How Good Were Benn and Eubanks ?

Benn nearly killed the most dangerous American of them all in his Division.

I think he'd fare well enough with the rest...

 

Except McClellan like Benn was a limited puncher with stamina issues. Watch how Benn got along in his Watson and 2 Malinga fights.

 

Last winter I studied these guys a bit more than I had in the past, and found the process thoroughly enjoyable. Watson impressed me the most of any of that quartet, to be honest, between him, Benn, Collins and Eubank. Eubank was frustrating to watch at times because he seemed to suffer from Juan Laportitis, where your arms won't let you throw more than ten or twelve punches a round, allowing his oppoent to build up a head of steam, but still great fun. I like Benn a lot because a lesser man would have let the embarrassment of the Watson debacle stain him, but he took that as a learning experience and really made the most of it. Terrific that they all fought each other too, something we took for granted back then.

 

Maybe they should just clone Barry McGuigan to judge every fight. He's the only one who really knows what he's doing. Barry's knowledge on how to score a bout is so highly advanced that he's the only man in history that found Whitaker-Chavez a "difficult fight to score". He must have seen subtle maneuvers that the untrained eye (i.e. everyone else) missed.

 

How many top 10 fighters- as rated by Ring- did Eubank actually beat? Did even Ottke defeat more?

Benn...Watson...i'm struggling now...Thornton...maybe Roccigiani? But he was in and out the top 10 around that time. Holmes and Jarvis had been in the top 10 previously but no longer I believe, when given well-earned title shots vs Eubank. By 'well earned' I mean both getting twatted by Darrin Van Horn, which meant they were actually over-qualified to fight for a WBO title in the 1990s.

 

Both good fighters in a strong era for middles / supermiddles. I personally never felt either could beat Jones or Toney but would give them a shout against anyone else. Benn was my favourite, all action and brutal but Eubank , much as it pains me to say was the better boxer. His conditioning and ability to boil himself down to 160 was amazing, he could have been a LHW for my money.
My abiding memory of these two is a tv interview when Toney promised to beat them both and their momma's.....hilarious.

 

Yeah, that was great. Him and Mickey Rourke. "English fighters y'all bums"..."I'll beat you and your momma's ass". :yep

 

When he fought them or anytime? Malinga was at some stages but I'm not sure about when Chris fought him

Rocchigiani if he wasn't was because he vacated his belt and moved up (was that what happened?) Close may have been bordering on it but the less said of those fights the better.

 

Watson was the best of the lot, it's a shame that an absolute wonder punch from Eubank in the rematch took everything away from him.

Credit where it's due though, Eubank took a lot of stick after the first fight and he took an immediate rematch (take note Mr Froch). Again, Watson was putting it on him but Eubank was made of iron.

 

Ron Essett looked like he was robbed against Galvano for the WBC.

Lindell Holmes was extremely good - the Fab Four wouldn't touch him with a barge pole (neither would Mike Nunn) so he had to go overseas, getting robbed every time until he was the champion. He was dominating Van Horn before running out of steam and being stopped on body shots on his knees. He was also winning the Eubank fight til running out of stream, even looking better than ever at times.

 

The headbutt cut stoppage against Bomber Graham at Sheff Utd could easily have been a DQ win.

 

So it's pretty evident bulldog24 = atberry

 

When he fought them of course, I'm trying to separate worthy challengers from the flotsam and jetsam. I think it's four (including Roccigiani who may not have been rated top 10 through moving divisions). Hardly all-time great stuff, considering some boneheads regarded world champ for half of the 1990s.

So the answer must be four then- maximum. Holmes was decent to be fair but that was a few years before he fought Eubank. Of course, he looked good at times vs Chris...who didn't?

 

I always thought Collins never got the credit he deserved, he went to the States, learned his trade, beat tough Watts and Thornton when all three were on-the-way-up contenders, boxed(yes boxed) well in his losing effort to McCallum, lost a good fight to Kalambay in his boxing back-yard, lost a real pick 'em fight to Johnson in America , won the WBO from the useful Chris Pyatt in England, then had the two WBO Super-middle wins over Eubanks who IMO was not shot and the two wins in England over Benn(who was shot). That's ten good performances against quality.