British boxing- how good was Benn vs McClellan?

Question

I just went and watched the above fight again and i have to say- what a fight it was. Non stop action from start to finish and never certain who was going to win.

Obviously what happened to McClellan after the fight has overshadowed it (despite the fact that McClellan wasn awful human being who went around forcing dogs to fight, killing them if they lost and being known as being heartless towards other people and animals), but on its own merit, how good was the fight?

A hyped up American favourite comes to Britain, packed, passionate crowd, Benn knocked out of the ring after 32 seconds and knocked down in round 8 but through the rest of the fight shows the heart of a lion and wins

I saw it for the first time in ages on youtube and thought it was one of British boxings all time great fights but how do others see it- love it for the fight or forget it for the tragic aftermath? Which British performances are better than it in your opinion?

Answer 1

without a shadow of a doubt it would have to be

ERROL CHRISTIE V MARK KAYLOR

(THAT WAS PROPER WARFARE)

Answer 2

it was one of the best fights i ever watched, loads of action and to and fro action, and it's a great shame that someone got so badly hurt.

benn's first fight with eubank, and his fight with watson were classics.

wally swift vs tony collins in '91 was a great fight also,

dave mc auley's first title fight with fidel bassa was a war.

jim mc donnell when he came close to beating azumah nelson was a performance i'll never forget.

although the bruno - mc call bout wasn't a classic per se, the tention was astounding,  wondering if after 3 unsuccessful attempts, would he finally do it.

Answer 3

it was a great fight.mcClellan was the new darling of amercian boxing.who was going to sort out the brits

benn/eubanks/watsons.it was  very sad what happend to

mcClellan after the fight.thats when boxing ended for me the mid 80s.today boxers are not a patch on the above plus

duran/lenorad/haglar/hearns.

Answer 4

The fact that English fans keep bringing up the reputed dogfighting tells me all I need to know about them:  they need an excuse to savor the win because they know what happened.  Benn was allowed to fight in the typical sloppy English lunging manner that is extremely dangerous; and McClellan, the better fighter, paid for it dearly.  Barry McGuigan said that that kind of thing is unavoidable, but I couldn't disagree more.  You see this in Ricky Hatton fights as he leads with his head, forcing the opponent to move instead of counter.  When referee Cortez disallowed Hatton from using his head as a spear, the English boxing fans' caterwauling was deafening.  When Mayweather stuck his elbow up and allowed Hatton to headbutt Floyd's arm, the English fans went spare.  Because they don't know any better, they expect boxing to be performed like two blindfolded kids swinging at the same pinata.

English boxing, in the way it's refereed and governed, has the blood of Gerald McClellan on its hands.  Dogfighter or no, he didn't deserve that.  Spearing/goring has no part in a sport that's already dangerous enough as it is.

Answer 5

The fight was a great one, although extremely brutal.  The refereeing in the bout (for both boxers) was horrendous.  Alfred Asaro has not refereed a meaningful bout since then.

Answer 6

it was excellent

Answer 7

the american dog slayer underestimated benn

he paid for that by losing the fight

if the fight had taken place in america, the dog slayer wouldve lost his life

british ringside medical aid was much better then than american ringside medical aid

thats what saved his life

benn was awesome that night

americans will tell you benn cheated

americans voted the white house chimp in

twice

enough said