how good was Gerald McClellan

A talented and skilled fighter who carried insane power, good speed/timing/footwork, absolutely fearless, and so forth.

He fell in love with his power though and finished out his career with a very blunt-force mentality. A lot of people let that over-shadow his skill and talent which is a shame cause he had tons.

 

Very good.

Could have modified his style a little so he was less of a brawler though.

 

Amazing timing, extremely heavy hands. His left hook to the body scored dozens of knockdowns and about a dozen 10-counts.

He circled opponents, used his jab well as a range-finder, and looked to fire long overarms that reached the target fast and follow with a hook. He looked unstoppable.

He could hit a hook downstairs off the flick-jab so well, so accurate, so untelegraphed.

Only man to ever KD Sanderline Williams, and blew granite-chinned Baptist (who took a young desstructive Hopkins 12) out of the water. First man to ever KD Julian Jackson. Blew Julian out in a round, Mugabi (not weight-drained as was against Norris) out in a round, Benn out of the ring in 30 seconds.

Shame his career was cut so short. He would've gone through the weights. The guy would enter the ring at 180+ as a middleweight and remain chiseled!

(As an amateur beat Roy Jones, Frank Liles, Tim Littles and Michael Moorer with an aggressive style.)

 

He was better than Lacy ever was. Horrible comparison.. completely different styles.

 

Well of course he's not, he only had one title fight there and lost!

 

Decent, limited.

 

I doubt he could have modified it. If he did, he may have been worse for it.

 

Absolutely agree.There is not one standout victory on his resume.G-Man gets highly overrated on these boards.Though, his condition now is terrible,poor fellow,as well as Mike Watson's.

 

He had so much going for him - tall and rangey, talent, heavy hands, sense of timing/distance, great chin, immense power, and huge confidence/self-belief. Plus a super-fight rival (Roy Jones).

 

One of the things I admire most about McClellan is his absolute lack of fear; he didn't respect anyones power - not even people like Jackson and Mugabi!

When he fought Benn he was surrounded by thousands of people baying for his blood and he just sucked it up, it didn't affect him at all. He was genuinely one of the most confident and mentally strong guys i've personally seen in a ring.

Debatable whether it was cause he was so obsessed with teh fact he could KO anyone he wanted but still .. !

 

He had absolutely loads going for him.

 

G-man could bang. But he had limited boxing skills. I think there are guys @ 168 that would easily outbox him as long as they stayed away from his power. He was a big hype job though because he could bang w/ just about anybody out there. His story is a sad one though.

 

Emanuel Steward claims McClellan to be the most talented fighter he's had, and once cited an occasion in '88 when Gerald out-boxed Ray Leonard and Michael Moorer on the same night.

 

He lost to them guys because he lost love for boxing i read. He felt he should of been pushed forward but felt Manny Steward was holding him back and looking after other more high profile fighters and also felt King wasn't pushing him to be a star.

He was a good fighter there no doubting that. I agree he probably slightly overrated but i think he was a good fighter for sure.

 

Steward didn't train Gerald in '89 because he was too busy with Tommy and Dennis Andries. He took over in 1990.