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"If you watched Benn-Watson and then watched my fight with Les Wisinewski, not even taking into account the quality of opponent, if you had a good enough eye and were brave and bold enough, you'd have suggested I'd get the better of both of those men hands down and completely befuddle them with multi-directional foot movements, usage of angles and getting in flashy shots that wouldn't land from a stationary position. It wasn't difficult to see. I already saw this a year before, with great resolve."
"I watched Benn knockout a succession of men on television in the first half of 1988 and told anyone and everyone that I could take him, only to be laughed at. He was heading for world honours, but then so was I, which had been my belief since my days in New York. It would take me nearly three years to finally get Nigel Benn into the ring, and when I did, it ended up being a make-or-break situation.
"Back in my amateur career in New York, I had always come across wild fighters who would hook from all angles and I didn't appreciate that style. I considered myself far superior."
"I consider myself African, Jamaican and English combined. When you've travelled as much as I have, you come to realise that England is the best country in the world."
"I went into the Anthony Logan fight (as) a relative novice. He was a world-rated operator. My ten's of thousands of rounds of full-contact sparring in New York couldn't help me with his holding-and-hitting and hitting-and-holding, what to do after the referee's break and so on. My jab wasn't coming off and I'd always, always relied on my jab. He also kept hitting me with these annoying, painful shots to the ear that I hadn't experienced before, and he'd rub his head into my ear too.
"I was on heat for this fight, and in hard training the night before! Just eight days earlier, I fought an exceptionally strong fighter called Simon Collins - who I would later bring in as my chief sparring partner because he was probably the strongest person I'd ever been in a ring with - in what was a fight there I had taken on just four days notice because I needed money, despitage of being in deep camp for Logan.
"The Logan fight was the first time I was being vicious - raining blows left and right, followed by uppercuts. I had always been merciless, as was the rule of the ring in New York, and as was evident with my stoppages of Michael Justin and the aforementioned Collins. But this was the first time I was being vicious. At one point, I actually physically lifted him off me and threw him across the ring so I could continue attacking.
"I had seen on television and videotape Logan's left hook knock many men cold, and I withstood his best left hook in the second round and absorbed it. I knew then my chin was something else. Nobody in New York had ever put me down, either. I learned from the fight and, after viewing the videotape, I knew I was the proper article, if I didn't already.
"With the fight with Les Wisinewski, it turned to 100% convinction, because there I saw the mouths of those ringside gape - who could have been judges - in-due to their close-up view of the dexterity and complexity of my foot and hand work, that I had spent thousands and thousands of hours learning and honing. I was the one who treated boxing as an art form. I was also the one who tried putting things in front of convention."
"Benn's speed of delivery of a single power shot was literally second to none, and he had a lot of natural strength - for example, you can't train to break a pair of handcuffs. That's the kind of strength Benn had. He was also a terrifying presence. He verbally abused me at Cafe Royal prior to our 1990 fight, I walked into this room and Barry Hearn, Ambrose Mendy, Benn and some of Benn's entourage were talking about something, and I said, 'Oh, sorry, gentlemen, I see that you are busy.'
"Benn roared swear words at me, including the c-word, before I could turn around and close the door. I tried to calm the situation but he was getting more and more irate at just the sight of me. He slung chairs and tables out of the way to get to me, marched right upto me, faces an inch apart, and I looked deep into his eyes and I saw wild animals. I was bricking it. It was very difficult to stand my ground when he was walking upto me, but I did.
"He said, 'You want it now? You want it 'effin' now?!', frowning and frothing, shoulders tensing, right fist cuffed. I'd never been so scared in all my life. His beard and stuff made him look so hard, and you're conjuring up images in your mind of all of Benn's many brutal knockouts in the ring. If I didn't stand my ground, Benn would have sealed the fight there and then, no question.
"Thankfully, my voice is high pitched anyway, and I said, 'Listen, if you want to do it now, let's do it. But I didn't come here for a fight, I came here for a conference with the press. Wait for the fight and I'll see you in the ring.' People were pulling us apart, and you could feel them shaking and throbbing, because there was so much tension.
"As Benn was being pulled back, his eyes looked like they were about to burst out of his head, but I couldn't look away. I maintained eye contact until some bodies got in the way."
"Michael Watson thought he was the best middleweight in the world, seemed to have done for quite a few years - I didn't even think he was close. So, I was fighting to tell the truth. I was fighting for truth. That's why I boxed so well in that fight and won so clearly, despitage of losing nearly a stone and a half in under five days and running on empty by round 10. I knew I could slot in head punches that Benn, McCallum and Christie couldn't - so I did."
"Study my ring generalship. There were very few, if none, who mastered it better."
"That (Dan Schommer) is the only fight I believe I lost despite the decision going my way, and it was wholly down to the technical ability of Mr Schommer. He was always just out of range, so when I struck I missed and he would always counter. If I was scoring the fight, I'd have scored it for him, but the judges there scored it for me because they appreciated my aggression.
"His southpaw stance didn't help, but he was a master of distance. I know he was podgy-looking, but I've never fought anyone as skilful as him! He must have been boxings biggest secret. He hit very hard, too, deceptively. I was completely threw off by this guy, because he did look like the so-be-it 'bum' so to speak at the press conference!"
"I'd be up at 5.30am every day for roadwork - eight miles a day, seven days a week, from 6am to 7.30am. Monday to Friday, the gym routine was 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of shadow boxing, three to nine rounds of heavy bag and pad work - until six weeks prior to the championship fight, three to 12 rounds of full-contact sparring - starting six weeks prior to the championship fight, then 24 minutes of skipping, three rounds of speedball and 50 or 60 sit-ups.
"Later in the day I'd do 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of shadow boxing, 24 minutes of my swing-ball (for reflexes), three rounds of my small punch-ball (for jab), then 50 or 60 sit-ups and 20 medicine ball hits. I would spar 126 rounds. My stretching routine to begin workouts was intensive with splits and backbends - as I'd done since my days in New York - and enhanced throughout my career.
"My shadow boxing I took extremely seriously too, using not just fists but feet and body to develop to agility - as I'd done since my days in New York - and in front of mirrors in workout two. Shadow boxing was where I concentrated on combinations. The heavy bag was used for upper body resistance, the pads for power and target practice, and sparring mainly for immunity to punches and absorbance of pain.
"I always finished sparring the day prior to the fight itself, and was back in the gymnasium the Monday after a championship fight. Very few fighters trained harder than me, and that gave me the right to keep winning. I was petrified of losing, so that's why I always kept on top of the game."
"I watched Benn knockout a succession of men on television in the first half of 1988 and told anyone and everyone that I could take him, only to be laughed at. He was heading for world honours, but then so was I, which had been my belief since my days in New York. It would take me nearly three years to finally get Nigel Benn into the ring, and when I did, it ended up being a make-or-break situation.
"Back in my amateur career in New York, I had always come across wild fighters who would hook from all angles and I didn't appreciate that style. I considered myself far superior."
"I consider myself African, Jamaican and English combined. When you've travelled as much as I have, you come to realise that England is the best country in the world."
"I went into the Anthony Logan fight (as) a relative novice. He was a world-rated operator. My ten's of thousands of rounds of full-contact sparring in New York couldn't help me with his holding-and-hitting and hitting-and-holding, what to do after the referee's break and so on. My jab wasn't coming off and I'd always, always relied on my jab. He also kept hitting me with these annoying, painful shots to the ear that I hadn't experienced before, and he'd rub his head into my ear too.
"I was on heat for this fight, and in hard training the night before! Just eight days earlier, I fought an exceptionally strong fighter called Simon Collins - who I would later bring in as my chief sparring partner because he was probably the strongest person I'd ever been in a ring with - in what was a fight there I had taken on just four days notice because I needed money, despitage of being in deep camp for Logan.
"The Logan fight was the first time I was being vicious - raining blows left and right, followed by uppercuts. I had always been merciless, as was the rule of the ring in New York, and as was evident with my stoppages of Michael Justin and the aforementioned Collins. But this was the first time I was being vicious. At one point, I actually physically lifted him off me and threw him across the ring so I could continue attacking.
"I had seen on television and videotape Logan's left hook knock many men cold, and I withstood his best left hook in the second round and absorbed it. I knew then my chin was something else. Nobody in New York had ever put me down, either. I learned from the fight and, after viewing the videotape, I knew I was the proper article, if I didn't already.
"With the fight with Les Wisinewski, it turned to 100% convinction, because there I saw the mouths of those ringside gape - who could have been judges - in-due to their close-up view of the dexterity and complexity of my foot and hand work, that I had spent thousands and thousands of hours learning and honing. I was the one who treated boxing as an art form. I was also the one who tried putting things in front of convention."
"Benn's speed of delivery of a single power shot was literally second to none, and he had a lot of natural strength - for example, you can't train to break a pair of handcuffs. That's the kind of strength Benn had. He was also a terrifying presence. He verbally abused me at Cafe Royal prior to our 1990 fight, I walked into this room and Barry Hearn, Ambrose Mendy, Benn and some of Benn's entourage were talking about something, and I said, 'Oh, sorry, gentlemen, I see that you are busy.'
"Benn roared swear words at me, including the c-word, before I could turn around and close the door. I tried to calm the situation but he was getting more and more irate at just the sight of me. He slung chairs and tables out of the way to get to me, marched right upto me, faces an inch apart, and I looked deep into his eyes and I saw wild animals. I was bricking it. It was very difficult to stand my ground when he was walking upto me, but I did.
"He said, 'You want it now? You want it 'effin' now?!', frowning and frothing, shoulders tensing, right fist cuffed. I'd never been so scared in all my life. His beard and stuff made him look so hard, and you're conjuring up images in your mind of all of Benn's many brutal knockouts in the ring. If I didn't stand my ground, Benn would have sealed the fight there and then, no question.
"Thankfully, my voice is high pitched anyway, and I said, 'Listen, if you want to do it now, let's do it. But I didn't come here for a fight, I came here for a conference with the press. Wait for the fight and I'll see you in the ring.' People were pulling us apart, and you could feel them shaking and throbbing, because there was so much tension.
"As Benn was being pulled back, his eyes looked like they were about to burst out of his head, but I couldn't look away. I maintained eye contact until some bodies got in the way."
"Michael Watson thought he was the best middleweight in the world, seemed to have done for quite a few years - I didn't even think he was close. So, I was fighting to tell the truth. I was fighting for truth. That's why I boxed so well in that fight and won so clearly, despitage of losing nearly a stone and a half in under five days and running on empty by round 10. I knew I could slot in head punches that Benn, McCallum and Christie couldn't - so I did."
"Study my ring generalship. There were very few, if none, who mastered it better."
"That (Dan Schommer) is the only fight I believe I lost despite the decision going my way, and it was wholly down to the technical ability of Mr Schommer. He was always just out of range, so when I struck I missed and he would always counter. If I was scoring the fight, I'd have scored it for him, but the judges there scored it for me because they appreciated my aggression.
"His southpaw stance didn't help, but he was a master of distance. I know he was podgy-looking, but I've never fought anyone as skilful as him! He must have been boxings biggest secret. He hit very hard, too, deceptively. I was completely threw off by this guy, because he did look like the so-be-it 'bum' so to speak at the press conference!"
"I'd be up at 5.30am every day for roadwork - eight miles a day, seven days a week, from 6am to 7.30am. Monday to Friday, the gym routine was 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of shadow boxing, three to nine rounds of heavy bag and pad work - until six weeks prior to the championship fight, three to 12 rounds of full-contact sparring - starting six weeks prior to the championship fight, then 24 minutes of skipping, three rounds of speedball and 50 or 60 sit-ups.
"Later in the day I'd do 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of shadow boxing, 24 minutes of my swing-ball (for reflexes), three rounds of my small punch-ball (for jab), then 50 or 60 sit-ups and 20 medicine ball hits. I would spar 126 rounds. My stretching routine to begin workouts was intensive with splits and backbends - as I'd done since my days in New York - and enhanced throughout my career.
"My shadow boxing I took extremely seriously too, using not just fists but feet and body to develop to agility - as I'd done since my days in New York - and in front of mirrors in workout two. Shadow boxing was where I concentrated on combinations. The heavy bag was used for upper body resistance, the pads for power and target practice, and sparring mainly for immunity to punches and absorbance of pain.
"I always finished sparring the day prior to the fight itself, and was back in the gymnasium the Monday after a championship fight. Very few fighters trained harder than me, and that gave me the right to keep winning. I was petrified of losing, so that's why I always kept on top of the game."
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