Courage in boxing.

[Mooresy]

Quit?

Realising you hadn't got it any more in the loneliest place of all and quitting, rather than risking serious injury, as he had seen all too often before, doesn't detract from Benn's previous acheivements.

Having seen him at the end of both Collins fights, no one was more pissed off than him I can tell you.

If your body won't do what your head wants it to do then you must get out, the risks are far too high.

Benn could never been accused of quitting. The McClellan fight would have made most people quit in the first round. He didn't he dug deep, very deep, stupidly deep maybe.

Benn took his beatings like a man, Win or lose as did Eubank I might add.

Courage is actually getting in there in the first place, remember that from the safety of a keyboard.

x2

x3 ppl dont relise thats why some boxers quit

I know exactly how it feels to be in there and trying to do what used to come natural, and it doesn't. As boxingchat said, the risks are far too high. Luckily my trainer Oliver seen what I could feel and saved me. Boxing needs more trainers like him.

[Matt W]

Agree 100% Jamie. One that really annoyed me in recent years was the stick Cotto took from some people for 'quitting' against Margarito. When a fighter knows he is beaten I for one don't need to see him laid on his back risking serious injury.

[boxingchat]

Well said Jamie, I am sure a trainer would rather see a boxer quit than have the guilt of the possible alternatives. As Benn rightly said after hearing those sickening boos after the Collins fight, something like "You don't pay enough to see me get killed in there."

Benn paid his dues in the ring and didn't deserve those boos, not one of them. So the fans felt short changed, didn't they get their monies worth on more than one occasion with Benn and the like.

Many fighters realise they can't do it any more in private or in the Gym. Nigel Benn was unfortunate to discover it in front of 20 odd thousand people and live on TV. Not his fault just a cruel fact.

Boo those 11 guys playing at Wembley tonight. Not guys who are ultimately risking btheir lives for what is basically our entertainment.

There is no shame in realising that you are in too deep, no shame at all.

Remember Dunkirk?

[superpunchout]

Theres one guy stands out for me, and the 1st time, Id really watched Him I thought He had Bottled it. His shoulder went, think it was the 11th. Over the years Ive gained so much respect for the Guy, His mindset is incredible. At any time it could have gone again, guys who can do that earn my respect. He went there to win, and did, fcuking unreal Carl Thompson

Carl Thompson - a man for who it seemed the words 'lost cause' didn't apply.

His stoppage of Sebastian Rothman remains one of the most incredible and gutsy performances I've ever seen in a British ring. To think that he would later go on to stop David Haye too!

I've noticed that Nigel Benn's loss to Michael Watson still seems to be a bone of contention. From the accounts I've read of all concerned, Benn just wasn't mentally prepared at that point in his career to face someone as hardy and technically accomplished as Michael Watson (who's talent had, comparatively, slipped in under the radar). There was also the line that Benn had invested too heavily into his own hype and power, assuming that Watson would form yet another blowout victory on his road to stardom.

After being so ruthlessly exposed it would have been easy for Benn to continue in looking spectacular against second tier oppostion but instead he took stock, drastically improved his ringcraft and proved his mettle time and again versus world class opposition. Ironically, in my opinion, it was bravery that proved to be his undoing by the time he got around to sharing the ring with Steve Collins. At that juncture, I think he had just spent too much of his physical reserves in post-Watson wars to make either of those contests nearly as competitive as they should have been. It also has to be said that against Collins, he did look particularly undersized.