Nigel Benn's BBC column in 2001

[JUYJUY]

July 31 2001

Benn: Jones Jr Not Impressive



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!

[JUYJUY]

August 8 2001

Tale of two Brit boxers

BBC Sport Online columnist Nigel Benn looks ahead to the prospects of two of Britain's former world title holders regaining their belts.

When Michael Watson caused an upset by beating me I recovered by winning the world title. When Chris Eubank caused an upset by beating me I recovered by winning the world title again. Lennox Lewis will do the same.

Naseem Hamed will not.

Lennox paid the price for a big, big mistake against Hasim Rahman but he will come back no problem in the proposed rematch.

It was a similar situation when I burned out against Michael Watson before he knocked me out, I had started believing my own hype because I was ofcourse 22-0 with 22 KO's at the time and I under-estimated him. But I learned from that loss.

Lennox was embarassed more than anything after everything went wrong.

He was too heavy and he did not understand the altitude - you cannot just give it a week or two, you've got to give it as much as six weeks to acclimatise and prepare.

Although if I had his money in the bank I would have rather gone and shot a film with Julia Roberts and George Clooney!

However that's all in the past now and he will recover because he knows it was a mistake.

In my career I was in a lot of wars - in fact most of my fights were wars.

But Lennox has not been in any and although he's getting on a bit he still has a lot left in the tank.

Lennox is also a naturally gifted fighter - look at the time he fought Razor Ruddock.

He went out there and did a number on him, and he was a guy who I thought was going to give Lennox a hard time.

So with his own natural ability and with the right physical and mental preparation he will bounce back.

The other key aspect in coming back from defeat and returning to the top is the trainer.

Emmanuel Steward is one of the best the game has seen, he did a fantastic job with Lennox because Lennox was easy to work with.

Lennox was coming off the back of a defeat when he went to Steward for help, so he was hungry and motivated.

Whereas Naseem Hamed had not lost yet and had started believing his own hype.

So Hamed was hard to work with and from what I gather was never doing what Steward was asking him, I hear that Steward only had five days with him before the Barrera fight.

Late in my career I went through five or six trainers and I kept changing as I wanted to get the best out of myself, and I wanted someone to bring the best out of me.

Hamed has changed his trainer a couple of times but things have not worked out.

And I believe that things have not been right since he split from Brendan Ingle in 1998, to my mind a bigger mistake than any Lennox committed against Rahman.

They were a team and they had an aura about them.

But Hamed broke up a successful partnership that had not lost a fight because he thought he was bigger than the trainer.

Ingle is the only one who knows Naseem outside boxing and they should have worked something out.

If they can somehow get back together I can guarantee that Hamed will get that buzz back again.

But in the meantime all eyes are on Lennox's Rahman rematch and I'm sure he will get his title back with a stoppage.

[JUYJUY]

September 4 2001

BBC Sport Online columnist Nigel Benn thinks the televised scuffle between Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman was a matter of honour.

Some people might think that the TV bust-up between Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman was a farce but I don't think so at all.

Yes, the whole thing might have been great publicity but that is not the point.

Believe me, the scuffle was genuine.

In boxing you have to stand up for yourself and that is what Lennox did.

When you think someone is talking about your sexuality it is not a gimmick.

In Lennox's position the other day I would have clunked Rahman.

Lennox is a top, top boy but he made a big mistake before the first fight.

He was on a film set with Julia Roberts and George Clooney when he should have been training at altitude, and ultimately paid the price.

After losing to Michael Watson and Chris Eubank, I always spent six weeks training in Tenerife before every single fight for the rest of my career because in boxing, especially with altitude, there are no short cuts.

Legend

Rahman got lucky last time but Lennox should annihilate him when they meet again.

If Lennox wants to be a legend he must beat Rahman convincingly, winning on points will not be enough to satisfy a public who feel that boxing has gone flat.

I have always been more of a fighting man and, although I appreciate that Lennox is an astute boxer who leads with his jab, I cannot help but think that he should be walking through a guy like Rahman.

People want to see a fight, something to get excited about.

Fighters these days aren't busy enough, they do not keep the public interested.

I think that rather than fighting every six to eight months a world champion should defend his crown every three to four months.

This would liven things up and keep boxing in the public eye.

When I had some great scraps with Chris Eubank and Michael Watson the bouts were on terrestrial television and they seemed to capture the public imagination.


(Eubank and Benn fighting in 1990)

Now it seems boxers try to pick their next opponents with one eye on the rankings and an eventual big pay-day.

Making the fights happen that the public wants to see seems so difficult - it's sad but that's how it is.

[Bozo_no no]

/ YAWN


These threads are reallllly boring, and clearly illustrate you have an underlaying insecurity about these British fighters.

[JUYJUY]

Benn foils bag thief



A bag thief realised he'd picked on the wrong person when he turned round to see Nigel Benn chasing him.

The incident happened at Gatwick Airport as The Dark Destroyer was deep in conversation with staff.

The thief, seeing the holdall unattended, took his chance and whisked it away.

Unfortunately for him, Benn, a former world champion at middleweight and super-middleweight, spotted what happened and set off in pursuit.

It didn't take long before the crook was caught and found himself in a headlock he was never going to get out of.


(Would you steal from this man?)

Benn, who had just returned from his brother's wedding in Barbados, said: "I was so surprised that anyone would have the guts to do this.

"They obviously didn't know who I am and did not see my name on the name tags."

The only item in the bag was a Bible, but Benn made sure the culprit didn't get away with it.

"I shouted 'Oi, you - give me back my bag'! I ran after him and got him in a headlock.

"He was a big lump and was struggling for his life but I wasn't going to let him go.

"There was no question of me hurting him, though."

A police spokesman said: "It's fair to say the suspect got a hell of a lot more then he bargained for.

"Nigel Benn is not a man to be messed with. You steal his belongings at your peril."

A 34-year-old Chilean man who was arrested for the theft was fined £150 by magistrates and ordered to be deported back to his homeland.

[AintGottaClue]

whos nigel benn?

[Super_Lightweight]

lol

whos nigel benn?

LOL...hahahahahahahaha. JuyJuy=BURNED.

[JUYJUY]

whos nigel benn?

Good question, he's so unknown eh

[stepmonster]

benn is a no namer

[stepmonster]

ive seen a few of his fights though. hes ok