Mclellan was more of a light middle who iced Julian Jackson and beat Roy Jones as amateurs , kronk gym hard to say if the hype was real due to the ending but it was definitely warranted and looked legit 39 seconds in who knows when he suffered the brain injury...-
On the subject of McLellan, I've never felt comfortable with people saying Benn stopped him, it didn't feel like he stopped him and it doesn't now, he suffered a life changing injury, who knows what did it but I just remember Benn looking like a dogged mess with a lot of heart and I felt like there was a big gulf in quality, a gulf made smaller by Benn's heart.
Well. **** happens even in amateur ranks, in the same U.K at least 2 youngsters had died, amateur boxing and KB. The difference is that Gerald had been advertised by King, promoted and had, let's be honest, very easy nights in the office until he had get more notable boxer in the ring in U.S and King had assumed that Benn is enough old. Gerald had promised to kill him. Boxers and kickboxers might die in the ring and if they doesn't have large fanbase, no one mentions them in forums for long years. 2019: 4 pro boxers had died. U.S boxing, Perez had disabled till end of life his opponent, guy had 18-0-0 ( 18 KOs ) pro boxing record and after fight vs Perez he needs assistance till end of his life, most likely. Gvozdyk put his opponent in coma. U.S pro boxing, 2 deaths in 2019.
Ive always been uncomfortable with it and the way we big it up as an amazing victory. You can clearly see something is up with him way before the 10th round. I cant remember exactly what round but with hindsight it is a horrible thing to watch. Granted nobody gave Benn a chance and he really showed guts and heart but i cant watch that fight at all now.
Just bigging up his son, which is natural. We all do it. The thing is though he better not even saying that because it's clear Connor is nowhere near the fighter his dad was, just puts more hype and pressure on the kid.
There will always be questions marks over Benn's victory over McClellan but as Nigel Benn said post fight " They brought him over to bash me up, " Would McCellan have won had Benn not fallen of the ring apron in Round 1 and /or if he had Emanual Steward in his corner and allowed him or someone else to wrap his hands. Its possible but as others said no one can deny the grit heart and determination Benn showed in that fight. It's similar to Eubank v Watson 2, another fight with tragic consequences and one in which Eubank really had no right to win, especially after the way Watson had dominated. Benn and Eubank suffered probably just as much in those fights as McClellan and Watson not physically but mentally. The biggest tragedy in both those fights were the delays in both Watson and McClellan receiving the appropriate medical attention immediately after the fight and the lack of aftercare and financial support post surgery.
I've got a mate who watched it in a pub who was so disgusted by the fight, mainly people's reactions to it and the football fan style following that Benn was building, that he didn't watch another fight for years, totally put him off the sport. I admire Benn for the DeWitt and Barkley wins but domestically he didn't do as well, 4 defeats and a draw in 5 fights with Eubank, Collins and Watson, I know Collins was at the end of his career but I seriously don't think any version of Benn would win and although Benn had heart the wrong ankle thing against Collins says something. He was a messy fighter, an angry man, he just had tons of heart and power but against the best he wasn't quite up to it. Imagine if that Jones fight had happened after McLellan, that would have tarnished his legacy somewhat, chasing shadows against Jones.
Benn was completely shot to pieces after the McClellan fight as you can see against Nardiello; scar tissue on the brain shown on xray ruined his balance. He wasn’t a one-trick pony, he bobbed and weaved to create openings from his earliest pro bouts. He showed a lovely left jab to outbox 6ft4in ‘journeyman’ Lenzie Morgan (robbed against Tiozzo in previous fight, Just after Tiozzo had been robbed of his world title).
McClellan used to come in at 180+ for his WBC defences - still chiseled. He was a future cruiserweight, he’d of ploughed through the divisions.
Benn showed better fundamentals than G-man did in that bout and dodged more punches, G-man was missing all over the place and clearly losing that fight.
G-man certainly punched harder than any light-middle and was killer at 160 a weight that he trained down to, however despite being tall for a middle he never looked as Chiselled as Benn did at 168, there was more definition in Benn`s body.
I felt Rod Douglas was unlucky not to get the dec against world #1 Shawn O’Sullivan in the Olympics - I thought O’Sullivan was unlucky against USA’s Tate in the final (LA).....
I think what people forget was McClellan Vs Benn was McClellans first real fight at 168lb.. McClellan weighed 165lb at the weigh in. But that said.. McClellan had a quite a few fights over the 160 limit (a few lb here and there) and actually weighed in at 168 once before around 30 months before the Benn fight, Benn had been at 168 for nearly 4 years, Benn himself said it took him quite a while to adjust to 168 as he wasn't the biggest Middleweight around, Benn said the strength of the men at 168 surprised him. So McClellan stepped up to the 168 limit and fought Benn, who's best assets were his power and his strength, I have no doubt McClellan was surprised at Benns power and strength on the night, it was top level stuff at the weight above. McClellan wasn't given time to grow in to the weight like Benn was and did, McCellan couldn't just lay on muscle that quickly, it's a gradual process, that's why it's so impressive when we see fighters like Mayweather, Pacquaio and even the likes of Loma go through the weights at top level.
Benn’s knockouts certainly dried up when he was fighting light heavies and cruisers who could make 12st - he was held and clinched a lot....was struggling to eat enough to weigh as heavy as 12st for the weigh-in; Pat Tate’s ‘guru’ at the gym had him eating tonnes of sushi for breakfast each day with half a jar of honey.
