gerald mcClellan

I think hes overrated.

 

had the tools to be great, one punch power set up off a great jab and improved as he became a champion. was also a sickening body puncher with a great chin.

 

Easy to look like a beast when you defend your title against Jay Bell and Gilbert Baptist.

Bottom line is, we just dfon't have enough on him to rate him as anything more than a Tony Ayala with a belt. Potential, but not enough track record.

 

This

 

He was a pretty good fighter and looked great against a faded Julian Jackson. He looked like he was going to be one of the most feared boxers of his generation but then he got exposed by Benn. If not Benn someone else would have done it sooner or later.

 

He looked very powerful and a good puncher but like people have said the more top flight fighters you meet, more of them can stand up to that and fight back.

 

HE was overrated, and don't think he had the physical capabilities for long hard tough fight's with lots of hard shots to the head, he was whining about how his head hurt after the Jackson fight, and was blinking a lot in the mid rounds in the Benn fight a sign of a Neurological disorder..

He was only a 2 or 3 round fighter with no plan B for long fight's with a competitive opponent, his corner sucked Balls, and the guy just wasn't very bright..

I personally hated the guy and was one happy MOFO when Benn put his ass to the floor....

 

I lost money on Julian Jackson against him.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Jackson was the only rated fighter he ever beat.

He was an exciting power puncher, but benefited from King's astute matchmaking. Don's goal was to maximize McClellan's hype after he suffered division losses to gatekeepers early on. He lined up guys who were either not that good to start with, or names who had a history of being knocked out.

Unfortunately, Gerald was never built for longevity. If it hadn't been Benn, it would've been someone (though the results may not have been so brutal). Too many sparring wars and Julian Jackson appeared to have given him much more mileage on his brain than the length of his career would've led one to believe.

 

Tyson had weak opposition early too but it was the way he did it. so classy, mclellans finishes were like that too, real highlight stuff, excellent set up.
Obviously not enough great opposition before the tragedy to be judged well but with the right team looking after him in the gym and in the ring I like to think he could've done well in fights with roy jones jr and Bernard Hopkins as he could box and he could really hit.
jones and Hopkins avoided punchers like the plague throughout their careers, would've been good to see how they coped with a tall rangy bomber like mclellan

 

What punchers did Hopkins avoid??

 

which ones did he fight?

 

His best punch was the jab plus an effortless right uppercut, but however he wasn't a ballsy fighter who liked to go inside. He always maintained distance then Benn exposed him by cutting of the ring. manny steward said he was the best fighter that he had worked with. Meh he's still a B level champion.

 

In distant days past when i liked a flutter,i had a sizeable Bet on Nigel Benn winning that fight at odds of 3-1.I always thought that GMac might be a bit overrated and knew Nigel would hit him back.
The first round nearly wiped me out but the more the fight went on the more Nigel met him blow for blow.
Scary fight.From all accounts Gerald was a bad man.
Benn earned his stripes that night.