I remember Benn saying: "We knew we were going down" I remember thinking "we"??? I realise now that whilst the middle of the ring is probably the lonliest place on the planet but you are never really alone if you have a good team with you. Benn believed in his instructions that night. The Gifted one, the book out now on the life of Kirkland Laing should help people remember him .
The referee was awful. The two fighters were unbelievable, Especially Benn. McClellan's corner may of knew he wanted out...according to Kevin Mitchell. Brendan Ingle called the corner organized chaos. Benn's neck ligaments where snapped back in that first round onslaught from McClellan..says it all bout Benn..one of best quotes ''i'm not one of those brits to lay down...i'm gonna go out on my shield'' that night he fought that way to secure his family's future...just look at where he lives now.
Theres always one :roll:. Benn was a dirty *******, if McClellan didnt know that then its his own fault he lost as he should have been prepared, fighting Benn was a war, sometimes it got dirty but a great fighter knows how to deal with that. Rabbit punching happens all the time, sadly it only gets mentioned in this fight because of what happened. Give credit where its due, Benn came back heroically in a fight nobody thought he could win after being battered around the ring in the first round. Anyway, it was an absolute classic of a fight, one of my favourites up until the end which is just sad and disturbing. You could tell there was something wrong with McClellan as early as the second round which is when he first started pushing his gumshield out. I really think his corner should have pulled him out unless they definitely didnt know he was suffering. Everything came together for Benn that night and he achieved a pinnacle there his great rival Eubank could never achieve himself. He simply refused to be beat, immense bravery from my favourite ever fighter.
There may be more to that comment than you realise. Is anyone aware that before the fight Benn had been seeing Paul McKenna to mentally prepare....McKenna had instilled a "we cannot be beaten" attitude into Benn and it showed. I remember feeling pretty uneasy about the whole McKenna thing, thinking that Benn could be really badly hurt...fortunately for Nigel it was McClellan who suffered that night. Like D-MAC, I haven't seen the fight since, I just can't bring myself to watch it again I was sat in the middle of the Rub Al Khali in Oman when I saw the fight:bbb This content is protected
Kirkland Laing was a fantastic character and wonderfully naturally talented! Shame he isn't remembered as much as so many people who had nowhere near his quality! Have you seen Bunce's short documentary on him, E209? You can find it on YouTube... **** it! I'll grab it for you... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY_1iNtpb1E[/ame] There you go mate. You may well have seen it but whether you have or not, it's really worth watching! Only ten minutes long. Anyone here who used to follow Laing, who went to his fights, want to start a thread in British forum about him? Would love to see that!! EDIT: Ee'yar! Have a couple more... Here is a decent highlights reel... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIKHfYCZZJg&feature=related[/ame] Here's part one (of 4) of the Duran fight (you can see the other three in the "related" column)... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OGe64ybkaM&feature=related[/ame] Sorry to go off topic but it isn't often we get a chance to mention Kirk!
What is the main consensus about that fight? Do people think that McClellan was very ill more or less throughout it and that is why he lost? Or do they think that he was ill because of the pounding from Benn and he would have lost anyway with Benn fighting like that? I've always had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that it would have been a different fight if Gerald had fought him on a different night. I'm hoping you lot can tell me to ignore that nag, as it's a **** stirring wanker!
I love this fight, one day I'll show it to my son and tell him there's everything he needs to know in that crazy 30 minutes to see him through his life. McLellan was fcuked from the 2nd round i think, I haven't watched the fight for a while (although I've watched it at least 100 times). I'm sure it was a benn uppercut in the 2nd round that did the damage, you see it land and Mclelans eyes glaze then he starts pushing his gumshield out. I've got it on my HD, I'll watch it again and pik out the punch I'm talking about. Doesn't take anything away from the fight though, watch that and there's everything you need to know about life in it. Same with the Eubank/Watson II 11th round. Watch it, appreciate it and it will guide you forever. Poetry in motion.
And the post fight interview... "you listen to me, they sent him over here to bash me up" etc. etc. "you made a believer out of me" I don't think I've seen anything like it since.
Gerald was boiling down from over 175 to 160 for a long long time and then he went to 168...he had the build of a light heavy and was draining himself and i think that had a bit to do with it and also rumors there was problems with him before the fight in previous bouts or sparring.
McClellan boxing with his gumshield sticking out was nothing new - he did it during the Jackson fight. There was a noticeable increase in the blinking during the 9th round of the Benn fight I think.
Yeah Don King, I remember that, the slippery *******, absolutely no class with his guy in the corner. Hustlin all time. Never mind the interviewer (I forget who) mistaking McClellan for McCallum, cringeworthy but classic interview. Benn was still clearly buzzed, he looked like he was on crack.
The referee saving Benn in the first Dennie Mancini's corner work Don King bellowing 'get up!' to McClellan Benn's refusal to lose The golden retriever with its mouth taped shut The tragedy
To be fair (and I'm a benn fan before I get mauled) it was one of the longest counts in history! Even so unbelievable comeback. Feel sorry for mcguigan when I watch it back. He does some really cringeworthy commentry on how Mclellen quit and didn't have the heart. He couldn't have known though. Just one of those tradegy's.