ITV 11:05 tonight

lubo_moravcik

Benn and McLellan from 1995

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QADbP09f1go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzj6gQOWRk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYXynJRWN8Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPH53gKUJZ4

Spazdarn

Wasn't really into boxing at the time, had heard about the fight but never seen it...

handsomecake

ive seen a similar/ possibly same documentary before and its quite upsetting.
as is the eubank vs watson one.
not easy to watch.

efb

all over this. Freesat+ed it!

efb

Reiterates Watt is a d!ckhead!

nacho libre

I remember at the time Barry McGuigan saying he saw little hope of Benn winning that night. He reckoned McClellan was the the most fearsome fighter he had seen in years.

Guy:Incognito

Was it just a replay of the fight or was it that "fight of their lives" documentary that was advertised?Anyone know if it's (the docu) being reshown?

efb

It was a Doc repeated ITV4 Dec 24

ureds

Full programme on this link,fantastic viewing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTc955FzLTE&feature=player_embedded

Wild_Dogger

McClennan was a great fighter ........ but he got a dose of his own medicine .


Karma is a dish best served cold .

I suppose the only difference is that McClennan chose to fight , and got paid for it too .... unlike the dogs who got savaged .

walshb

nacho libre wrote: »

I remember at the time Barry McGuigan saying he saw little hope of Benn winning that night. He reckoned McClellan was the the most fearsome fighter he had seen in years.

And had Gerald not suffered that injury he would have beat Benn. He should have got the KO in rd 1.

I think most people may discount that the injury had started a few rds before (AND MAYBE A FEW WEEKS BEFORE) the end. Gerald was in trouble, mouth piece almost out, blinking etc. He was "dying" throughout the fight. I really believe an underlying problem was there, and Benn juts tipped it over the edge.

megadodge

That's an interesting viewpoint Walshb. I never thought about it that way before. But I suppose there's no way of proving it so it's moot at this stage.

I think it's one of the all-time great fights, but quite understandably because of the aftermath, you don't see it replayed. I got it off a collector years ago and every now and again it's a guilty pleasure of mine to watch it.

In regard to the first round count that biased Americans are always whinging about (just in case anyone mentions it here), if a fighter is knocked out of the ring he is entitled to a 20 count, so when Benn got back in at 9 1/2 he had loads of time left. Not that I thought it would do him any good. I had a bet on a first round KO for McClelland and thought "easy money". But fair play to Benn, he showed huge heart that night.

Daroxtar

Benn had ferocious power coming from those big lunging punches thrown from way down low, nearly like Joe fraziers left hook. Even by the end of the first round he had tagged McLelland a few times.

In rd 2 and onwards Benn kept nailing him with huge punches to the head that snapped his head back and forth. Gerald didn't seem to have a proper defence to those unorthodox shots other than backing off or throwing his ownpunches.

Its a testament to McLellands chin that he wasn't KO'd by them shots but it's also obvious that they did serious damage to him. He possibly did have an undiagnosed problem but I am in no doubt that it was Nigels punches that did him.

gene_tunney

walshb wrote: »

And had Gerald not suffered that injury he would have beat Benn. He should have got the KO in rd 1.

I think most people may discount that the injury had started a few rds before (AND MAYBE A FEW WEEKS BEFORE) the end. Gerald was in trouble, mouth piece almost out, blinking etc. He was "dying" throughout the fight. I really believe an underlying problem was there, and Benn juts tipped it over the edge.

Not to go all nerdy but it's very unlikely McClellan had the injury a few weeks before.

McClellan died of a blood clot so what most likely happened is the punches to the head caused tissue damage. The body responds to this via inflammation, and one of the end results of that process is an increase in blood flow to the injured site. The extra blood basically coagulates and you get a clot, then you're in trouble.

Wild_Dogger

I dont think he's dead yet .........

But I actually think it started in round 6 , if you look back at the clips .

gene_tunney

Wild_Dogger wrote: »

I dont think he's dead yet .........

But I actually think it started in round 6 , if you look back at the clips .

Dunno why I said that.

efb

ITV4 now

Climber

What a great documentary that was. It portrayed the events of the time which was the Golden age of modern boxing. Benn Vs Eubank, Benn Vs McLennan, Benn & Eubank Vs Collins, Naseem Vs everyone, Bruno….

Without ever being sentimental or nostalgic it told the story of two fighters who wanted the other one beaten. It certainly is tragic what happened to McLennan although I can’t deny that he was his own worst enemy. Young, arrogant, vicious, he sacked his manager and hired a phony to be his crony, never contradicting him or offering him professional advice.

walshb

gene_tunney wrote: »

Not to go all nerdy but it's very unlikely McClellan had the injury a few weeks before.

McClellan died of a blood clot so what most likely happened is the punches to the head caused tissue damage. The body responds to this via inflammation, and one of the end results of that process is an increase in blood flow to the injured site. The extra blood basically coagulates and you get a clot, then you're in trouble.

But I do reacall reading that Gerald was having little troubles physically in sparring before this bout. There was possibly something there. We will never know, but if there was any weakness, then the fight may well have simply exacerbated it. Benn's shots caused the ultimate decline, but I do think something was there first.

Anyway, the injury was ongoing through the fight I believe. He was literally dying from early on. Eventually it gave in, and he crumbled.

gene_tunney

walshb wrote: »

But I do reacall reading that Gerald was having little troubles physically in sparring before this bout. There was possibly something there. We will never know, but if there was any weakness, then the fight may well have simply exacerbated it. Benn's shots caused the ultimate decline, but I do think something was there first.

Anyway, the injury was ongoing through the fight I believe. He was literally dying from early on. Eventually it gave in, and he crumbled.

What kind of trouble was he having in sparring?

Frankie Lee

gene_tunney wrote: »

What kind of trouble was he having in sparring?

Tarick Salmaci, former sparring partner:

"Growing up blocks from the Kronk Gym I think I could actually hear the punches coming out of that window-less sweat box over on Junction and McGraw as a kid. When I made my first pilgrimage to the Kronk it was about the time Gerald McClell...an had just captured the WBO Middleweight Championship from John "The Beast" Mugabi.

One word to describe McClellan at Kronk was ferocious. Like most Kronksters, he did not know the meaning of "going light" when sparring. G-Man would take pleasure it seemed in leaving sparring partners crumbled over on the canvas with his signature "lead right hand followed by a crippling left hook to the body". A lot of people forget, Thomas Hearns had a tremendous left hook to the body, but Gerald had the best in Kronk history! McClellan remains the last true World Champion to come out of the Kronk basement. Sure many "Kronk fighters" have went on to win championships, but as my man Tarick Salmaci put it best, "Just because you wear a Kronk shirt, doesn't make you a Kronk fighter."

The night that Gerald McClellan lost to Nigel Benn and sustained injuries he is still battling today, an interesting thing happened. While watching the fight on TV, Salmaci called me from Florida and told me the following story. Now for the first time ever, in his own words he will tell the readers of BoxingConfidential that same story.

"I feel Gerald McClellan was already injured going into the Nigel Benn fight, I have a strong belief. There as this one time Gerald and I were sparring and I hit him with a solid jab in the middle of his forehead, like between the eyebrows...He told me "STOP, HOLD UP"! YOU THUMBED ME MAN. So he stopped and started blinking non stop from what I thought was a thumb. I never even felt like I thumbed him, and they were thumbless gloves so I just figured somehow my thumb must have poked him in the eye because of the way he was blinking really fast and non-stop..with both eyes though.

So we finish our sparring session, and we are in the back locker room at Kronk, this is like 1994, Gerald walks up to me and says, "Man, I'm gonna be honest with you...You didn't thumb me...You hurt me". "I'm man enough to say that". I was then kind of confused and surprised as to how I could of hurt him with a jab and I was fighting at 147lbs. and he was weighing probably 175 lbs....

Fast forward to 1995. I'm down in Florida negotiating a promotional contract with Don King. Mike Marley brought me down there as a matter of fact. Gerald is in Florida training for the Nigel Benn fight. I run into him at Don King's office and we talk and joke a little bit. Gerald is sitting in Dana Jamison's office. She is the vice president of Don King Productions. Gerald is sitting there looking a little upset.

I asked him what was going on, and he told me he was only making something like $100,000 for the Benn fight. It might have been less.I don't remember what he said the exact amount was, but I remember it was pretty low for the caliber of fight this was. So I spoke my mind and told him I thought he was getting way underpaid and Nigel Benn is huge in England. Plus the fight was taking place there, which makes it an even bigger event. And Gerald was a World Champion.

thought that fight was worth at least a million dollars for Gerald, if not, at least $500,000. But Dana overheard me telling Gerald this, and she barges into the office telling me off, telling me to mind my business, etc. I was like "whatever". So I left the office and went to the gym.

About 2 weeks later, Gerald leaves to England for the Nigel Benn fight. I'm watching it on Showtime from Florida. I thought Benn was finished in the first round. (NOTE: If that fight was held in the US, Benn would have not been allowed to continue!) I couldn't believe the comeback he made. It was amazing, but then, all of a sudden, in the 10th round, Gerald just takes a knee and appears to quit. I couldn't believe it because the Gerald I knew would never quit, no matter what. But then I looked more closely and he was blinking non-stop, the exact same way he was that one day in the Kronk gym when I hit him with that jab...blinking continuosley...non stop....I couldn't believe it. Right then, I knew there was a connection to that one day that we sparred in the gym. We all know what happened to Gerald after that fight...

To this day, I believe Nigel Benn did not do that to Gerald. Gerald McClellan was hurt prior to the Nigel Benn fight and never knew it. It was just one of those freak accidents that was bound to happen sooner or later. I have not seen him since that day in 1995 in Don Kings office. But, from what I'm told, he is nearly blind and nearly deaf. And his mental state is not all that well.

I wish there was something I could do for Gerald. This was my friend. It hurt me to know what happened to him that fateful night. It also hurt to see Don King walk into the ring with Gerald, but then walk over him when Gerald was laid out, then walk out of the ring with Nigel Benn. All I seen Don King doing was smiling, laughing, while raising Nigel Benn's hands. And Gerald was just laid out. I'm not saying Don didn't care about Gerald, but it just did not look right from my TV set.

What I did find out was, that Don King was strictly business. I don't have no hate or any kind of grudges for Don King's actions because this was just the kind of guy he was. BUSINESS. But I just did not want to be part of his team after that spectacle. Something in me said,"This ain't right". I packed my bags and left the Don King camp the next day. I had just signed the promotional contract with King a week earlier. I went to Don's office the next day after the Gerald fight with my bags packed and asked Carl King to please release me. No investment was made on me thus far. So I asked him to please let me go. To Carl's credit, he did. He seen the look in my eyes and that even if he disagreed, I'd be out of there. He voided the contract and let me go my way. To this day, I thank Carl King for that.

I'll never regret doing what I did. I felt it was the right decision. You learn from these experiences whether it was a right decision or wrong. To this day, I still feel what I did was right. No, I never became a world champion, although I was close. I was rated in the top 10 by the WBC and the WBO. I finally did get a shot at the big time when I was chosen as one of the fighters on The Contender, season one. The experience was cool, but the opportunity came 5 years to late. I was 32 yrs old, retired and inactive for 3 1/2 years when I appeared on The Contender.

But better late then never, right?

Getting back to Gerald. I hear about his condition every now and then. I have even given money towards his fund. I know it wont help dramatically, but hopefully, it will help a little. Nothing will ever help him become his normal self again. That's the sad part. But this is life, and its not always fair. We have to learn to accept certain things and learn to live with them. I think Gerald and his family have accepted this. We all should too.

Yes, this tragedy could have been avoided had Gerald known if there was something wrong in his head prior to the fight. In my opinion, there was. But what is done is done. This is part of life. We cant foretell the future. I wish Gerald the best, and God bless him. I love that guy. Hopefully, one day, I will get a chance to see my friend again...if not, my prayers will always be with him" Tarick Salmaci. "

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365511

barney4001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_mcclellan

im not sure if Gerald passed away or not heres some stories about him prior to V Benn his record on boxrec dos not list him as having passed on
In this brutal fight it could just as easily have been Nigel who suffered as Gerald did AT THE END OF IT ALL

gene_tunney

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Tarick Salmaci, former sparring partner:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365511

Interesting, cheers for that.

I remember Salmaci from The Contender. Good article.

megadodge

(NOTE: If that fight was held in the US, Benn would have not been allowed to continue!)

See, the Yanks are still whining about it, despite the fact that European refs are known to stop fights sooner than Americans, so he must be talking about the 'long' count.

mushykeogh

being repeated on utv 4 tonight at 23.10. Channel 132 on upc.

megadodge

Saw this last night (thanks to mushy's reminder) and found it a rivetting watch.

One of the best boxing (or any sport) documentaries I've seen. Nothing is hidden.

McClellan's cornerman came out of it really, really bad. What a prick!

Though he was brilliant to watch, I never liked Benn as a person. However, he really has mellowed and seems to be a better person all round now. I was glad to see him and McClellan's family meet and reconcile.

marbless

An amazing documentary, in which McClellan's sister came across as a class act.

One question: when they wondered why McClellan's trainer waited 15 years to claim Benn was on drugs for the fight, why didn't they ask him the reason for the delay?

Daroxtar

Dont know if anyone was watching but Sky Sports showed a documentary about Michael Watson yesterday. He's made a much better recovery than MacLelland although he is still showing some effects of his injury. He was a class act too and he comes across as a real smart and decent chap who does a lot of charity work. He even managed to do the london marathon for charity, taking 6 days but getting there.

MacLellands cornerman was a complete and total tool. I'd blame him as much as anything else for what happened in the ring that night.

walshb

That Watson doc is repeated tonight on SS1 at 2000hrs, followed at 2100 hrs by Ringside; a look back over the past year.