I was presenter and interviewer for ITV’s live coverage from Bally’s Casino – 2.15pm there and 10.15pm in the UK on the evening of August 19, 1990.
Connor Benn, whose fight with Chris Eubank junior was cancelled because Benn failed a drugs test, quoted his father Nigel ripping up his boxing license in front of millions of TV viewers in 1990.
Connor vowed never to box on a British Boxing Board of Control bill again after admitting to failing a second drug test.
Benn Snr ripped up his licence ringside in Las Vegas after his sensational first-round win over American Iran Barkley in his first defence of his WBO middleweight world title.
Everything made headlines that night and I was in the middle of it all!
I can reveal that it was NOT the actual licence Nigel ripped up.
In a sleight of hand, it was actually a cereal packet that was destroyed. It fooled all of us.
This was confirmed this week by Ambrose Mendy, who was Benn’s adviser for that fight.
Benn launched into a verbal attack on the Board, saying they were taking a percentage of his money but had not attended the contest and had been making things difficult for him.
“They cannot entertain me so I cannot entertain them,” he said, and promptly ripped up his licence.
I was shocked and so was everyone else. It made big news at the time.
The Board asked Benn to appear before them on his return to England and were surprised to see the licence intact.
I heard about it soon afterwards but sought confirmation from Mendy.
He said it was true that Nigel had not ripped up his Board licence. It was indeed that cereal packet.
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