How well rated was Gerald McClellan?

benns win was very significant. Mclellan was a fearsome fighter with huge power. Hes fights previous to that one almost all ended within 3 rounds. The julian jackson 1 fight may have taken a lot out of him and God knows if he had previous brain problems before fighting benn.

Mcclellan had predicted a 1st round ko in that fight.
And as per usual he went for it and got benn very early on and it looked like it was all over.

Benn incredibly sustained the early barrage and got back into the fight. Testement to hes courage and heart. Then next round are some of the most brutal in boxing history. Both fighters never taking a back step went at it.

In the end Mclellan succumbed. Who knows when the problems in hes head started. For Benn, this was a great victory...but a tragic ending

 

Forgot to mention--this fight was also like a lead up to roy jones jr for mcclellan. They expected him stateside to win and obviously don king did. A win would have surely meant a fight soon with roy jones---who he beat in the amatuers

 

I think he was ranked 8th by Ring in the P4P rankings before the fight. Ring also ranked him 27th greatest puncher of all time. Overall it was a fantastic win for Benn.

Make sure to post your list up when you've got it done.

 

Absolutely right, McClellan-Benn was a ferocious fight that completely captivated the viewer every second. Gerald was coming into his own and heading down the fast track to stardom; crushing power and no quit in that young man.

You know the adage, " There's always someone tougher", and Nigel Benn was that someone; at the time I felt like it would be a good fight with McClellan scoring a late KO, but I wasn't prepared for what turned out to be one of the greatest fights in history, I did say "fight" as it was that and more. The roar of the English crowd was constant and deafening as both fighters threw big windmill bombs continuously, round after round and they were landing from both sides. If I remember right, Benn was knocked out of the ring in the second, but managed to start turning the fight around and then it see-sawed through the middle rounds. Every round seemed like the last round and you thought "How can they keep this **** up".

Gerald started blinking real bad in the tenth or eleventh (it's been awhile) and took a knee or two and you just got this gut feeling that he was in deep trouble and I thought, gawd damn I hope he's alright, unfortunately we know the rest.

One of my all time favorites, Gerald McClellan.

 

Great fight between two greats,McClellan looked to have finished Benn in the 1st round (although it may have been the 2nd) Benn went through the ropes and was caught by Reg Gutteridge (tv commentator) and would of landed on the floor otherwise,i honestly thought it was the end but Benn loved a "tear up" and somehow fought his way back into the fight.Benn caught McClellan on the temple in i think the 8th rd,this i believe was the beginning of the end,McClellan began blinking almost continuously after that punch.Although i was glad Benn won,i was sickened by the scenes in the ring after the fight and obviously the permanent damage to Geralds Brain.Sadly he paid the ultimate price.

 

It most definitely cost him but McClellan had one of the best chins I've ever seen, the phrase "too tough for his own good" springs to mind.

 

Unfortunately, his chin was far too good for his brain, literally speaking. Despite not taking many shots at all through most of his career, the punishment he took in 6 total rounds against Julian Jackson should've spelled his retirement despite winning the fights- he was complaining of bad headaches and his behavior was becoming more erratic and borderline sociopathic before the Benn fight.

Even in the Benn fight, It would've been much better for him to have just been knocked clean out clean, and retire, than to have taken those shots over that much time.

 

He was the 1/3 favourite in the uk.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, McClellan was rated the biggest puncher in the Supermiddle weight division at the time. This was some accolade considering the names that the division boasted. The fight was also named KO magazine fight of the year 1995. McClellan was also awarded KO of the year by the same publication and the ring magazine in 1993 against Julian Jackson. KO magazine ranked McClellan 7th P4P at the end of 1994.

 

I think he was actually coming up from middleweight for the fight against Benn. But the guy was serious, the power in each punch was amazing, If anybody has a slow motion reply, Benn seems to Fall asleep from a big shot in the first round, and the next blow from Mcclellan wakes him up, and then he's knocked out of the ring lol.

But Benn came back hard in the second round, really catching him with some massive bombs, and it was like that all the way, Mcclellan winning the odd rounds, and Benn winning the Even one's, a real back and forth barn stormer. Such a shame how it ended.

 

I know all about the animals, was there any other aspects of his behaviour which were a cause for concern after Jackson?

 

The animals thing went from bad to worse, for starters- it had escalated from dogfighting to things like mowing down flamingos in parking lots for fun. Here's a link to an interview that delves into it:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,583541,00.html