Interview with Gerald McClellan Years After the Benn Fight

[BKM-]

Ok ok, i believe that. Do you know where i can read more from this? Or do you have videos of Benns interview and such?

[paul750]

The honest question people should ask themselves is, how would McClellan have reacted, had it been the other way round? I'm not implying he would have acted badly, but who knows?

[JuicyJuice]

Boxing Legend Biofile: Nigel Benn
By Scoop Malinowski

STATUS: Former WBC Super Middleweight champ.

BORN ON: Jan. 22, 1964 IN: Ilford, London.

RESIDENCE: Majorca, Spain.

FAMILY: Wife Carolyne; sons, Conor, Dominic, daughters, Sade, Renee, India.

CHILDHOOD HEROES: Andy Benn, Bruce Lee. I love martial arts. I did martial arts for six years. Marvin Hagler, first boxing match I recall seeing was him against Minter. Mike Tyson, he inspired me after my first amateur loss when I saw him coming through the ranks on Grandstand.

NICKNAMES: The Dark Destroyer, The Mean Machine, Nigel "Rambo" Benn, The English Hagler, Mr. Punch.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: Going to church. Christian counselor. Training my two cousins. Music, deejaying.

CHILDHOOD DREAM: To be somebody. I knew I was going to be somebody. My mom wanted me to become a chef.

EARLY BOXING MEMORY: Back in the Army in Germany, I stopped a guy when he broke his hand on the top of my head (age 18).

FIRST JOB(S): In the Army and security guard.

FUNNY BOXING MEMORY: Doug DeWitt fight in 1990 in Atlantic City. DeWitt walked over to me in the ring and said, 'You're going down.' I replied, 'I might be going down, but you're STAYING down!'

PRE-FIGHT MEAL: Fish and rice or fish and pasta. Half a jar of honey. Very good for you. Gets in your blood real quick.

PRE-FIGHT FEELING: Confident. I knew I trained two and sometimes three times a day. I knew my body was ready for the fight. The hard part was the training, the fight is the easy part. I was good at peaking for the night of the fight. I never had any fear of my opponents. I was nervous, but never afraid.

TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Gerald McClellan. Robbie Sims was the strongest. Stronger than (Chris) Eubank and (Michael) Watson. I had to watch out for his body punching. Nicky Piper was able to absorb heavy punches. So that was draining. Henry Wharton was one of my toughest fights. I never came out of the ring as bruised as I had after that fight. I had to undergo hospital checks on my kidneys. My only loss in the amateurs against Rod Douglas was a tough one. He was a really powerful guy and could **** really hard. I came close to quitting boxing after that loss. But I came back and won the return match the following year.

HARDEST PUNCHER: Gerald McClellan. Man, I didn't know where I was. I didn't know a guy could hit that hard. Knocked me straight through the ropes in the first round. And in the third round he hit me with a body shot. I never felt a body shot like that before. I froze for a second after it landed. It had so much force. But I had to wave him on as if it didn't hurt because I didn't want him to throw that punch again or I'd be out of there. I had to use psychology to get me through that fight. I would try to get in a hard hook and uppercut just before the bell to make Gerald think 'My God, I've got to come back to that.' I knew beforehand I would be knocked down in the fight. But I was going to keep getting back up every time. I was hypnotised. I needed to be. I was going through a tough time at that time in my life, contemplating ending it all. So I went and got myself hypnotised. There was no way McClellan was going to beat me that night.

BOXING - MENTAL OR PHYSICAL: Definately mental. When the bell finally sounded to end the opening round against McClellan, my new corner man Dennie Mancini took over the show. He grabbed me and said, '****ing hell, Nigel, you've really got him in trouble, mate!' But I'm bashed to pieces! What's he talking about, I've got him in trouble? When I heard what Dennie said, though, it turned it all around for me. 'Really? Yeah, too right, Den, he is in trouble.' That was just what I needed to pick me up. If I'd had some guy in the corner saying, 'Look, Nige, you're taking a battering here,' then my morale's going to plummet. But thanks to Dennie, I went into the second round feeling like a champion. When McClellan knocked me down in round eight, I got straight back up and gave him a right uppercut and a left hook, and I said to him, 'When you come up for round ****ing nine, there's going to be more of that.' We went back to our corners and whose heart's broken, his or mine?

CLOSEST BOXING FRIENDS: I try to stay away from boxers.

GREATEST SPORTS MOMENT: Whipping Doug DeWitt for the WBO Middleweight title. Three knockdowns in the 8th round. I'd never seen a man take so much pain. DeWitt saved every punch with his face. Both his eyes were split. His ear was so smashed it turned blue. My eye was split as well. And I broke my wrist with the very last punch of the fight, a left hook.

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: The McClellan fight. Inflicting that kind of damage does something to you. I'd wanted to win, sure. But not at that price. On that night, my heart went out of boxing.

FAVOURITE MOVIE: Scarface.

FAVOURITE TV SHOWS: Discovery Channel, learning about history. Game shows, The Price is Right,
Wheel of Fortune, The Pyramids.

MUSICAL TASTES: Garage music.

FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT: Caribbean.

FAVOURITE BOXERS: Mike Tyson. I really love that guy. My type of guy. Not so much his out of ring conduct. I feel for him, I really hope he can find peace of mind. I met him in Las Vegas during Leonard-Duran III, at a club. He was sitting down. He knew of me. Outside, I was acting real cool. Inside, I was excited, Wow, I just met Iron Mike! Love him to death.

[Red_Menace]

A couple of soft little taps to the back of the head isn't going to do anything, you *****. Benn rabbit-punched all his opponents who held him and they didn't get brain damage...

Easy there ... I said I'd have to rewatch the fight because I don't remember off-hand what the rabbit punching was like. All I was saying was that there's no justification for dangerous illegal blows, no matter what was said during the press leading up to the fight. I know those two savaged eachother in that fight, but I don't remember too much about rabbit punching off the top of my head, it having been a long time since I watched it. Seeing a man nearly beaten to death is not the kind of thing I like to revisit.

[JuicyJuice]

[Easy-E]

That makes me hate Nigel Benn, even thought it really wasnt his fault.

[Crumble]

man that video is ****ing heartbreaking. Its such a shame that the G-Man couldn't just get knocked out when Benn landed a bomb, or that Benn got up when he got knocked through the ropes. This is why I don't mind refs who stop fights prematurely, its better than not stopping them at all. Kind of like the last round of Calzaghe/Lacy fight it looked really bad. That ref was inept.

[Manfredo Jr]

thats a real sad video i didnt know he was blind and 80% deaf aswell. he has had a visit from a boxer , hopkins has been to visit , ive got a pic of hopkins at his house.

real sad video.
you would think there would be boxers decent enough to spend a day with him.

[Cockyb]

benn as shown by a few sources definately feels for da G-man! no one wud want to inflict something like that on sum1. Its not like he intented to!

yes the rabbit shots may have contributed, but lets not get away from da big picture, both were about da best punchers p4p and neither had a defence! both of dem- der best defence was da chin blok!! Like sum1 sed earlier if da G-man had a weaker chin maybe he wudve bin ok.

Bottom line is dat its boxing, gettin hit in the face can only harm you especialy wen u take big shots for 9rounds. so its almost 100% a accident!

only ways dat cudve prevented such a thing- ref intervening, maybe stoppin the rabbit blows, da doctor keepin a closer eye on boxers inbetween round, other dan dat cnt do much more!

[Zigga]

Some people are saying they hate benn cause he did that to Gearald grow the *** up. Its a fight and all boxers are prepared to take that risk.Period. U live by the sword u die by it.

Benn was never the same fighter after that fight, physically and mentally. Benn left a part of himself in the ring that night according to his biography, and he did kiss gearald on the fore head cause they were both in the same hospital and said he was sorry.
Benn is a good guy, sorted out micheal watson until he started saying he was doing coke and stuff.

Rabbit punches, heatbutts, may have contributed to the head injurues but no one can 100% say thats why his brain is damaged. What we can say is it was a very brutal fight and thats why hes ***ed up.