BoxRec

i was thinking of benn and checked his record and i was shocked at the amount of no name fighters he fought ,the only big names he beat were barkley and mcclellan .
i'm a benn fan but forgot he fought a lot of european level fighters like nicky piper and even lou gent .
not really having a go at benn just rather saying that he never fought better guys than say calzaghe did and calzaghe getts stick for it .

Eubank, Watson, DeWitt, Barkley, Galvano, Wharton, Mcclellan, Malinga and Collins may not have ALL been names but they were all world class fighters.

littlepug wrote:Eubank, Watson, DeWitt, Barkley, Galvano, Wharton, Mcclellan, Malinga and Collins may not have ALL been names but they were all world class fighters.

Plus some of those guys like Lou Gent and Nicky Piper where good quality pros. Good names to have on anyones record.

Broomhall wrote:

littlepug wrote:Eubank, Watson, DeWitt, Barkley, Galvano, Wharton, Mcclellan, Malinga and Collins may not have ALL been names but they were all world class fighters.

Plus some of those guys like Lou Gent and Nicky Piper where good quality pros. Good names to have on anyones record.

Lou Gent? A rubbish cruiserweight who lost weight for a super-middle title fight he totally didn't deserve? Benn's opposition was better than Eubanks, but does pale in comparison to the opposition Calzaghe and Froch faced routinely.

Calzaghe, Benn and Eubank all took the WBO and made it a European title. None of them was interested in facing the very best, with the one exception being Benn's fight against McClellan. It seems daft to characterise Benn, in particular, as a ducker, but he wasn't hunting down the best in the world and taking them on, and neither he nor Eubank belongs in the top bracket of their era. I wouldn't seek to criticise Benn's record beyond that, though.

SamWise72 wrote:Calzaghe, Benn and Eubank all took the WBO and made it a European title. None of them was interested in facing the very best, with the one exception being Benn's fight against McClellan. It seems daft to characterise Benn, in particular, as a ducker, but he wasn't hunting down the best in the world and taking them on, and neither he nor Eubank belongs in the top bracket of their era. I wouldn't seek to criticise Benn's record beyond that, though.

SamWise72 wrote:Calzaghe, Benn and Eubank all took the WBO and made it a European title. None of them was interested in facing the very best, with the one exception being Benn's fight against McClellan. It seems daft to characterise Benn, in particular, as a ducker, but he wasn't hunting down the best in the world and taking them on, and neither he nor Eubank belongs in the top bracket of their era. I wouldn't seek to criticise Benn's record beyond that, though.

In a nutshell.

It's difficult to argue against this.

Lots of poor fighters to begin with ....which Benn himself alluded to with his infamous 'Mexican roadsweeper' comment....and yes, the odd easy defence.

But I think we need to remember that Nigel took his show on the road to win some of his big fights and was no stay-at-home merchant; he took people on in their own backyards and that deserves to count for something. The Galvano and Barkley wins were excellent and were delivered in places where he needed a knockout to win. Impressive victories.

And I know that Nardiello will never be much-loved or considered a great; but Nigel beat him handily as well and Vincenzo was more successful than many people realise.

Galvano and Nardiello were Euro level; neither made a mark at the top, and both were beaten by Frederick Seiller. Fair play to Benn for beating them in style in their own backyard, but they do not disturb the "not facing the best" picture AT ALL. The Barkley win was good, but he certainly wasn't in the top bracket, having lost his last two fights to people who were, or in Duran's case, at least had been. McClellan stands out as the only example of either man facing someone genuinely at the top, and was a genuinely great win. Watson and Graham facing McCallum shows a much higher level of ambition.

SamWise72 wrote:Galvano and Nardiello were Euro level; neither made a mark at the top, and both were beaten by Frederick Seiller. Fair play to Benn for beating them in style in their own backyard, but they do not disturb the "not facing the best" picture AT ALL. The Barkley win was good, but he certainly wasn't in the top bracket, having lost his last two fights to people who were, or in Duran's case, at least had been. McClellan stands out as the only example of either man facing someone genuinely at the top, and was a genuinely great win. Watson and Graham facing McCallum shows a much higher level of ambition.

Eubank's Germany win probably doesn't get enough credit, given he could be a bit one-paced and his fights always went the distance. The stars lined up for him to get the decision over there. Still the German again was what you'd call decent Euro level and not exactly a world beater.