Nigel Benn: 'Boxing is therapy for rage' | Sport | The Guardian Sportblog Nigel Benn: 'Boxing is therapy for rage' The British former world champion hit rock bottom before finding salvation and then redemption at an amateur gym on the other side of the world in Australia Former World Champion Nigel Benn in the ring at Blacktown PCYC in Sydney’s western suburbs after a long afternoon of training and teaching. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Sportblog Nigel Benn: 'Boxing is therapy for rage' The British former world champion hit rock bottom before finding salvation and then redemption at an amateur gym on the other side of the world in Australia Tuesday 9 June 2015 17.00 EDT Last modified on Monday 10 October 2016 21.52 EDT Share on Messenger Close Boxing regularly throws up stories of courage, persistence, triumph and tragedy, and is a sport that thrives in tough working class areas. In Sydney, the real estate boom has gentrified boxing’s inner-city heartland, moving it to clusters in the distant outer suburbs, and 40 kilometres out west, Blacktown has become the new epicentre of Australian boxing.

The Vinegar Hill Boxing Gym sits in the heart of a dusty industrial area, in the roof cavity at the back of a concrete factory wedged between exhaust muffler and scrap metal dealers. It is named after the 1798 Battle of Vinegar Hill – the last stand of the Irish Rebels against the English and its local namesake, the 1804 Battle of Vinegar Hill when the British Colonial army crushed an Irish convict rebellion nearby. The gym reeks of struggle. The posters hanging off the cinder blocks surrounding the ring are old-school – Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston. It is a surreal yet suitable habitat for a boxing blue blood, Nigel Benn, nicknamed the Dark Destroyer and at his peak one of England’s most recognisable sporting heroes. Benn’s record as an amateur boxer was 41-1 before he turned professional in 1987. Over a nine-year career he won two world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, and finished with a professional career record of 42-5-1 with 35 knockouts.

Trainer Rod Williams waits patiently on the ropes for Benn’s private training session to start. Williams is a wiry and wise South African who moved to Australia from the tough streets of Johannesburg at the age of 10. A champion coach, he has devoted his life to the fight game and now trains a stable of rookies and elite amateurs including Benn’s son Conor. Benn was so impressed at Williams’s work with his son that he joined the stable himself to keep learning. Williams trains champions like Benn, but he also works with novice fighters. “They are the ones who teach me how to teach,” he says. Since taking on Benn over a year ago, Williams has been shocked at his ability to do new things. “He could easily have played the old dog you can’t teach new tricks to, but in every single session he’s done everything I’ve asked,” says Williams. “He has never put the ‘I’m the Dark Destroyer’ on me. He’s good that way. For a man over 50 his stamina and strength is amazing.” Pinterest Benn working the pads with trainer Rod Williams. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Inside the ring, Benn explodes into action. The stereo blares while Williams calls the shots and Benn obliges.

Conor leans on the ropes watching his father’s every move. Conor has now had 20 amateur fights and is planning to join the Hatton Academy in Manchester run by former world champion Ricky Hatton. “I still watch my father’s fights” Conor says with a smile. “I look up to him and he’s my inspiration. I didn’t know how big he was growing up in Spain. Until we went to England and everybody wanted a photo – it was bizarre. Look at him – he’s still looking good!” Benn Snr is in mint condition and throwing thunderclap straight rights into the pads, working feverishly through three-minute rounds with half-minute rests. Between rounds, Williams chimes in: “Conor brings a lot to the table genetically but gets no special privileges.” “He’s got the DNA!” shouts Benn, sweating profusely, but Williams continues. “Conor loves it to death but he has to be patient.” The buzzer rings and the gruelling rounds continue. Williams has his eyes closed now as Benn machine guns short punches into the pads before exploding with a series of vicious left hooks. Williams stops Benn mid-round to explain an adjustment in angles.

Benn soaks it in: “I got you, I see what you mean.” As the end of the 12th round looms, Benn finishes with a furious flurry that goes one minute over time. “That’s what an old man can do!” he yells. Towelling off the sweat, he invites my questions: “Bring it on!” Pinterest “It’s all in the mind,” says Benn to the photographer as he hurtles through his training regime. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Born in 1964 in Ilford in east London to immigrant parents from Barbados, Benn was brought up in Essex before moving to Spain and then settling in Australia in 2013: “Tell you the truth my wife Carolyne suggested it,” Benn says. “I said to her ‘Australia? You must be mad, everything’s venomous’. Then I worked through it. We black men don’t surf so that ruled out sharks.” Eventually, he was convinced. Twelve years in Spain was enough, and it was easy to communicate in Australia. His first day in Sydney had a huge impact. He remembers ordering fried rice in English from a Chinese waiter. “I thought, ‘Here we are!’” he says.

“I fell in love with it all – the size of the beaches, the big blue sky, the barbecues and focus on families getting together.” Benn left painful memories back in England. At the age of eight his hero older brother Andy was killed suspiciously and violently at just 17, and a hole was created that nothing could fill. “Something severed when my brother died,” he says. “I was living but not living. Andy used to lie on the bunk bed and cuddle me – I was his lion cub. He had proper respect in Ilford. I was a scared little boy who didn’t want to die. I cried myself to sleep every night.” After Andy’s death, Benn began smoking, hustling on the street, and eventually continuing his brother’s work fighting against the National Front racist skinheads. “The black and white communities would come to together at Ilford Town Hall to listen to soul music and they [the skinheads] would wait for us outside,” says Benn. “I was into Bruce Lee at the time and I remember knocking one skinhead out with a hop, skip and a jump through the air and my leg cracked him.” Benn remembers shouting: “I was born here mate.

I’m more English than you are.” School was a blur as he roamed the streets until the early hours of the morning. Even though he went wild fighting on the streets, Benn’s staunch father was there for him with some tough love Bajan style. Benn smiles. “I would get in some trouble, my father would hear about it and when I got back home he would bellow in a thick Bajan accent ‘If you can’t hear you can feel’, followed by a clip. He gave it to me but I still respect him today.” The value of his father’s discipline became apparent later in life. “I didn’t understand at the time but later he explained it to me. He said by hook or crook, you’re not going to end up like your brother.” Benn’s father insisted he join his older brother in the British Army and he took to “squaddie” life with relish, kicking off his boxing career and surviving some harrowing times in Northern Ireland including losing friends in the Ballykelly bombing . “I was just a brother wanting to do my time and get out,” he says.

After almost five years Benn left the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers with an exemplary record, tried security but was lured into professional boxing, skyrocketing to a 22-0 record and building a reputation as an exciting puncher with a growing fanbase. It all came crashing down when he was “ rope-a-doped ” brilliantly by fellow Brit Michael Watson and having punched himself out, was knocked out himself. “I had some friends who disappeared to hang out with Michael,” says Benn, who sat alone in the change room after the fight. “I didn’t want to leave the house and decided to go to America.” The experience was an epiphany and defeat can be instructive. “I’d been lying to myself about how good I was.” Boxing was different in America. “It’s the land of truth over there,” says Benn. “Guys off the street can give you a tough spar. Reputations mean nothing.” But the move paid off. He won the world middleweight title against Doug De Witt in New Jersey in 1990. In his first defence he brutalised fearsome Iran “the Blade” Barkley in a famous one round war that made him an international star.

When Barkley looked away from him at the weigh-in, Benn knew he had his man. Pinterest Benn v Eubank in November 1990. Eubank stopped Benn in the ninth round. Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty Images Confidence restored, Benn returned to England, thrilling crowds with his power and aggression propelling him to a string of wins including a second world title – the WBC super middleweight belt and two fierce wars with Chris Eubank , losing one and drawing the second in front of 47,000 fans at Old Trafford and over 18 million people on free-to-air television. A contract dispute led to Benn being “thrown to the wolves” against Don King’s undefeated American Gerald “Mini Mike Tyson” McClellan for the seventh defence of his WBC super middleweight title in 1995. It was a violent, brutal fight , the British Bulldog versus the American Pitbull, and Benn was bludgeoned near unconscious and out of the ring in the first round before getting himself back into the contest, roared on by a partisan crowd. McClellan eventually retired on one knee in the 10th round, dehydrated, confused and blinking.

Pinterest Benn launches a counter-attack during his 1995 fight with Gerald McClellan in London. Photograph: Getty Images British fight writer Hugh Mcilvanney described the fight as “relentless, mutually destructive aggression…one of the most brutal fights any of us at ringside had witnessed.” McClellan was rushed to hospital cutting Benn’s celebrations short. He had scored one of the bravest, most dramatic victories in English sporting history – a titanic struggle and the devil took the hindmost. Benn had a damaged nose and jaw, urinated blood for three days and had a shadow on the brain. The fight left McClellan blind, 80% deaf and paralysed in a wheelchair, in the care of his sisters. This year marks 20 years since McClellan was paralysed. Eight years ago Benn returned to England to raise $250,000 to assist McClellan’s care.

In an emotional reunion, Benn was granted forgiveness by McClellan’s sister, who once told the media “We want Benn dead, we want his money”, and, “How does a man who almost killed a man sleep at night?” To see Benn and McClellan embrace is one of the most moving moments in boxing history with the latter in his wheelchair asking: “Am I handsome?” “It’s my greatest moment in the ring but I can’t celebrate it,” says Benn. “I’ve done what I can and I’m grateful it’s been laid to rest. It’s a cross I have to bear but ultimately I’m here to support my family.” Benn was never the same again and his career soon ended. Without the discipline of boxing his life descended into a path well trodden of chaos featuring drugs, cheating, fast women and slow horses. Famously, Benn was once quoted as saying: “I was Satan’s right hand man.” He suffered depression and attempted suicide one lonely night in the car. Rock bottom is a good foundation and Benn found salvation in religion joining a long line of religious boxers including Evander Holyfield and George Foreman.

In an attempt to expel his demons Benn left his marital home and went to live with his pastor who assigned him to a 63-year-old woman. “She broke me down slowly,” he says with a wince. “She made me deal with my unresolved issues with drugs, sex addiction and the anger at the loss of my brother. No more spliffs, no more cheating, no more swearing. Get this. I was only allowed to watch Little House on the Prairie and loved it. I’ve got all 11 seasons on DVD!” Pinterest A portrait of former World Champion Benn after his workout. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Benn interrupts the memories, checking his watch. “We’re late for Blacktown PCYC, let’s go,” he says. Blacktown Police Youth Citizens Club is one of the most diverse sports clubs in Australia, a kaleidoscope of cultures blending together daily. Presiding over operations at her front office desk is community veteran club manager Jo Tau, a Samoan Dutch Kiwi who has one eye on her computer and the other keeping track of movement in the centre. She has no doubt of the importance of the PCYC.

“More than once community tensions have calmed down when the different groups have met here or know each other from here,” she says. “Most recently we had some tension between the South Sudanese and Pacific Communities and leaders from our club helped return things to normal.” Tau remembers how Benn built the relationship with her and her husband, coming over to their house and cooking for the pair. “A world champion, in our little shack!” she says excitedly. “Nigel is a very humble man and has a presence about him that brings people in. I’ve had clients in my office who have nearly dropped to the floor like screaming schoolgirls when they’ve seen him. We’ve got a world champ interacting with our kids and adults, in of all places, Blacktown!” Pointing upstairs to the thudding boxing gym, she says: “His culture up there is all about family. We see the power of boxing here to engage youth. It’s not just something anyone can do and Nigel doesn’t sugarcoat, he gives it to them big time.” Benn has also helped out with at-risk youth and Tau is thrilled with the results.

She says 30 disengaged kids who stopped going to school were spellbound by Benn’s presence after seeing highlights of his career. “Every time they are quiet, no fidgeting,” she says. “He shares his stories from the heart, then has a big laugh with all of them at the sausage sizzle afterwards. And sure enough some of them go back to school. He’s here to make a difference and he has been changing lives here for more than two years.” The upstairs boxing gym is bristling with feverish hustle, the windows foggy and the air larded with the aroma of toil. Around the ring fighters are lined up to do one round on the pads with Benn, whilst some are skipping and others thudding the heavy bags monotonously – the echoes of aspiration. A grandmother in a hijab looks on and smiles as her two grandsons wrestle a big punching bag. Pinterest Conor Benn (standing, left), son of Nigel Benn, is among those training at Blacktown PCYC. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Legen Hale arrived in Australia in January 2015, a proud Maori from Hamilton, New Zealand, and overweight at 150 kilograms.

By his own admission he had no discipline and focus and came to Australia to turn his life around. Five months after first arriving at Blacktown PCYC, Hale has lost 45 kilograms under the tough love of the Dark Destroyer. “Nigel pushed me to the limit and stood by me on a hard journey. Every day he was on me,” says Hale. “My clothes are loose, I’ve got a great job, my own car, I’m moving faster, concentrating more. At the weekly weigh-in Nigel would look me in the eye and say – ‘You can’t lie to me, you’re just lying to yourself’.” Eventually Hale broke: “Finally I got discipline and accountability and I have a platform,” he says. “I’m now mentoring some youth myself and hope to have my first fight in five months. Crazy stuff.” Suddenly the gym lights up as one of the serious fighters does a round of padwork in the ring with Benn. The blows are loud and crisp and the children stop to watch. Gavin Smith has Brazil 2016 Olympic dreams. He has had 18 amateur fights for Blacktown PCYC and is the current ABL junior welterweight champion.

“Nigel has been in my corner for at least 10 fights,” says Smith. “We rock up to a small town in the middle of nowhere and I walk in to the ring with his hand on my shoulder. By the time I reach the ring I’m 10 foot tall.” Pinterest Benn training amateur fighter Gavin Smith at the Blacktown PCYC. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian Some of the fights involve road trips of hundreds of kilometres during which Benn shares his wisdom. “He never talks about my opponent,” says Smith. “He says, ‘Relax, you’ve done the hard work. This is the easy part’. He is so enthusiastic, so passionate and encourages you to give everything. Go home, eat right, stay out of trouble. Discipline and focus. He makes us believe in ourselves.” When Smith won the state title, Benn jumped in the ring and hoisted him up on his shoulders to celebrate. “I’m the NSW champ, I’m sitting on Nigel Benn’s shoulders having just executed his game plan using some tricks he taught me,” says Smith. “It’s unbelievable.” As the session draws to a close, Benn is once again caked in sweat.

He towels off and says goodbye to each fighter with a hug and shoulder bump and a “God bless you man.” Everyone has left the gym except for the Benn family; Conor is unwrapping his hands after a torrid session and Nigel’s youngest son and two girls are telling stories and laughing. “My new drug is serving people whether its through boxing or in my role for Hillsong as a volunteer assisting people with their marriages or helping those less fortunate,” Benn says. “I’m great friends with an 80-year-old woman whose lawn I cut and do odd jobs for. It’s a required part of the service.” Behind every redemption story is a rock. In this case it’s Benn’s wife Carolyne. “I look at women differently now,” he says. “More respectful. And I just love my wife, man.” Despite his past, Benn is optimistic for the future. “Boxing has helped millions around the world as a trigger for self belief, identity and connecting. It is therapy for rage,” he says. Religion has helped Benn overcome the sadness and anger of losing his brother. “The man upstairs has filled the hole left by my brother’s death,” he says. Life seems good.

“I won two world titles and filled Old Trafford, owned a Bentley and a mansion, had tea at Buckingham Palace, DJ’d at Ministry of Sound, served proudly in the British Army and here I am cutting the grass of an 80-year-old woman,” he says. “And lovin’ it. I look at my life now and I feel blessed, no more drugs or smoking, I’m fittest I’ve ever been. Look at my family. I can’t ask for more.” nigel benn (the dark destroyer) | biography (b.1964) | gallery Draws: 1 WHEN THEY WERE KINGS: Nigel Benn was for me the most exciting, charismatic boxer I have ever seen. Totally mesmirising in the ring. The 1980s and 90s saw him become a two time world champion at different weights and I would state that anyone who saw his encounters against the likes of Doug Dewitt, Michael Watson, Chris Eubank, Iran Barkley, Henry Wharton, and, of course, Gerald McClellan, would never forget them. His life outside the ring mirrored the excitement within it.

The overriding factor of his early life which seems to have stayed with him is the death of his older brother Andy in an accident. Nigel was eight years old. The dark thoughts on 'death' that have peppered his interviews seem to have emanated from that. As a youngster he was a tearaway as he grew up with no real sense of direction. The only thing that made sense to him was fighting. After leaving school at an early age and spending time on the dole, Benn was persuaded by his mum to join the army. He had another brother already serving with First Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. When the army learn that they have a natural boxer on their hands doors start to open up to a possible future in the ring. He serves in Cyprus, Germany and does a couple of Tours Of Duty in Northern Ireland. When he initially left the army he had no plans to box as a career. He lived on �38 a week dole money with his young family. It was only after a visit to West Ham Boys Amateur Boxing Club that set him back on the course he would become famous for. Benn the professional boxer. Early knockouts came and with them money followed. For the first time in his life he had some.

He was paid �1000 for his first professional fight and it snowballed from there. Mis rise was fast, meteoric... Benn's coming of age coincided with the streetwise Frank Warren displacing the ageing Mickey Duff as the most powerful man in the British boxing. It was quite big at the time in the British press when Benn teamed up with the slick, unknown businessman Ambrose Mendy rather than join the Warren stable. Warren himself was none-to-pleased if I remember correctly. Of course it all ended in tears as so many of these kinds of relationships do in boxing over the years. It's either total love or total hatred - never anything in-between. Benn freely admits falling the spell of the articulate Mendy and his big schemes. The making of Nigel Benn the fighter came after his first defeat to Michael Watson. He went 'back to basics'. I seem to recall that Benn spent the day of the fight with Watson having his hair done though I could be wrong. In any event, he himself admitted later that he was too mixed up with the showbusiness/hype side of boxing and needed to start again.

His redemption came at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami where American boxers gave him severe workouts and sparring sessions. Benn fights in the US for a period and beats tough unflattering pros like Jorge Amparo, Jose Quinones and Sanderline Williams. His feats registered in the UK but there was not the hype there was pre-Watson. Benn beat Doug Dewitt in a tough and rough, see-saw encounter to win the WBO Middleweight Championship. The British Board Of Control didn't recognise the new WBO and so didn't rate Benn as a champion. In turn, Benn ripped up his British boxing licence after the fight on television. The rest of Benn's incredible career has now passed into British boxing folklore. A bruising encounter with Henry Wharton came in 1994. There were the legendary fights with his nemesis Chris Eubank and I would venture that the first fight and loss at away at Benn like a kind of canker. The infamous draw in the re-match was, in my opinion, total rubbish. Benn won it by a country mile. Boxing really does shoot itself in the foot sometimes with decisions like that.

As an aside it really is hard to convey to those tht around at the time just how big those two fights with Eubank were in the UK, especially the second one. I mean, everyone had an opinion on it. TV ratings went through the roof. Tension filled the landscape of this island for the week before the fight. It was huge. The only thing I can compare to it is Mo Farah at the London Olympics in 2012. There was huge interest in that but it wasn't as big as Benn/Eubank. If we thought the draw with Eubank was the defining moment in his career then we were wrong. The Gerald McClellan fight has to be up there with the most brutal fights in the history of British boxing. It wasn't meant to be like that. Make no mistake Benn was a massive underdog and I remember reading how nearly all the expects predicted Benn would be knocked up and knocked out quickly. There was a general feeling that McClellan, a mini-Mike Tyson, the most dangerous man on the planet with hands of stone was brought over the pond to beat up Benn. He was Don King's latest superstar.

This fight was but a mere stepping stone for the 'G-Man' to the planned superfight with Roy Jones. An easy to hit British boxer with a sometimes suspect chin who was probably just on the way down. So read the script and how Benn recovered from that first round knock down I will never know. But he recovered and gradually his famous crouching and then unleashing hell became apparent. What a fight! I swear the word 'awesome' was invented to describe Benn that night. It was vicious, all the way vicious, mesmerising brutality. I've never seen anything like it on British TV. Legalised warfare. In the end Benn confounds the critics by stopping McClellan and if the story ended there then it would have been hailed as one of the greatest sporting achievements in the history of Brisish sport. But McClellan collapsed and suffered a serious brain injury. I for one felt ashamed after the fight when I thought of myself bellowing at the top of my voice everytime Benn connected. But everyone, and I mean everone thought that if anyone was going to have suffered serious injury it would have been Benn.

Every British fan was carried away when they saw Benn coming back, that he wasn't humiliated and I guess we all got caught up in that emotion. But to see the CNN video clip of McClellan six years after the fight does bring tears to the eyes and makes you realise why most people these days try and forget that fight, that night. No boxer had visited him up to that point. He is in a world of darkness, totally blind and 80% deaf. Heartbreaking. As per the Gerald McClellan official website: Today it costs approximately $70,000 per year to take care of Gerald and pay for the round-the-clock assistance that he requires. Astronomical medical bills and the costs of his yearly care have sadly exhausted all of the money that he has earned as a professional prize fighter. For this reason, Gerald and his family rely solely on donations to the Gerald McClellan Trust to care for him. More details and to make a donation to the Gerald McClellan Trust Fund can be found at geraldmcclellan.com/trust.html . Roy Jones Jr.

has done more than most and perhaps we can all, even in a very small way like myself, follow the great man's lead. Benn had more class than the rest of us. When Benn was in hospital being checked out and rehydrated, he goes to find McClellan who is also in the hospital. "He wasn't awake." said Benn. "I kissed his hand and said sorry." As a fighter that was really it for Benn. It wasn't the same; he wasn't the same. The two losses to Steve Collins are but a postscript to an outstanding career. I think the reason the British public warmed to Benn and loved him was because there was always excitement and nervous anticipation whenever he fought. He was the type of fighter who had dynamite in his hands and could knock out his opponent and dazzle like a Sugar Ray Leonard or Thomas Hearns while at the same time he could always be knocked out (I suppose like a Thomas Hearns). You always sensed that he could go down though you always hoped he wouldn't. There were times in fights when he was caught and he stood there stunned like a rabbit in headlights and you just wanted him to move move move.

He gave everything in the ring and didn't duck an opponent and that endeared him to many. Can you imagine Eubank taking on the McClellan fight fight when the 'G-Man' was at his peak. Or fight Iran Barkley in the US as Benn did and won? I don't think so. Post fighting he has been a DJ, appeared on the first UK Reality Show I'm A Celebrity, invested in property and become a born again Christian. He has been marred twice and lives in Mallorca, Spain with his family. Paul Page, December, 2012 Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan - BoxRec Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan From BoxRec Jump to: navigation , search 1995-02-25 : Nigel Benn 168 lbs beat Gerald McClellan 165 lbs by KO at 1:46 in round 10 of 12 Location: New London Arena, Millwall, London, United Kingdom Notes McClellan was a 3-1 favorite.

[1] Entering the fight, McClellan had won 14 straight fights by knockout, 10 in the first round. His previous three fights, WBC middleweight title defenses, lasted a total of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Showtime televised the fight live in the United States. The bout was named Fight of the Year for 1995 by KO Magazine . The Ring Magazine named the bout the 42nd greatest title fight of all-time in 1996 and the 6th greatest fight of the 1990s in 2000. Benn told The Ring Magazine in 2013 that McClellan was the best puncher he ever faced and "by far" the best overall fighter. "There was a mile between him and anyone else," Benn said. "I came out of that fight with a damaged nose, a damaged jaw and I was urinating blood. I was in bed for three days afterwards and I had a shadow on my brain.

That shows you how powerful a champion that man was." [2] Aftermath McClellan suffered a massive blood clot to the brain and underwent an emergency three-and-a-half-hour procedure to remove the clot. The surgery saved his life but, after two months in a coma, he was left blind, hearing impaired, brain damaged and unable to walk. His short-term memory is severely limited, and his long-term memory is selective. He is cared for by his sisters (Lisa, Sandra and Stacey) in their hometown of Freeport, Illinois. McClellan receives social security disability and a small WBC pension, but it costs approximately $70,000 per year to take care of him and pay for the round-the-clock assistance that he requires. Astronomical medical bills and the costs of his yearly care exhausted all of the money that he earned as a professional prize fighter. For this reason, McClellan and his family rely on donations to the Gerald McClellan Trust to care for him. Roy Jones Jr. has donated parts of several fight purses to the trust. McClellan attended a benefit on his behalf in London on February 24, 2007.

The event was arranged by Nigel Benn, who is now an ordained minister. More than 1,100 people attended. Numerous items were auctioned off, and a total of $175,000 was raised. The promoters of the Benn-McClennan fight, Don King and Frank Warren , each donated $25,000. It was reported in 2012 that McClellan required surgery to have his colon removed. Post Fight Report From The New York Times, February 27, 1995 The American boxer Gerald McClellan was in very critical condition and on a life support system Sunday after undergoing brain surgery in which a neurosurgeon removed a blood clot inflicted by a punishing title fight against the world super middleweight champion, Nigel Benn. Although the 27-year-old McClellan had a "better than 50-50" chance of surviving, said Dr. John Sutcliffe, who performed the lengthy operation at Royal London Hospital, the next 48 hours were crucial and McClellan could be disabled.

One thing was certain, Sutcliffe said: "His career as a boxer is finished." McClellan's brain, the surgeon said, "was quite swollen, how we would expect a brain to look after it's been punched" for 10 rounds. The 31-year-old Benn, himself knocked down twice before knocking out McClellan in the 10th round Saturday night, collapsed in his dressing room at London Arena and was rushed to the same hospital. He was released early Sunday morning. "Mr. Benn has checked over thoroughly and appears to be well," a hospital statement read. "After any percussive to the brain it is important for the patient to be watched carefully. This will be the case with Mr. Benn and obviously if he has any problems he will be followed up immediately." The director general of the British Safety Council, James Tye, said he would revive calls to ban boxing. "I'm a little bit horrified because right from the beginning of the fight there wasn't much boxing about it," he said. "Really, it was one bloke trying to injure the other bloke's brain.

People don't understand this but what's really happening with boxing, the brain is like a blancmange." A blancmange is a rubbery pudding. "Every time this evening, and hundreds of times it occurred, the blow is struck, the brain cracks against the inside of the hard skull, and it has the effect of numbing the brain or causing permanent brain damage," Tye said. "All kinds of changes have been made but really the answer is to ban it." Though McClellan was the challenger, his enormous power had made him the favorite to unseat Benn, the World Boxing Council champion. Born in Freeport, Illinois, and trained in Detroit, McClellan had won 21 consecutive fights. He had finished his last three WBC middleweight title bouts in the first round before moving up in weight to meet Benn. "I get a greater buzz from a knockout than I do from sex," he said before the fight. "Getting the power on, watching an opponent fall. There isn't another experience to compare with it." Within 35 seconds of the opening bell he was knocking Benn out of the ring.

The British champion woozily climbed back through the ropes and, by the end of the round, had landed a left hook that revived the loud hopes of the full house 12,500 strong. In spite of the challenger's strength, his better senses of balance and poise, he was fighting against too many opponents. The British heavyweight contender, Frank Bruno, stood at the ropes for much of the fight, thumping his fist on the ring floor and shouting encouragement for Benn. Sitting beside Bruno was the more famous Don King, the American promoter who had escorted McClellan overseas, and he was roused to stand and shout on his man. Lumps and cuts formed under the lights and the noise as the fighters attained and maintained a blistering, theatric pace, and at times it might have seemed as though the only person not standing was Michael Watson, last knocked out in 1991 by Benn's rival, Chris Eubank, and sitting ringside now in a wheelchair. "Watson had a similar type of blood clot in the same space inside the head," Dr. Sutcliffe would say before operating on McClellan.

The fight appeared to have grown even when McClellan knocked down Benn again in the eighth. But McClellan was clearly exhausted, having never fought past eight rounds, and somehow Benn survived to the ninth, when he lunged and appeared to head-butt McClellan. The challenger sagged to one knee, blinking in pain. Benn knocked him to his knees again to start the 10th. McClellan took his time rising, watching the referee count, blinking. At 1 minute, 46 seconds of the 10th, Benn landed a right uppercut and McClellan knelt in pain for the last time, near the ropes where King leaned forward and shouted in McClellan's ear to stand up and fight. But McClellan was concentrating on the French referee, Alfred Azaro, crouching and counting before him. After the count of 10, McClellan stood and walked away from King to his corner. There was no stool waiting him for there so he sat in the ring, propped up against the turnbuckle and appeared to go to sleep. A crew of medics laid him gently on the floor for the first time that night.

In prescient understanding of these fighters, an anesthetist had been arranged, and he gave oxygen to McClellan as a brace was being wrapped around his neck. On the other side of the ring, Benn was shouting down questions from a British TV reporter. He thanked his hypnotist for convincing him he would win, and he criticized all those who had doubted him. "You made a believer out of me," King said, and Benn was clearly surprised to see the symbol of American power and money in his corner. But Benn had won and King was merely consorting with the winner, the future money-maker, as an announcement was heard asking the crowd to clear a path for the loser's stretcher to leave the ring. [3] Nigel Benn: The Peoples champion - Boxing News Nigel Benn: The Peoples champion January 8th, 2015 - 65 Comments By Abbas Dadhiwala: I was tasked with writing an article about a British boxer who was exciting and wowed the crowd. The first name that sprung to mind was Nigel Benn the Dark destroyer. Nigel Benn was a boxer with tremendous punching power and a heart of a lion.

Every fight he would go in to knock the other guy out that was his only strategy. His career through the professional ranks was nothing short of spectacular, with 22 straight knockouts in just over 2 years. Benn tasted his first defeat when he fought underrated Michael Watson, the boxer with understated power and a close peek a boo style defence. Benn tired looking for his 23rd knockout win and Watson stopped him in 6 rounds. Instead of tending to his wounds and thinking about what may have been, Benn upped sticks and moved to America to try something different. Benn won the WBO middleweight belt in stopping Doug De Witt in fight that can be described as brutal. In Benn’s first defence he fought Iran Barkley, Benn destroyed Barkley and stopped him in 1 round. It was shocking stoppage of a boxer who had been in the ring with the likes of Michael Nunn, Duran and Hitman Hearns. Benn came back to Britain and fought classy Chris Eubank, it was a fight captured the British public’s imagination, Benn was the boxer who would come in swinging and Eubank was a more stylish boxer with great feet movement and superb uppercut.

Both boxers went at it from the opening bell, Benn knocked Eubank down in round 8 this was the first time Eubank had been on the canvas, but Eubank came back and stopped Benn in round nine thus capturing the WBO belt. After this defeat Benn won 10 fights in a row, against good boxers like Nicky Piper and Malinga. He fought Mauro Galvano for the WBC middleweight title and the fight was stopped in round 4 on cuts, with Benn leading on the judge’s scorecards. He defended the belt on 3 occasions before the rematch with Eubank took place this including a rematch with Galvano which Benn won on a decision. The rematch with Eubank was one of the biggest boxing events this country has ever seen. 47,000 packed out Old Trafford, another 18.5 million watching on ITV. The boxing didn’t disappoint and fight ended in a draw, many observers ringside thought Benn had won, so both boxers kept their respective belts. The boxer Nigel Benn rates as the most technical boxer he has ever faced came up against him in a fight for the WBC super middleweight title.

Gerald McClellan was slick boxer with huge punching power and equally good boxing skills. McClellan knocked Benn out of the ring in round 1 and put him down again in round 8 of a brutal fight when in round 10 Benn connected with a shot that led to fight being stopped with Benn the victor, and McClellan blind, deaf and wheelchair bound. Benn closed out his career with losses to Sugar Boy Malinga and 2 consecutive losses to Steve Collins. The Dark Destroyer hadn’t been the same since the fight with McClellan and should have retired after the fight, as he had his jaw and nose broken in the McClellan fight. Nigel Benn is rated a great of British boxing and no one can doubt his standing in the top 10 British boxers of all time. MCCLELLAN'S RETURN MUST GET THE GAME TO CARE MORE - - Mirror Online Sport Opinion MCCLELLAN'S RETURN MUST GET THE GAME TO CARE MORE GERALD McCLELLAN returns to London next month for the first time since his tragic defeat to Nigel Benn 12 years ago. Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email GERALD McCLELLAN returns to London next month for the first time since his tragic defeat to Nigel Benn 12 years ago. The horrific brain injury suffered by McClellan during the most brutal bout I have witnessed left him blind, 80 per cent deaf and in need of 24/7 care. McClellan is in London to attend a fundraiser in his honour organised in part by the man who inflicted the damage. In itself that is an act of reconciliation on the part of Benn, who took a terribly hard line towards McClellan at the time. Gerald was a terrific fighter and a hard man, if not to everyone's taste. He arrived in Britain with a fearsome reputation and did not appear to have the greatest respect for the talents of Benn. And told him so - fuelling the enmity. The first round was vicious. McClellan knocked Benn from pillar to post and at one point sent him crashing through the ropes on to a table occupied by my ITV colleague Gary Newbon. I had invited Daniel Day Lewis, who I was training for the movie The Boxer, to the fight.

He was absolutely dumbstruck by what he was watching. We all were. Benn benefited from a long count but credit to him, he came back venomously in the second round. By the fourth, after being caught with a punishing left hook to the head, McClellan began to show signs of distress. He was blinking repeatedly and could not close his mouth. I remember saying in the sixth round that someone was going to get seriously hurt. As a fighter you develop a heightened sense of when someone is in trouble. I had lived through the death of Young Ali in the ring and felt a terrible sense of foreboding. McClellan had split with Manny Steward and had a new man in the corner. It was McClellan's first bout at super-middleweight. His corner did not read the signs. The damage was done in the third round. McClellan was dealing with the consequences of his brain injury from then on, but none knew. It is difficult to apportion blame. Fighters know the risks. Boxing is a dangerous sport. Mercifully the standard of medical care at ringside has improved vastly.

McClellan probably owes his life to the steps taken following the tragic events surrounding Michael Watson's defeat to Chris Eubank four years earlier. The real concern for boxing now has shifted from immediate medical care at ringside to the provision of welfare for stricken fighters, whose livelihoods have been lost as a result of nights like that 12 years ago. Back in his hometown of Freeport, Illinois, McClellan has long since exhausted his earnings from boxing. Were it not for the care administered by his three sisters, who all have families of their own, McClellan would be in dire straits. That is boxing's tragedy in 2007. The sport to which brave men devote their professional lives cannot care for its own. I know boxers are well rewarded at the top of the game. In return they generate millions shared by others who do not take the physical risks. That's the deal, and in the main it works for all. Yet much more could be done. Instead of fundraisers for stricken fighters, well intentioned though they are, boxing's stakeholders need to look at providing proper provision for the likes of McClellan. I include myself in that.

As president of the Professional Boxers Association I urge the television companies, promoters, managers, boards of control,-sanctioning bodies and fighters, to look again at the issue of boxers' welfare. The appearance of McClellan on the 12th anniversary of his tragic collision with Benn is a potent reminder of the dangers and the need to protect against them. Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent Joshua vs Breazeale: Benn or Eubank? We asked the experts where their loyalty lies | Boxing News | Sky Sports Joshua vs Breazeale: Benn or Eubank? We asked the experts where their loyalty lies Last Updated: 23/06/16 2:31pm Nigel Benn (L) and Chris Eubank are old enemies It's a boxing question for the ages - not just the ancients. So our panel of fighters past and present answer: are you Team Benn or Team Eubank? Book the Sky Sports Box Office event online Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank provided fans with the ultimate rivalry. Starkly contrasting characters outside of the ring and contrasting styles in it; bound together by a similarly uncompromising attitude towards fighting.

Ahead of their two classic world title bouts in 1990 and 1993, the British public (and boxing enthusiasts further afield) were enthralled by their bitter relationship even before Benn the straight-talking 'Dark Destroyer' from Essex expressed 'hate' for his debonair counterpart from Brighton. Conor Benn hit back at Eubank Sr Benn has thrown down the challenge of a third clash between the two as recently as this year but with no progress on that front, Eubank incurred the wrath of his old foe's son Conor Benn at a press conference for Saturday's Sky Sports Box Office bill at The O2. So what better time to ask... Benn or Eubank? Carl Froch I loved Eubank. I loved his flair and loved him, Naseem Hamed and Muhammad Ali. He had that exciting style, maybe not in terms of the fight itself, but the way he would strut around the ring with finesse - as he used to say. Of course we all loved Nigel Benn but we always knew what we were going to get, whereas with Eubank you never knew what you were getting - in or out of the ring.

I wouldn't have liked to fight Eubank either because at least with Benn, you knew he'd be in front of you, nothing awkward compared to Eubank. The problem is he'd be smacking you on the chin and both of them could do that. Joe Gallagher Oh that's a tough one. When they were at their peak it was very hard to split them. I liked Eubank because he was so entertaining and brought something different in. They both put it all on the line in the first one and Eubank took some absolute bombs but came back and won. After that, look at the bombs Benn took against Gerald McClellan and he came back and won that. It's really very hard to split them. I am not sitting on the fence... my favourite was always Michael Watson. Anthony Crolla I was a bit young to really want one of them to win so I only really learned about it from watching it back. They are two of the greats of British boxing. I know I'm not supposed to sit on the fence but it's so hard. I haven't got a favourite out of them.

Eubank Sr clashes with Tom Doran's manager Dave Coldwell Nigel Benn fights were so exciting but how many great fights was Eubank in, too? Even right up until the end with Carl Thompson, he was in those right up until the end. It would be a tough choice either way but stylistically, I think Eubank would have been the harder opponent for me… but then you see Benn after learning so much from the Michael Watson defeat and he became one of the best there's been. As for the dancing, if we're in a ballroom then I'd go for Eubank but if we're in a club going for some street-dancing then I'll go for Benn. James DeGale I've heard good things about Conor. He trains hard and I saw his professional debut and he looked a bit wreckless but he's Nigel Benn's son, he wants to go out there and knock people out! I like the way he moves and looks and I will be watching his career progress. I prefer Nigel Benn. All day long. I actually liked Chris Eubank when I was growing up but Nigel was my favourite.

My family all liked him, the Dark Destroyer, his attitude and the way he went out about things. We don't - or wouldn't have - boxed like each other but I just loved that attitude. He was a bit like Marvin Hagler. He did exactly what it said on the tin and let's not forget he was a proper world champion. He went to America and he beat Iran Barkley, he beat Doug DeWitt. He beat Gerald McClellan. Who did Eubank box? Who did he box like that? He was a domestic world champion. Jamie Moore I was a massive, massive Nigel Benn fan. I didn't really like Chris Eubank but it wasn't because of anything personal - it was just that Nigel Benn hated him that much and I was always on Team Benn so I didn't like Eubank. My dad used to sit me in the chair to watch Benn and he was the guy who got me into boxing. I was lucky enough to meet him when I was 14 in Tenerife and it really made me a massive fan.

Why Nigel Benn would have no problem taking a third fight with Eubank I tried to base my style on Nigel Benn from when I was a kid and that's probably the reason I ended up in so many wars myself as a professional. I don't think either Benn or Eubank will be winning any dance competitions but I think the ones who had the better moves were the Benns. I'm always on Team Benn so if anyone's going to win on the dancing front then it's a wide points decision for Benn. Tony Bellew Nigel Benn all day long, he is my favourite British fighter ever. I have idolised him ever since I was 12. I never had the boxing ability at a young age and I wanted to box like him when I came up as an amateur. Riddick Bowe is my favourite fighter ever but I loved barbaric fighting when I didn't have the ability, so I used to copy Nigel Benn. Callum Smith I was more of a Nigel Benn fan. I liked his no-nonsense attitude. He seemed like a normal lad off the streets who really liked to fight, who'd fight anyone and would always give his all in that fight.

They were both great fighters but I think I'll just have to side with Benn for his attitude inside and outside the ring. I'm not sure either of them has great dance moves but it's great to see them both back involved in boxing. Both their sons are on the undercard and that's a great side-story for this occasion. It's going to be a great show. Lee Selby I'm not sure I liked one of them over the other. I liked them both and they were both great fighters. They were completely different in how they approached boxing but in some ways, they were very similar. I think they're both terrible dancers but it's entertaining. They shouldn't fight each other again - they should have a dance-off instead. I'd gladly referee that... Chris Eubank Jr returns to action on the undercard of Anthony Joshua's IBF world title fight Craig 'Spider' Richards I watched them when I was really young and then I watched the tapes back as I got older. Nigel Benn's daughter went to my primary school and was best friends with my sister. Because of that, of course I was always leaning towards Benn.

When I first saw the Eubanks I thought Jr was trying to be a replica of Sr but now I really like them because Eubank Jr can really fight. He's building a legacy of his dad's name but if you scrapped that name and called him Darren Smith, then Darren Smith can fight. He gets hit with straight shots and doesn't show his skills much but when he gets on to your chest, he can fight and he's got a nice, nice uppercut. Watch Chris Eubank Jr vs Tom Doran and Conor Benn v Lukas Radic as part of Joshua vs Breazeale, live on Sky Sports Box Office from The O2, on June 25. Book the event online here or via your Sky remote.

Question: Who inflicted Nigel Benn's first defeat as a professional?
Answer: Chris Eubank