BoxRec

J wrote:Terry........ sorry to nitpick but what planet are you on, a semi retired fat tito that got beat by wright was NOT in anyway better than gerald mclellan.

Sorry mate thats utter tosh. Gman was top 5 p4p and benn was given no chance a man in his prime, Tito was fat retired and inactive when he fought wright not even top five at middle fella let alone p4p. Titos glory years ended in 2001. They fought 2005.

Having beaten Cherfi and mayorga in 4 years prior to fighting wright, lets not revise history here mate....sorry to pick like but nonsense comparison.....

other than that carry on....

Terry D wrote: Chris won the WBO title from Benn, great win and all that but Benn was by no means the finished article, Chris drew with that version of Nigel.

Greg Nicholas wrote:

coghaugen11 wrote:Let's not forget Lindell Holmes. Sure, he was overstatedly (at the time) 35 years old, but isn't Hopkins like 45, Calzaghe like 37 and Froch 32? He was beating Van Horn before being stopped on a kidney shot.

He was very skilled.

remember him going to Bramall Lane to fight Bomber Graham 10 yrs earlier.. think Bomber was underdog.. Lindell 'dont call me Larry' Holmes was considered a top little fighter back then with fast hands, but that was many yrs and many losses before he came to britain to give it one last go against a young Eubank for abit of money.. he looked gassed against Chris after just a few rounds of action nd was a sitting duck, Sturdy tho.. (noticable better technique than Eubank too..! )

Terry D wrote: Deserter, we all made one msitake though, no one has been called a noob, a nut-hugger or a ****, we have let the world of forums down in this one

sg1985 wrote:He was docked a point. I thought he did enough without the point. I have a great video of this fight, its explained that don king had a contract to take on both fighters regardless of who wins, He didn't have a draw written into the contract. That is such a heart warming story

Terry D wrote:

Autobarn wrote:I just don't buy that Taylor and Wright = world class and Benn and Eubank (and super middle versions of Watson and Collins) = not world class.

Different industries, different TV situation, different promoting, different matchmaking, and obviously different countries.

Looking at Taylor's results vs big strong sluggers like Pavlik and Froch, it's mot exactly a push to say that Collins would have given him nightmares.

I know, Euabnk and Collins' resumes ask for ciritcism given the WBO title and the nature of some of their fights.

All that said, Froch-Taylor is a better win than Calzaghe-Eubank, because Taylor was a world ranked contender at the time.

HBO pushed Taylor, for sure, but Chris was allowed to hand-pick his opponents for the majority of his title career, an option that was not open to Taylor on HBO. Talk about them posting mismatches but would Eubank-Close have really been a HBO fight?

At SMW Watson had a single meaningful fight and he was KO'd, so you have to ask if he was world class at MW, the evidence of the McCallum fight would suggest he was not. Watson beat Benn and gave Chris hell but was whitewashed by a genuine top-level fighter. Ditto with Collins. Now, Taylor went in against a pair of world class guys in Hopkins and Wright, both may be denounced but their resumes suggest that they operated at a higher level than Chris.

The Watson-Benn-Eubank thing was fun, but it was not a round robin at the very top level. The Ring used to produce an annual, they wrote that Benn-Eubank I was a tough fight between two British contenders contesting a fringe title, harsh but true.

All of this detracts from the real truth, hinted at by J, though I disagree with him in many respects, and that truth is that it was Benn, not Eubank, who won a genuine title and took on the best guys he could get at that time.

This is not 'Who wins? Collins or Taylor', it is 'Who has the best resume: The former linear champion at 160lb who defeated the dominant man in his division, a man who was also a P4P guy or the long time WBO champion who took on some decent opposition but never, ever looked remotely interested in contesting the top fights against the very best guys?'

Scrap wrote:On Benns career its not realised the input of Vic Andreetti had, It was Him that changed Him the most. A little story on the McCullam v Watson Fight. He used our Gym, one Day this Kid, who would be British Champ in the future turned up to Spar. While warming up I heard His Trainer tell Him to get hold of McCullam and make a name for himself. First round He thr ew everything and never Hit Mike once, Eddie asked whats this Kid on, I said Hope. Next round was the biggest beat down in a gym Ive ever seen. They should have pulled Watson end of the 8th.

DG. wrote:

thepocketrocket wrote:And the flipside to that Chesh, is if Hennessey had been successful in creating a croosover star would he be risking him in this fantastic tournament or would he be raking in regular cash himself against safer opponents??

Froch and hennessy want the biggest fights. Froch wins this he has passed calzaghe imo.

Deserter wrote:

Scrap wrote:On Benns career its not realised the input of Vic Andreetti had, It was Him that changed Him the most. A little story on the McCullam v Watson Fight. He used our Gym, one Day this Kid, who would be British Champ in the future turned up to Spar. While warming up I heard His Trainer tell Him to get hold of McCullam and make a name for himself. First round He thr ew everything and never Hit Mike once, Eddie asked whats this Kid on, I said Hope. Next round was the biggest beat down in a gym Ive ever seen. They should have pulled Watson end of the 8th.

I'm guessing Maurice Core...

Greg Nicholas wrote:i thought M.Watson won a few rounds against Mccallum, off top of my head rounds 3 & 4 when he got some right hands in nd blocked alot maybe a few others a few rounds later.. he looked in far better shape in the Eubank fights.. there was something clearly missing against Mccallum, a certain sharpness..

coghaugen11 wrote:Just watched Benn-Watson again and it is such a brilliant performance by Watson, and yes his offence is overlooked in this fight - he hits Nigel with every shot in the book. The 2nd round is a nearly flawless display of boxing from Watson: blocking all of Nigel's phenomenal hooks from all angles while placing in lots of jabs, lead right-left hook 1-2's, uppercut-jab 1-2's, angled lefts and angled body punches. Don't think Benn got a punch in in that round of boxing.

Benn was always a gifted impulse fighter and the most natural of power-punchers, his game was mostly about athletic prowess right the way through to the Collins fights really. I think Watson beat Benn near his best, based on this. Sure Nigel could have paced himself better, that's clear. But he was at his peak physically and this showed in the opening round of his fight. Even in round six, the round he fell, he was posing a clear threat still.