Eubank/Benn/Watson/Collins

[salsanchezfan]

I've been spending a little time getting better acquainted with this quartet of middleweight/super-middleweight standouts from the 90's, and am developing a deeper appreciation for all of them. Must have been a hell of a lot of fun to be a British boxing fan then, seeing all the round-robin stuff going on with them all. They were all a bit different too, and appealed to different types with their personalities, and the styles blended so well. Makes captivating watching.

Please share your thoughts about your favorite, and whom you thought was the best........any memories of their fights, etc. Personally, I think the best all-round fighter of the bunch was probably Watson. I like Eubank as a personality, and he did hold two wins over Watson, but I did have Watson winning the first fight, though I don't really call it a horrible robbery or anything. Benn was probably the most fun to watch, volcanic as he was. Head to head though, he fared the worst. Collins had such an ugly style, but he was so damn tough, and made hell for the others.

[lora]

yeah, the initial group of fights between the first three are a great series of fights between developing contenders with genuine world class ability.One of the last time we really had that sort of thing going on such a short space of time at middleweight.

Watson vs Benn, Eubank vs Benn and the second Eubank vs Watson fight are all great fights, with the first Eubank vs Watson being an interesting good quality chessmatch sort of bout.

Collins i tend to think of as more on the periphery of them, alongside the older Herol Graham circa 1990.He was in America serving that tough apprenticeship of an early title fight with McCallum, then taking on other "who needs em" sort of fighters like Reggie Johnson and an old Kalambay.

His first fight with Eubank is really good, but the others he had with the duo were against faded fighters(eubank being more due to weightmaking than being outright shot) especially Benn.

A prime vs prime Benn Collins fight might have been a classic too.

[salsanchezfan]

I still need to see Collins-Benn. I remember Roy Jones being told in a postfight interview that Benn had lost to Collins earlier that night, and he seemed both shocked and disappointed.

[McGrain]

I loved Watson the most, but I loved all of them really.

15m watching on tv. Everyone at school talking about it the next day. Good times.

[salsanchezfan]

I have to admit liking Eubank, which I'm surprised to see me write.......I typically can't stand showboats or mouthy people, but in listening to a lot of interviews with Eubank, I get the distinct impression he understands the role he was playing, and the necessity of playing that up. I also see a lot of empathy and remarkable insight in him you rarely see in a fighter. They're usually terrible, unimaginative interviews. He's great fun to listen to.

[atr]

Originally Posted by McGrain

I loved Watson the most, but I loved all of them really.

15m watching on tv. Everyone at school talking about it the next day. Good times.

its free on ITV, Gary Newbon, fights starting at a sensible time for us UK fans ... happy days!

[Saintpat]

I have to put Eutanks at the bottom of that quartet simply because of how he let Collins beat him with a parlor trick: "I have been hyp-mo-tized, so you can't hurt me," and Eubanks acts as if a curse has bee put on him.

What a strange deal that was.

[atberry]

Originally Posted by salsanchezfan

I still need to see Collins-Benn. I remember Roy Jones being told in a postfight interview that Benn had lost to Collins earlier that night, and he seemed both shocked and disappointed.

That was Eubank! Merchant told him Eubank had lost to Collins that night, and Jones said 'He did!?!' with bewilderment in his expression!

Eubank made it clear he wanted Jones after he fought Henry Wharton and was '85% sure' the fight would happen in 1995 'if the business side of it is correct'.

Jones had been chasing a fight with Eubank for three years before Eubank lost to Collins. Jones was ringside at the Watson-Benn fight when NBC were trying to drum up a Benn-Jones fight in '89!