MW Tournament (Round 3): Tony Zale vs Nigel Benn

zales toughness is his undoing against benn, who i imagine has a much longer reach and would be generally physically stronger. benn tko(maybe cuts) 9-12th

 

yeah, hmm...

What about Conn, a tough and excellent L-HW champion and ATG fighter, who also showed top level at heavier weights aswell. Again the verdit goes to the busier higher calibre ERA, and Zale showed well here. Zale lasts the onslaught and the tired Benn might feel a late Knock out too.

UD Zale more often than not!

 

K, to say that Benn was physically stronger bthan the Man of Steel is silly. Tony Zale was as strong and rugged as any MW in history. a tough, tough fighter and powerful body puncher who fought the best middleweights of
that rich talent time. Such as Al Hostak [a paralyzing puncher],Fred Apostoli, Billy Soose, Georgie Abrams [ gave SRR hell],Billy Conn, and after a FOUR year Navy stint and at 34 years of age flattened a prime Rocky Graziano twice...A prime Tony Zale before his 4 years in the service, kos any version of Nigel Benn...

 

Prime Zale vs a bigger stronger version of Graziano?

Methinks the same result occurs this time around. Zale survives some scary moments, climbs off the mat and then roars back to drop and stop Benn in the 9th.

(Benn wins the rematch in another crazy fight..but that's another story.)

Pick: Zale

 

it is no slight on zale to say that benn, who's body was a natural smw with day before weigh- ins is likely to have a strength advantage. but i am happy with a close fight either way and i may be underestimating the effect zale's bodypunching would have down the stretch.

 

K, strength alone doesn't determine a great fighter. And we are talking about weighing both fighters under the 160 pound limit...Tony Zale took hellacious shots from Al Hostak who hit as hard as any MW, and kod Hostak. Zale was one of the greatest "come from behind fighter ever". He had what the real oldtimers called "bottom". What 34-5 year old MW could after being out of the ring for FOUR YEARS, survive an onslaught from the
wild but devastating prime Rocky Graziano, and have the "bottom' to ko Rocky. ? Were Rocky Graziano who i saw from the beginning of his violent career , to have met the pre-war Zale, it would have been Zale by ko easily in 3 bouts..Zale at his best was as rugged as any MW...Not for nothing was he called "the Man of Steel"...

 

i will bow to superior knowledge here.

 

Zale stops Benn imo.:good

 

I dont know much about Zale so i did the unthinkable and checked boxrec. Not what you're meant to do i know but anything to do with Nigel Benn has my attention.
Im giving this to Benn for two reasons, Zale lost alot of fights from his first and throughout his career, not all at the end, scattered around.
The second reason is i am completely blinded by bias where Nigel Benn is concerned. Id probably try and make a case in my own messed up head that he could've beaten Marvin Hagler.
So Benn by KO, put that in your results.


Just thought of another, Zale seems to have moobs.

 

IF you fought in the Greatest Era and you lost even 40 of a 125 or 150 fights, Well NO SHAME at all, you were IN THE GREATEST OF ERA'S and especially for MWs, such were the times and believe it or not, losses weren't looked down on they were EXPECTED even among the best!!!

 

Well said T...People today who get their info from only cold record books don't look between the lines evaluating fighters from the past...
Tony Zale while working in the searing hot steel mills,had TWENTY ONE bouts in his first year. Of course he lost a few decisions here and there but when he hooked up with Art Winch and Sam Pian, who guided the great Barney Ross, tough Zale's career started to take off...Before his FOUR year Navy stint, Zale was regarded as a tremendous body puncher, tough minded ala Rocky Marciano...Strong and sinewy, Zale at his best would beat any version of Benn...Cheers...