The 10 European Best of the last 25 Years: #8 Nigel Benn.

#10 Ricky Hatton
http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=472954

#9 Dariusz Michalczewski
http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=472958

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He had one of the meanest stare downs of all times, right up there with Tyson and Hearns.

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One of the most exciting and ferocious fighters of the 90's. He took on the name 'The Dark Destroyer' and went 41-1 as an amateur fighter. Benn's aggressive style gathered 22 consecutive knockout wins.


Best Performances
Doug Dewitt-MW

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Benn got off the canvas to knock out Doug Dewitt in a very exciting fight.
ESB got it's own article on it. Top Notch.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/weblog/news.php?p=23676&more=1






Iran Barkley MW


Benn defended his MW Title by knocking out the much feared Iran Barkley in 1 round.

It was a terrific battle and very fun to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPEfGHrBSY0



Another great ESB Article on the much beloved Nigel Benn.

Benn v Barkley - The Most Exciting One Round Fight of The 90’s

20.12.05 - By James Slater: Britain’s Nigel Benn had just been crowned world champion for the first time. He had picked up the recently created WBO middleweight title in April 1990 with an impressive eighth round stoppage of the iron chinned Doug Dewitt. And, while the title Nigel now held wasn’t well respected (due to the WBO’s very appearance further upsetting the boxing purists!), the man he chose to make his first defence against was very much so. “The Dark Destroyer” would be putting his belt on the line against “The Blade.”

read on
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/weblog/news.php?p=5615&more=1





Benn-Eubank Rivalry

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These two fighters seemingly had different personality clashes and a difference in styles .They delivered two good fights.. the rematch actually lived up to the original and some said surpassed it due to the later fight heroics. The two fights had a third of Britain watching and was considered two of the biggest British Domestic battles of all times.




Gerald Mccellan

In perhaps the most memorable fight of Benn's career he went against the mighty American puncher in Gerald Mccellan. A brutally tragic fight still hotly debated to this day that left Mccellan blind and deaf. There was controversy in that that Benn was given too much time to recover after the first round KD. Regardless weather or not that's true, Benn came back and fought brilliantly against Mccellan's onslaught. The aging Past Prime Benn pushed Mccellan again and again with relentless pressure before finally stopping him.

It was Benn's last great performance and the emotional strain it took on him due to the aftermath effectively ended his boxing career.

Regardless of the person he was, Gerald Mccellan still never deserved to have such a heart breaking ending.

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Interview with the Dark Destroyer.

 

Boxing


BENN THERE, DONE THAT ... Nigel Benn won world titles at two different weights in the 1990s
One on One with Nigel Benn
EXCLUSIVE By JIM MUNRO Last Updated: 28th April 2012
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HE was once the Dark Destroyer, a world champion at two different weights whose bravery and guts in the ring were the perfect contrast to the eccentric style of his great rival Chris Eubank.
Today, Nigel Benn has seen the light as a born again Christian and works as a preacher based at the Vineyard Church in Majorca.




Is there one particular fight that lingers in your memory where you can say: 'That was Nigel Benn at his best'?

My No1 fight was winning the WBO world middleweight title in Atlantic City, but mostly I remember the rivalry with Chris Eubank. It was a good rivalry that we had and it will always remain with me til the day I die.

So beating Doug DeWitt in his own back yard to win your first world title was your favourite?

Yeah, in Atlantic City. Lloyd Honeyghan did it first when he beat Don Curry there in 1986, a Brit upsetting an American favourite. Then I went over to Atlantic City on the Boardwalk in 1990 and won my first world title there. No-one had given me a hope.


Have you seen Chris Eubank at all recently?

I've seen him once or twice but we don't really meet much because my life has totally changed. I'm not into that lifestyle any more. I don't really do that Q&A circuit type of thing that I used to do any more either.

Is it a source of frustration that you never beat Eubank? You lost the WBO middleweight title to him then you drew your WBO/WBC super-middleweight unfication bout.

Yeah, but that loss to Eubank, he won that fight fair and square. When he fought me he was a tough cookie. More power to him. And to be able to pull in 42,000 people at Old Trafford for the second fight, 18.5million people watching on TV. Wow! Thank you Chris.


BEST OF ENEMIES ... Eubank and Benn
Do you think it was that rivalry between the two of you that gave him that little extra edge he perhaps didn't have in his other fights?

Well yes, it gave us both that extra incentive. But Chris was simply the better man the day that he beat me.

Do you get much chance to watch boxing these days?

Oh yeah, course I do. When there's a big fight on I'll watch. I love Ricky Hatton and I love Joe Calzaghe.

Calzaghe has an amazing record, undefeated world champion for over a decade. How do you think he would have got on in your era?

That's a hard one to say, but do you know what? If Joe had been around with me, Chris Eubank and Steve Collins, he would have had some harder fights than he gets today. But I still think he would have come out on top. You've got to give it to him, what he's achieved, being an undefeated world champion for a decade takes a special fighter. He would have had a good fight with me. He'd probably have beaten me although he would have known he'd been in a fight with me. Don't get me wrong, but he slaps hard. And he doesn't go down. I take my hat off to him. Joe's a credit to boxing.”


Floyd Mayweather Jr beat Ricky Hatton to remain undefeated in 39 pro fights but since then has said he's lost the desire to box and is hanging up his gloves...

But they all say that until somebody sticks a multi-million pound contract under their nose, then they put their gloves back on again don't they.

What I was going on to say though was you had a spell of retiring then coming back — and the purse was a lot smaller in those days...

I made a lot of money in boxing but there's more to life than money. The most important thing in life is not money, because I had the money, it's knowing Jesus. You look at these kids now, the footballers. Now I'm not knocking them, but some of them are making £120,000 a week! And they can say 'I don't like that car any more' or 'I'll go and buy another house'. What's the value of money? I'm looking at it now and you see all these kids wanting the money. You want to talk about boxing but really and truly when we talk about everything, I don't even want to talk about it any more. Not because I'm being disrespectful but because that was my past life. That was the life I used to live with sin, going out, sleeping around, doing this, going to clubs, having this girl, that girl. That's all it was. It was a big party. The life I have now is peaceful, happy. I can bring my kids up the right way. The life that I was living I was burning the candle at both ends so what was I teaching my kids? My daughter now, she's happily married, she's a Christian, she's got a lovely daughter and now she knows the Lord. What more can a dad ask for?

I do remember a private moment that you made very public after the Sugaboy Malinga fight in 1996, when you called Carolyne into the ring and got down on one knee to propose.

We actually got married on May 16 this year... for the third time. The first time, we had a gospel choir and OK magazine and it was all showbiz. This time it was the vows that were important and we actually went on our honeymoon to England, just on our own. It's taken me 17 years to get to this position, where I fully appreciate this wonderful woman. It's only now I truly understand what Jesus means. It's very hard to just sit here and talk about boxing without giving the glory to Jesus, because if it wasn't for him I'd be six foot under, or in a mental hospital, or banged out on drugs. We've always had houses that have had marble floors but now we're moving into just a normal house. My Porsche has gone, my Cadillac's gone, I've got rid of everything. I've bought my wife a Mitsubishi Grandis. It's not because I've been retired as a boxer since 1996, God's blessed me enough, I just don't want my son growing up thinking he can have everything he wants. Sorry Jim, I bet you're thinking 'what's he on about, I only wanted to talk about boxing!'

Okay, younger days, before boxing, were you interested in any other sports?

I was into martial arts, that was my sport, I was into Bruce Lee mate. Oh yeah! I love my combat sports. I like unarmed combat, when you're on your own. I didn't like football, the team thing, though I did love playing rugby, back in the 1980s when it was the Welsh who were good at rugby. But I like contact sport, I like one on one. Not blowing my own trumpet but I competed in a few full contact competitions and I never lost at martial arts.

So finally, what do you do to keep fit these days, do you use any of the same routines or methods from your boxing days?

I'm nearly 45 now so your body can't do now what it could do then. I'm a PE teacher at a Christian school here in Majorca and I was playing basketball with some of the kids yesterday and I'll tell you what, it doesn't half make you feel old. I came off and I was absolutely exhausted. You're the same age as me Jim and you've got a one-year-old son, right? Well I'm a grandad now and I've got seven kids. That's good fitness training right there!

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Ya . tbh outside of the top 3.. cases can be made from 5-15 in whatever order there is. It's just my opinion based on some research. I can easily see why DM would be better.

Like I said. outside of the top 3 it's just opinion.