Nigel Benn's BBC column in 2001

July 31 2001 Benn: Jones Jr Not Impressive http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1465000/images/_1466456_nigel_benn_300_150.jpg The Dark Destroyer Nigel Benn was one of Britain's greatest ever world champions during the 1990s and had no end of fans up and down the country. During a glorious career, Benn held two world titles and engaged in memorable fights with Chris Eubank, Michael Watson and the ill-fated Gerald McClellan. Already an experienced fighter with 23 professional fights, Benn crossed the Atlantic in 1990 and went on to win the world title against American Doug DeWitt in Las Vegas, before defending it in Las Vegas against Iran Barkley whom he pounded to the canvas three times in the first round to grab the win. Benn was featured on the front cover of RING Magazine. His legacy was cemented with two legendary bouts against his arch-rival Chris Eubank, before his career-defining fight came about in 1995 in a tragic night at the London Docklands. In his first column for BBC Sport Online, Nigel looks at recent developments in the fight game, including Roy Jones' latest fight. People ask me whether I have any regrets about calling it a day nearly five years ago, but I do not have any. I had a pretty full career and sometimes I just wish I had come along now because I would have been a world champion for much longer. I made 10 defences of my WBC Super-middleweight title but since I lost my title, it has changed hands 10 times, with Sugar Boy Malinga holding it twice! One of the guys still around from my time in the ring is Roy Jones. I watched him the other day and I was not impressed with him. I was shocked really. I like fighters that go in and have a go so I was not impressed at all with this Jones fight. Having said that he is a different class of fighter - he is a very good technical fighter who does not like to get in there and mix it up. He will not throw a shot unless he knows he can hit you without getting hit. The top British super-middleweight is Joe Calzaghe who I really like to watch. I just think with Joe that he needs to fight the best people in the division and he is wasting his talents - he has had just one fight this year but he should be fighting four or five times - he needs to stay busy and I have told him that! Joe would be a good fight for Jones and it is a difficult one to call - despite what I have said about Jones, he won every round at the weekend so he is not on the slide. Of the other fights this weekend, Danny Williams got revenge over Julius Francis and I do think that Williams is beginning to show the potential we always thought he had. When he first fought Julius, he froze, in the same way Henry Wharton did when he fought me. Since then, he has got together with trainer Jim McDonnell and he has improved. He really does not need to fight for the WBU belt which seems to be the plane. I really do not think that you can call yourself a world champion if you are a champion of the WBF or WBU. I can not knock it because it makes the fighter a lot of money, but if you want a proper world title, fight for the WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO, with WBC being most prestigous. Of the current crop of British fighters, I am quite excited about Ricky Hatton. I think that he can really do things and I just think he is the one that can go places. His weakness with cuts is the only thing that worries me. But he has unbelievable body punching power and is exciting to watch. I also think that Dean Francis, the super-middleweight, might be a world title contender now that he has sorted himself out. A couple of fighters such as Anthony Farnell and Ryan Rhodes, have suffered setbacks during the last 18 months, but they should not get discouraged. What they have got to do is have some proper fights first before they start jumping in for world title fights - that way, they will learn their game first. I learnt from losing to Michael Watson and became a world champion soon after. I also learnt from losing to Chris Eubank, and became a world champion again soon after. Had it not been for those losses, against two excellent fighters may I add, I'm not sure I'd of done as well as I did in the game. As for me, I am just taking it easy. I still train but not as hard as I used to. I weighed 13 stone, which is a stone more than my fighting days, but I'd be happier taking half a stone off!