The Most Terrible Fight in the History of Boxing!

the end of the 80s and the first half of the 90s of the last century will forever go down in the history of world boxing as the golden time of the middle weights there has never been such a concentration of talent stars and superstars as there was in these three middleweight categories the first middle middle and super middleweight and it is unlikely that there will ever be in the foreseeable future but today I want to tell you not about the golden pages of boxing but about one of the most tragic fights in its history which took place on February 25th 1995 in which WBC middleweight champion Nigel Benn met one of the most promising and toughest punchers of the division WBC middleweight champion Gerald McClellan the story begins in 1988 at the National Amateur Tournament Golden Gloves in the semifinals two American talents men in the ring Roy Jones jr. against Gerald McClellan Gerald won Roy Jones remembered this day for a very long time as the next time he would lose would be in 1997 due to a disqualification in a duel against Montell Griffin except for the scandalous defeat in the 1988 Olympic Games Finals the whole world waited for the rematch between the two best representatives of the American boxing School in 1995 Roy reigned in the second middleweight he defeated the former champion James Toney the whole world was waiting for a big challenge there was only one fight left for the first issue of the pound-for-pound ranking a revenge match between McClellan and Jones McClellan's career had developed rapidly except for two defeats in a row in 1989 that dampened his career the young boxer did not have the experience of protracted battles and he twice lost to the decision of the judges over the next five years Gerald did not make a single misfire his first title was not kept waiting at the end of 1991 John Mugabe was defeated [Applause] McLellan won the vacant middleweight belt in the fast-paced WBO version furthermore in early 1993 Gerald won a major career victory in the 5th round against the mighty Hawke Julian Jackson [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the WBC belt was added to the treasury of the formidable puncher McClellan defended his belt and then destroyed Jackson again in the rematch by knocking him out in the first round it seemed that nothing could stop the two-time world champion some people have a unique ability in that everything they touch loses its shine deteriorates and eventually dies and one of the worst things is when they negatively affect other people Don King did not spoil people but he destroyed them we have already released a video about Don King's relationship with Mike Tyson if you want to see this story we'll leave a link in the description the next victim of the Don was Gerald McClellan the first thing he did after signing the contract was to get rid of the only person who would oppose King coach Emanuel Steward Don King planned to organize the long-awaited mega fight a super fight against Roy Jones however Roy was boxing in a different category Don was well aware that a unifying battle would give the greatest effect the problem was solved early before the fight against Jones McClellan had to defeat one of the second middleweight champions and King's choice fell on the holder of the WBC title Nigel Benn Don and Nigel's promoter Frank Warren sat down at the negotiating table it was decided to hold the event in London on February 25th 1995 I won World titles away from home I was not afraid of anyone Don King told us that he would bring a man who everyone calls a smaller copy of Mike Tyson I said I was ready for the battle the words of Nigel Benn in an interview Nigel Benn was 32 years old while Gerald was only 27 Ben had owned the WBC belt for more than two years this was his seventh title defense however American experts were tormented by only one question in what round would Gerald knockout the champion the most popular opinion was the third round all talk was about Gerald no one gave Nigel a chance at first the odds were three to one then four to one and before the fight he was an outsider already at five to one not many people paid attention to the problem that Gerald was switching to the second middleweight McClellan was one of the scariest punchers of the 90s his record was impressive 31 wins 29 of them by knockout with two defeats both in 1989 but all this was in the middleweight how much worse would the quality of his strike be in the new division the question did not bother anyone you see adaptation takes about a year when I switched from middleweight to second weight it was hard for me to adapt my opponent stopped falling from my blows it took time to take my power to a new level I got it Gerald's team didn't care they miscalculated they meant a guy who could fight back they looked behind me said Nigel Ben Ben was injured coming into the fight his wife and team strongly recommended that he should wait to heal his injuries and defer his title defense to a later date however Nigel was adamant King and Warren organised everything at the highest level the hall was packed until people were turned away and all tickets were sold out in a matter of days spectators expected a war and they got it the first round was a nightmare for the champion after 30 seconds he fell over the ropes from the most powerful series of blows from McClellan Nigel stood up he rested his fifth point on the ropes turned his forehead under the blows endured survived and was able to hold out for the first round a wild left admissions birthday has been [Applause] another right hand behind the ear and he goes through the ropes let me do two good shots while he's unprotected in the second round Ben came to his senses his crown strikes had to jump reach their goal Gerald tried to keep his opponent at a distance taking advantage of his arm length the fighters now and then were in the clinch [Applause] in the third round Ben's right hand found its target McClellan answered with his right but his blitzkrieg strikes failed the champion was stood a dangerous start to the fight beginning in the fourth round the initiative was on Nigel side he worked hard inflicted amplified side impacts and simply did more Gerald avoided the fight everything went according to plan in the fifth round an unusual moment attracted the attention of the audience McClellan pulled the mouthpiece out of his mouth and held it with his teeth in the sixth round Ben with a powerful blow to the right knocked the mouthpiece out of his mouth however the champion believed in his success too much and took a break in the seventh round and it almost cost him the victory in the eighth round the Challenger again sent Nigel to the floor Gerald's right had not lost its power [Applause] run free is Moses Dominus can bustles over a right hand by the colors less than 30 seconds with around down those bends been however like a phoenix recovered once again and brought down his heavy artillery strange things then began to happen to McClellan the mouthpiece was sticking out of his mouth he blinked a lot and appeared he was trying to avoid the fight [Applause] [Music] the tenth round was decisive and fatal Gerald had already deliberately avoided open blow exchanges been hit with his right and then the Challenger knelt down [Applause] heroes but was knocked out again after another right uppercut [Music] [Applause] referee Alfredo asaro counted to ten and recorded a knockout [Applause] the audience applauded Nigel Benn defended his belt for the seventh time in a battle where no one gave him a chance McClellan got up reached his corner and sank back to the ring he then passed out [Music] and then an oxygen mask a stretcher and a run to the hospital there was a moment behind the scenes where Nigel himself became ill and ended up in the same London hospital where his opponent was then went through the necessary procedures and then went to the ward to visit his unconscious opponent I was in a terrible state I went through the examination and found out that Gerald was getting worse I went into his ward he was unconscious I kissed his hand and went out that day I prayed for him said Nigel Benn the operation did not help Gerald was paralyzed he turned out to be confined to a wheelchair for life he became blind and almost deaf when it became known that Gerald did not recover from his injuries I was devastated I wanted to end my career in 1995 I hung my gloves on a nail said Nigel been the fight received a great response in the media the British Boxing Council had been heavily criticised for being negligent in checking boxers before a fight just two years earlier Michael Watson with incredible difficulty was able to recover from injuries after a terrible knockout at the hands of Chris Eubank senior in a rematch McClellan received $54,000 for the battle the money barely covered the expenses of his team another 100,000 managed to be seized from his promoter Don King from the boxers insurance policy his sisters Lisa and Sandra take care of their crippled brother in 2007 12 years later Gerald and Nigel met for the first time after the terrible events of that night in London it was a charity event to help the injured champion great ready save name same name feigning to ask you pray my name Niger's big read bed Nigel Gregory bays yeah yes yes seeing I do it was probably more emotion in that moment then it's been in 12 years [Music] 12 years of oranges come up in one God 12 years just just hit me and what this man I won't talk my life it's my nearly killed me do you think now you not feel sorry was it with you in heaven absolutely absolutely absolutely yes [Music] it was a sad ending of a bright career [Music] thank you for watching this video if you liked it please press the like button subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for new episodes about the great legends of the past [Music]

Channel: The World of Boxing!

Views: 5,062,645

Rating: 4.7928834 out of 5

Keywords: Boxing, nigel benn vs gerald mccellan, nigel benn knockouts, gerald mccellan knockouts, nigel benn highlights, gerald mcclellan highlights, the fight of thier lives, the biggest tragedy in boxing ever, nigel

Id: jBO1Z9NVY8w

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 05 2020