BoxRec

I wanna know what you guys think of him and his fights. He is one of my favorite bristish fighters after seing tapes on him and reading bout him. i thought he was one of the most powerful hitters in british boxing history. His best fights to me was his one round destruction of iran barkley and his tenth round sad knockout of tough tough gerald mcllelan. i was dissapointed in his first fight with eubank. what happened?? and i thought he deserved the nod in the 2nd fight.

what happened in the michael watson fight???

I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEE HIM FIGHT TOMMY HEARNS?? WHAT A SLUGFEST.

The Michael Watson fight was the best thing that ever happened to Benn. Before that, he thought he could walk through anyone and, even though he had been through scares ( Anthony Logan who he turned it around against with one of THE best one punch KO's of all time ) he did not learn the lesson

Watson ( still hugely uderrated ) schooled him and wore him out. I am pleased to say it is one of thew few fights I have called correctly to the round.

Post that, Benn learned the lesson and also moved to the US

He ducked nobody and the fights with IB and GM were classics. One of my faves was against Doug Dewitt.

Eubank was just better than him on the fights night and the second was a bit of a con job IMHO and he should have won.

Always good value, always ready for a tear up and seems happy in his "born again" retirement

Good luck to him, I say. You don'tget many of him in a generation and he is one of the few Brits, the yanks wish had been one of theirs

Slapsie

The Watson fight, Benn really believed his own hype, was more bothered about his hair than the opponent..... (similar to Barrera v Hamed)

The first Eubank fight, Benn really fucked up the weight and had to cut a lot on the day (remember it was same day weigh ins back then)

Benn was a tough aggressive fighter who also had good boxing skills when he chose to use them. He came from a tough part of London, and joined the British ASrmy for a few years partly to get away from all that.

His early fights were largely quick wins over relatively low grade fighters, but he nearly came unstuck against a Jamaican banger called Anthony Logan.... came back from nearly being KO'd to win.

He went into the Watson fight with the belief that once he simply hit Watson that would be it - over and done with. Watson had other ideas, defended very tightly - not quite "rope a dope" but getting on for that style - and let Benn punch himself out. Watson then opened up and stopped a very tired and dis-spirited Benn.

By the way, of the three - Benn, Eubank, and Watson - I think (as do many others) that Watson was far and away the best all round fighter of the group. He had skills, strength, punch and was clever. Very under-rated fighter - people tend to focus more on his amazing recovery from the near fatal fight with Eubank than on his ring record. His book ("My Greatest Fight") is well worth reading - I met him at a show in London and have a signed copy. Really nice guy, and it's only when you read the book that you realise what he went through and how much he has achieved since that night.

But back to Benn.... after the Watson fight he went off to America, got adopted by Bob Arum as the "New Hagler", and did OK. Returned to Uk and fought Eubank. The first fight was a bit like the Watson/Benn fight, but without Eubank defending as tightly as Watson had. Benn attacked without let up, but Eubank never lacked for courage and was as tough as steel. Benn got tired, Eubank somehow found enough for one last attack and stopped him in the 9th round. Eubank's tongue was almost sliced clean through by one punch and he fought with that injury for several rounds - like I say, Eubank had enough courage for a whole army!

I know that most people think Benn won the second fight, but I have scored it several times (without the commentary!) and I still think Eubank won by one point - but I admit you could ask three guys to score it and probably get three different results - maybe I just preferred Eubank to Benn in those days. At that time, by his own admission, Benn was a "bit of a lad" as they say in these parts - lived the celebrity lifestyle to the full - wine, women, and song...plus a few other things besides! He's quietened down these days, and I think he's involved with some church projects working with disadvantaged people, though I'm not entirely sure of the detail.

The McClellan fight was one of the most savage ever seen, but I thought Benn's most entertaining fight was a wild slugfest with another London tough-guy called Lou Gent. Watch this one if you get the chance...it's a real to and fro battle until Benn flattened him in the 4th

Benn lost a bit of sparkle after te McClellan fight - and at the end of his career went down a bit in the public's eyes after the two Collins fights. To me, Benn was never a quitter - I think he just realised that he wouldn't beat Collins on the night, and that his best days had long gone.

Ironically, Eubank - who at his peak was generally disliked by a large section of the public - went on to become a more popular fighter through his two battles with Carl Thompson than he had ever been when he was in his earlier career.

Benn was a good fighter - one of the best British fighters since the war. But I'd place him behind both Watson and Herol Graham (who none of the three ever fought for very obvious reasons!) in terms of overall ability. But for raw aggression, courage, and sheer entertainment value, Benn's right up there!

J

A true warrior IMO, i was only in my teens when Benn was fighting and only have limited memories of Benn - Watson, Benn - Eubank, Benn-G-Man but them fights still keep in my mind today, and thanks to Bravo we get a chance to see his fights and what an entertaining fighter he was.

Slapsie Maxie wrote:The Michael Watson fight was the best thing that ever happened to Benn. Before that, he thought he could walk through anyone and, even though he had been through scares ( Anthony Logan who he turned it around against with one of THE best one punch KO's of all time ) he did not learn the lesson

Watson ( still hugely uderrated ) schooled him and wore him out. I am pleased to say it is one of thew few fights I have called correctly to the round.

Post that, Benn learned the lesson and also moved to the US

He ducked nobody and the fights with IB and GM were classics. One of my faves was against Doug Dewitt.

Eubank was just better than him on the fights night and the second was a bit of a con job IMHO and he should have won.

Always good value, always ready for a tear up and seems happy in his "born again" retirement

Good luck to him, I say. You don'tget many of him in a generation and he is one of the few Brits, the yanks wish had been one of theirs

Slapsie

Blimey...I could have written that word for word - exactly my view, Slapsie.

IMO, Benn was a good fighter with one of the biggest hearts ever. He had a tendency to look limited, but he'd leave his soul in the ring.

A lot of guys managed to hang around after getting caught by Benn, which always made me feel his power, while considerable, was slightly overated compared to major league nuclear hitters such as jackson or mcclellan.

I always felt that Benn was at his best as a Middle, his power then was more destructive.

knockout wrote:The first Eubank fight, Benn really fucked up the weight and had to cut a lot on the day (remember it was same day weigh ins back then)

That was the first fight I ever attended, awesome night although I was gutted when Benn lost.

Benn beat Eubank in the rematch, in my opinion (I was there that night to).

Like other have said Benn was an exciting, aggresive power puncher with the heart of a lion. Always great value for money and one of the UK's most exciting fighters ever in my opinion.

KOJOE90 wrote:

knockout wrote:The first Eubank fight, Benn really fucked up the weight and had to cut a lot on the day (remember it was same day weigh ins back then)

That was the first fight I ever attended, awesome night although I was gutted when Benn lost.

Benn beat Eubank in the rematch, in my opinion (I was there that night to).

Like other have said Benn was an exciting, aggresive power puncher with the heart of a lion. Always great value for money and one of the UK's most exciting fighters ever in my opinion.

I've heard stories of Benn having to run laps around the block right before the fight to make the weight. As such some people believe that it was this that truly sapped him and he didn't perform in the fight.

Benn wasn't helped in the first Eubank fight by getting a wicked thumb in the eye.. The eye turned nasty almost immediatly and gave Benn a big disadvantage for over half the fight.. Hats off to Eubank though - A true warrior.

Interesting question to pose - how does everyone rate Benn's chin?

This is not a criticism, just wondering...

Had a debate about this with an American who was admant that Benn hd a very weak chin cos he went down a lot in his career...

I think Benn got knocked down a fair few times cos of his open, all out style that left him exposed. I dont think his chin was bad persoanlly.

Hi guys

This is my first post on here after watching intently for a while.

IMHO Nigel Benn didnt have a weak chin. Someone with a weak chin goes down and stays down. To see some of the shots Nigel took from Gerald McLellan as a prime example, and in most cases, not go down, shows that there wasnt too much wrong with his chin. Some people may disagree and feel free, but my thought is that with his open, come forward style of fighting Nigel was always going to take shots and be hurt/dropped by other big hitters. If he was weak chinned, the lights would have gone out and he would have stayed down.

Definitely one of the most exciting, if not THE most exciting British fighters to watch, ever.

Exciting fighter, just the type of style to get the public interested in boxing - One of my favourite fighters.

I do think his last three fights damaged his legacy quite a lot though - He shouldn't have taken the second fight with Collins.

I believe that Benn was at his best at Supermiddle.

At 154 he was beginning to get tied up in his own hype and believed that he could blow anyone out. Watson dismissed that myth.

At supermiddle he realised that power alone was not enough to exisit at world level - he was not a Jackson or McClelland - he trained like hell and developed a more rounded style.

I brought a set of 44 pof his fights recently and some of those early opponents were absolutely appaling - However I believe that he had the best all round career, along with Lennox in the last 20 years.

He was everything a British fighter should aspire to be and would fight anyone anywhere.

Great fighter to watch and brought an untold amount of excitement to the British boxing scene for a long period of time. He also made for a great interview as he didn't mince words . Very passionate fighter

I'm still surprised that Nigel has gone down the religious path in his retirement. Never would have thought that one was on the cards

Rich wrote:Hi guys

This is my first post on here after watching intently for a while.

IMHO Nigel Benn didnt have a weak chin. Someone with a weak chin goes down and stays down. To see some of the shots Nigel took from Gerald McLellan as a prime example, and in most cases, not go down, shows that there wasnt too much wrong with his chin. Some people may disagree and feel free, but my thought is that with his open, come forward style of fighting Nigel was always going to take shots and be hurt/dropped by other big hitters. If he was weak chinned, the lights would have gone out and he would have stayed down.

Definitely one of the most exciting, if not THE most exciting British fighters to watch, ever.

For sure; and some of the shots he took in the first fight with Eubank, without going down!!

Rich wrote:Hi guys

This is my first post on here after watching intently for a while.

IMHO Nigel Benn didnt have a weak chin. Someone with a weak chin goes down and stays down. To see some of the shots Nigel took from Gerald McLellan as a prime example, and in most cases, not go down, shows that there wasnt too much wrong with his chin. Some people may disagree and feel free, but my thought is that with his open, come forward style of fighting Nigel was always going to take shots and be hurt/dropped by other big hitters. If he was weak chinned, the lights would have gone out and he would have stayed down.

Definitely one of the most exciting, if not THE most exciting British fighters to watch, ever.

Welcome, Rich.

Just watched the Dewitt fight again after taping it from Channel Five earlier in the week

What struck me is that

1) Benn had really skinny legs

2) I had fogrotten how many big shots he hit Dewitt with before it all finished

A handful for any middle or super middle of today

Slapsie

Benn - Piper is on Bravo on Sunday night, if anyone's interested. 11 or midnight, can't remember.

Amazing to see how skinny Nicky Piper once was, if nothing else.

[Welcome, Rich.]

Thanks Stu. [/quote]