Nigel Benn's BBC column in 2001

[jabsRstiff]

Q: Of all the opponents you faced, who did you rate as the best?
Watson: By far it was Nigel Benn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/spor...um/1544388.stm

Of course Benn was his best foe....he beat Benn.
He got brutalized by Mike McCallum, so he has excuses.

Benn looked like a bum in that fight. He swung & swung & swung....got tired....& then was KO'd by a LEFT JAB !
Benn was horribly criticized for his performance, & it took a while for him to erase the stigma of his idiotic performance.

[JUYJUY]

McCallum won every round. Watson got NOTHING done.
I watch this fight quite a bit, because it's the most beautiful paint job I've ever seen.
I know you haven't watched it since it happened, because it makes you nauseous to see your boy so horribly destroyed.

KO magazine described it as "a shattering performance by McCallum".
They were right.

I was there, in the arena, and the injured, ill Watson had his moments from what I remember. One judge had it 96-94 at the time of the stoppage.

[JUYJUY]

Of course Benn was his best foe....he beat Benn.
He got brutalized by Mike McCallum, so he has excuses.

Whatever dude

[jabsRstiff]

Whatever dude

No.....not "whatever dude". I am right, & you know it.

Now....tell me how Alan Minter's throat was sore prior to Hagler butchering him.

[JUYJUY]

Benn looked like a bum in that fight. He swung & swung & swung....got tired....& then was KO'd by a LEFT JAB !
Benn was horribly criticized for his performance, & it took a while for him to erase the stigma of his idiotic performance.

Agreed, before the fight Benn was seen as the most dangerous power-puncher around and the best prospect in boxing, after the fight Benn was seen as a bully and a fraud and even a joke! Benn carried a sense of invincibility around him when he was 22-0-0 with 22 KO's, he was so exciting, but that Watson fight crushed him to pieces. He was humiliated, especially considering his big mouth back then and the over-the-top entrance he made before the fight.

[JUYJUY]

Now....tell me how Alan Minter's throat was sore prior to Hagler butchering him.

It wasn't. Minter got owned fair and square in a one-sided beatdown.

[jabsRstiff]

"Agreed, before the fight Benn was seen as the most dangerous power-puncher around"

Benn was never considered the biggest puncher, as long as Julian Jackson was active.
Benn lost to Watson two months before Jackson waxed Norris, by the way.

I was hyped to see Benn the first time (which was against Watson). I read about his fight with Anthony Logan, (I think that was his name) & saw Benn's KO record.

I really don't want to seem like I'm dissing Benn. I think he was a fantastic, thrilling fighter. I justthink you are overrating his abilities, that's all.

[JUYJUY]

"Agreed, before the fight Benn was seen as the most dangerous power-puncher around"

Benn was never considered the biggest puncher, as long as Julian Jackson was active.
Benn lost to Watson two months before Jackson waxed Norris, by the way.

I was hyped to see Benn the first time (which was against Watson). I read about his fight with Anthony Logan, (I think that was his name) & saw Benn's KO record.

I really don't want to seem like I'm dissing Benn. I think he was a fantastic, thrilling fighter. I justthink you are overrating his abilities, that's all.

I haven't actually said **** all about Benn?

By us Brit's who had seen all his fights, Benn was regarded potentially the most dangerous power-puncher around at the time. He was so dangerous when he was hurt, like a wounded tiger. But he was a different fighter into the 1990's, he learned not to put all his efforts into each punch because when they missed it was a waste of energy, he became more mature and more of a thinking fighter, damn shame