And had Eubank winning widely on workrate! I tried to be honest, personal and objective in my scoring. Eubank was the one trying to put nice shots together, Benn was just throwing singles or more often than not lunging in, clinching and rabbit-punching. It was a poor performance by Eubank, but not exactly a good performance by Nigel, barring his head movement which Eubank struggled with all night. With the way the judges had it scored, had Eubank gone with his instinct and the advise of his ex-New York trainer in the corner, and jabbed/boxed/moved in the last round, he'd have literally won the fight. But Ronnie Davies convinced him to go flat-out, and the judges scored that last round for Benn. Despite Eubank edging most of the rounds on workrate, the most clear rounds won by either fighter were the rounds won by Benn - 3, 4, 10. I have Eubank winning rounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11. The 12th would be even, 9-9 if I'd be allowed to do that? It was a terrible round. Benn's work just wasn't good and he was throwing even more punches off-balance than Eubank was. Then there's the point deducted from Benn, and if I'm allowed to score that last round 9-9, then I think my final scorecard would read 116-110 in favor of Eubank. That final score doesn't reflect how close the fight was, it was a slow burner. Eubank constantly looking to put shots together nicely, Benn often making him miss with his head movement and clipping him in the clinch, only landing the very occasional decent shot from the outside. I just don't think Nigel did near enough quality offensive work that night. Having said that Eubank was extremely awkward and so smart defensively...
Eubank would have gone on to fight mandatory Wharton then probably Nunn or McClellan... I wonder what Nigel would have done had he lost that decision? Retired in disgust maybe?