Benn was the 2nd best supermiddleweight in 1995 after beating mclellan and had become an A list superstar after a great 3 year reign as world champion and having improved vastly as a fighter into a guy with speed , power, stamina, and pretty good defensive skills......but I still think of Benn between 89-94 lets say his first incarnation and I think of the list of who he didn't fight in the 160-168 ranks against who he did fight and suddenly the list of those he didn't fight is easily moreformidable than who he did...... Its true that 160 and 160lbs didn't have quite the convergence it has now but still he didn't fight and I don't mean the big 3 who would never have fought benn I mean his contempories such as Herol Graham who was the best Middleweight in Britain,sumbu kalambay the best middle weight in Europe, Michael Nunn, James Toney and Mike Mccallum who all called Benn out and were not answered. in 1990 he preferred to fight a doug dewitt for a lightly regarded world title over a Julian Jackson for the wbc even when the prior wbc champ Roberto duran he did want to fight. That would have been a wonderful fight duran-benn in summer 1990

and I think others such as the below would have beaten him

Bernard Hopkins
Reggie Johnson

Yes he was a very exciting talented fighter......but we tend to look on the benn-eubank-watson era with very rose tinted glasses in the UK

[Bricks]

carl froch and alan minter would always have kicked benns arse they had that Collins forceful style but with more power.

froch would have made benn quit just like collins

[littlepug]

No worries I grew up watching Benn and while very exciting he did have his limitations.

It’s a little bit alarming (and testament to Golovkin) when someone is leading a poll by 17 votes to 1 to win in a fight.....against Nigel bloody Benn!
Not saying I necessarily disagree, but Benn could seriously have a row. Look at what happened with Gerald McClellan - and McClellan was supposedly going to batter him too.
At some point in the fight, sooner rather than later, Benn would hit Golovkin with something hard. It would have been interesting, that’s for sure.

I go for GGG tho, as I think as well as skill and power he is a very hard man himself.

Do you not think the fact McClellan​s head was imploding was a major reason Benn got back into the fight , i like Benn but if McClellan hadn't been injured so bad he would of beat Benn 100% .
Nigel was good but not elite

The reason he got beat was because he couldnt adapt to Benns style but Benn could adapt to his

[Monte Fisto]

I went for Benn, great match-up this. I was a Eubank fan rather than Benn, but i struggle that i haven't even seen Golovkin tested. That may be because he's so impressive but hey ho, ill happily back a Nigel Benn thats as prepared and mentally focussed as he was that night against Mcclellan.

[littlepug]

Do you not think the fact McClellan​s head was imploding was a major reason Benn got back into the fight , i like Benn but if McClellan hadn't been injured so bad he would of beat Benn 100% .
Nigel was good but not elite

The reason he got beat was because he couldnt adapt to Benns style but Benn could adapt to his

No the reason Benn won was because McClellan had a brain injury ,Benn was very brave but he got into the fight once McClellan started blinking if McClellan wasn't injured there's no way Benn would of won .

thats your opinion but i dont buy it for a second, apart from the 1st and eighth mclellan was hitting fresh air all night and benn couldnt miss,injury or not it was gonna be Benns night

[crow]

Bad matchup for Benn.
At middle, the Benn who got KO'd by Watson and Eubank, almost ko'd by Logan, and decked by Dewitt, is taken to school and exits in 6 rds or less.
At super middle, we don't have anything to compare it yet.

[crow]

No the reason Benn won was because McClellan had a brain injury ,Benn was very brave but he got into the fight once McClellan started blinking if McClellan wasn't injured there's no way Benn would of won .

You need to rewatch the fight. Mc Clellan ate Benn's left crosses as soon as the first rd.
Shot out of his bob and weave, Benn couldn't miss with it.
It was shocking to see how unprepared Mc Clellan was for that shot. Compared to the 2 Jacksons fights, he came into rather poor shape, and got his arse handed to him against a warrior ready to die in the ring that day.

[Jackson328]

Martin Murray took Golovkin into the championship rounds and the ref had to intervene because Murray just didn't quite have the power to keep GGG honest. I rate Murray but a prime Benn would have taken Golovkin to places he's never been and could have stopped him, in my opinion. All depends on the weight and how Golovkin approached it. At 160 I'd take GGG if he boxed him and controlled the distance but in a tear up at 168 I'd have to pick Nigel. I also think Benn would have taken this fight in a heartbeat because he was a natural born scrapper, he gets stick for not fighting the likes of Toney, Nunn and RJJ but who is to say that was all Nigels fault? And who on GGG's resume beats a prime Benn?

[Enlightened-One]

It’s very easy to buy into the idea that GGG could defeat many all-time-greats, based on how impressive his performances are inside the ring, but we should not forget the obvious fact about the calibre of opposition he has faced being fairly mediocre.

Put it this way, how many fighters are there on Golovkin’s resume, that were in good form and were genuine middleweights, could compare to the biggest names on Nigel Benn’s resume?
• Iran Barkley
• Steve Collins
• Gerald McClellan
• Chris Eubank
• Doug DeWitt
• Thulani Malinga
• Chris Eubank
• Michael Watson
• Mauro Galvano
• Thulani Malinga
• Henry Wharton
• Vincenzo Nardiello

Whilst I appreciate that the ‘Dark Destroyer’ didn’t emerge victorious against all of these men, the fact remains is that he still faced them, which enhances his legacy greatly.

.

I dunno I was shocked that reading that list I suddenly didn't feel too impressed by who Benn fought during his 8 year stay at world level. Yes Benn was the 2nd best supermiddleweight in 1995 after beating mclellan and had become an A list superstar after a great 3 year reign as world champion and having improved vastly as a fighter into a guy with speed , power, stamina, and pretty good defensive skills......but I still think of Benn between 89-94 lets say his first incarnation and I think of the list of who he didn't fight in the 160-168 ranks against who he did fight and suddenly the list of those he didn't fight is easily moreformidable than who he did...... Its true that 160 and 160lbs didn't have quite the convergence it has now but still he didn't fight and I don't mean the big 3 who would never have fought benn I mean his contempories such as Herol Graham who was the best Middleweight in Britain,sumbu kalambay the best middle weight in Europe, Michael Nunn, James Toney and Mike Mccallum who all called Benn out and were not answered. in 1990 he preferred to fight a doug dewitt for a lightly regarded world title over a Julian Jackson for the wbc even when the prior wbc champ Roberto duran he did want to fight. That would have been a wonderful fight duran-benn in summer 1990

and I think others such as the below would have beaten him

Bernard Hopkins
Reggie Johnson

Yes he was a very exciting talented fighter......but we tend to look on the benn-eubank-watson era with very rose tinted glasses in the UK

You’ve got your timelines mixed-up and I was comparing Benn’s resume to Golovkin's:

• Hopkins was a middleweight contender when Benn was nearing the end of his reign as the super-middleweight champ.

• Reggie Johnson skipped the 168lb division altogether and wasn’t a world rated fighter when Benn was competing as a middleweight.

• Roberto Duran would have never travelled to the UK and he never gained any real success as a 168lb-er.

• James Toney pretty much skipped the 168lb division altogether, when Eubank Sr. and Benn were the champs.

• Herol Graham had a terrible run of form between 1990 and 1992, to the point he lost his licence, which resulted in 4½ years of inactivity.

• I believe Michael Nunn was being lined you to face Benn in 1994, but the American tasted defeat when he travelled to the UK and Don Kong also wanted to the Brit to take £100K less than what he requested.

• In terms of Julian Jackson, he didn’t hold a world title at 160lbs until after Benn had tasted defeat against Eubank Sr., which resulted in Nigel making the jump to 168lbs. So both guys competed at different weight classes for a long time.

• James Toney became the world middleweight champion after Benn was defeated by Eubank Sr. and ‘Lights Out’ pretty much skipped the 168lb weight division altogether when the Brit was the world champ at that weight.

• Mike McCallum and Nigel Benn were like two passing ships, they were rarely competing in the same weight division at the same time.

[TheLeprechaun]

These types of match ups were talked about before brook vs GGG and you had people picking GGG over many great middleweights but then thinking the Kell brook fight was going to be a possible win for brook

[boxing_rocks]

These types of match ups were talked about before brook vs GGG and you had people picking GGG over many great middleweights but then thinking the Kell brook fight was going to be a possible win for brook

Only a complete idiot could give Brook serious chances.

[Bricks]

It’s very easy to buy into the idea that GGG could defeat many all-time-greats, based on how impressive his performances are inside the ring, but we should not forget the obvious fact about the calibre of opposition he has faced being fairly mediocre.

Put it this way, how many fighters are there on Golovkin’s resume, that were in good form and were genuine middleweights, could compare to the biggest names on Nigel Benn’s resume?
• Iran Barkley
• Steve Collins
• Gerald McClellan
• Chris Eubank
• Doug DeWitt
• Thulani Malinga
• Chris Eubank
• Michael Watson
• Mauro Galvano
• Thulani Malinga
• Henry Wharton
• Vincenzo Nardiello

Whilst I appreciate that the ‘Dark Destroyer’ didn’t emerge victorious against all of these men, the fact remains is that he still faced them, which enhances his legacy greatly.

.

I dunno I was shocked that reading that list I suddenly didn't feel too impressed by who Benn fought during his 8 year stay at world level. Yes Benn was the 2nd best supermiddleweight in 1995 after beating mclellan and had become an A list superstar after a great 3 year reign as world champion and having improved vastly as a fighter into a guy with speed , power, stamina, and pretty good defensive skills......but I still think of Benn between 89-94 lets say his first incarnation and I think of the list of who he didn't fight in the 160-168 ranks against who he did fight and suddenly the list of those he didn't fight is easily moreformidable than who he did...... Its true that 160 and 160lbs didn't have quite the convergence it has now but still he didn't fight and I don't mean the big 3 who would never have fought benn I mean his contempories such as Herol Graham who was the best Middleweight in Britain,sumbu kalambay the best middle weight in Europe, Michael Nunn, James Toney and Mike Mccallum who all called Benn out and were not answered. in 1990 he preferred to fight a doug dewitt for a lightly regarded world title over a Julian Jackson for the wbc even when the prior wbc champ Roberto duran he did want to fight. That would have been a wonderful fight duran-benn in summer 1990

and I think others such as the below would have beaten him

Bernard Hopkins
Reggie Johnson

Yes he was a very exciting talented fighter......but we tend to look on the benn-eubank-watson era with very rose tinted glasses in the UK

You’ve got your timelines mixed-up and I was comparing Benn’s resume to Golovkin's:

• Hopkins was a middleweight contender when Benn was nearing the end of his reign as the super-middleweight champ. this isn't one I've said Benn avoided....just that the Hopkins of 93-95 beats him

• Reggie Johnson skipped the 168lb division altogether and wasn’t a world rated fighter when Benn was competing as a middleweight. again. Nowhere did I say Benn avoided him all I simply said was Johnson would have beat him,but that in those days not the blurring of 160-168 like today

• Roberto Duran would have never travelled to the UK and he never gained any real success as a 168lb-er. in fact Duran agreed to travel to the UK to defend his and middleweight title but the BBC wouldn't sanction the fight,hence a angry Benn going the wbo route than ripping up his BBC licence on live tv -trust me I saw it I was there at the time reading the mags Duran wanted the payday

• James Toney pretty much skipped the 168lb division altogether, when Eubank Sr. and Benn were the champs. James Toney fyi was the top rated world champ at 168 he held the big belt at the same time (1993/1994) as Benn and Eubanks were the 168 and wbo champs.on primetime Saturday night tv via a satellite link on the Jonathan Ross show James toney appeared alongside Mickey Rourke and insulting challenged Benn and Eubanks calling them bums..neither took him up...Toney would have massacred benn

• Herol Graham had a terrible run of form between 1990 and 1992, to the point he lost his licence, which resulted in 4½ years of inactivity.he didn't have a terrible run of form from 1988/1989 to summer 1990 he was recognised as the British number one and was losing very very competitive fights to McCollum and Jackson...and he was wiping the floor with domestic competition...at least Eubanks and Watson admitted avoiding herol...there was every reason for a fight to take place during 88/89 and 1990 bit Benn ran a mile...

• I believe Michael Nunn was being lined you to face Benn in 1994, but the American tasted defeat when he travelled to the UK and Don Kong also wanted to the Brit to take £100K less than what he requested.Nunn was ringside for Watson-Benn and always wanted a Benn fight as Benn drew fans,tv and was exciting and v beatable by nunn....Nunn was the man at mw throughout 88/89/90 but Benn didn't want to fight the number one guy nunn, same story in 93/94 Benn didn't want nunn who was still a top fighter and who was pursuing benn

• In terms of Julian Jackson, he didn’t hold a world title at 160lbs until after Benn had tasted defeat against Eubank Sr., which resulted in Nigel making the jump to 168lbs. So both guys competed at different weight classes for a long time. Benn could have fought jackson for the vacant wbc mw title in 90 but prefered the wbo route so herol got it.Jackson was not a guy Benn wanted to share a ring with even tho a fight like that today would be a superfight


• Mike McCallum and Nigel Benn were like two passing ships, they were rarely competing in the same weight division at the same time they were the opposite of two passing ships, McCollum chased Benn, first in 1990 after beating graham and Watson on UK shores he wanted benn too and called him out on live tv....Benn also throughout his career spoke of facing McCollum....in the summer of 1995 after beating McCollum he thought about it seriously even tho mike was now at 175 ...he spoke about it in length in a ko magazine interview summer of 95 " he said he had huge respect for Mike who he called a bad mutha but said he would want to be compensated properly for a fight like that......bottom line Benn didn't fight him.Mike would have swam the Atlantic ocean for that fight .