A Boxing Memory: Nigel Benn vs Gerald McClellan

A Boxing Memory: Nigel Benn vs Gerald McClellan

They fought for personal supremacy, pride, a meaningless bauble, one fighter left the ring fighting for his life, the other had endless cold baths in a futile attempt to rid his aching body of the sustained intense pain it felt. And probably a mind haunted forever by what his fists had just done to a fellow human being. Both warriors and make no mistake on that night that was exactly what they were, were for different reasons never ever the same again.

It was a savage, violent, unrelenting and probably one of the most brutal fights ever seen in a British ring. London had found a different calling. It had terrible life-changing consequences for the loser. But the winner or the sport itself didn’t go unscathed. It was boxing in its most raw primitive form. And the type of fight that leaves you questioning your love for the sport. Is it even really a sport? There were even debates in Parliament if boxing should be banned and relegated to history, a sport too barbaric for the modern day. The case for the prosecution would likely have started and rested with this one fight. Boxing survived. But should it have done? Defending boxing is a hard sell at the best of times. Even those that love it, also hate it.

It is hard to remember it as a great fight. It wasn’t only one of the most brutal fights seen in a British ring. It was one of the greatest, maybe the greatest. But we don’t remember it for that reason. We dare not remember it for that reason. That might be subconsciously some kind of justification for our continued emotional investment in a sport that can do such horrors to its participants. The only thing we remember is what the fight did to Gerald McClellan. Maybe that is the only thing we should remember about that night in 1995. The horrors of that night should never ever be forgotten or the ones that came before and after. Boxing history is littered with many such nights. Too many.

Both McClellan and Nigel Benn ended up in the same hospital. But one of them left the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel a lot sooner than the other. McClellan was eleven days into a coma before he woke to start a different kind of battle. And one that, in truth, he will never win. It was about survival, and sadly, it always will be. McClellan was only 27 and cleared only a reported $70,000 for his final ring walk. A savage fight. An even more savage indictment from the relative pittance he received for the fight that changed the course of his life.

The big-punching American had a massive blood clot on the surface of his brain. The neurosurgeon John Sutcliffe, a saviour to many a fighter, saved his life. McClellan survived. He was lucky. Very lucky. But can we even use that word in association with that night? That fight. McClellan was anything but lucky. Benn collapsed not long after the final bell and he to had an MRI scan. He was lucky to some degree. But in different ways. That fight left scars that can never ever be repaired. Ones you can’t see. Benn was 31 when he entered that London ring. He left it much older.

The aftermath was bitter. Claims of steroid use came many years after the fight. They were denied. Accusations about the inexperienced referee, fingers pointed at the American’s corner. Emanuel Steward missing in action, maybe when it mattered most. Steward was cast aside. But at what cost? Steward claimed it would have been different if he was still in the corner. But would it have been? The aftermath involved lawyers. Doesn’t it always? In many ways, the fight will never stop. The waters get murky, and reality gets lost in the fog. The only thing that lingers is the plight of the defeated fighter. And even that, we forget. He once fought under the bright lights, in front of millions, now he fights in solitude a mere shadow of the man he used to be. It’s a different kind of fight for Gerald McClellan now. And one he can never win.

Without hindsight, many said McClellan quit. With hindsight, they now know he didn’t. It would have been better if he had. It would have been better if Benn didn’t survive those dangerous opening segments of the opening round. Arguments still rage that he shouldn’t have been allowed to. Knocked through the ropes inside the first 35 seconds, the predicted slaughter playing out to the perceived narrative. Benn defended his WBC super-middleweight title against the former world middleweight champion, a murderous puncher who hadn’t gone beyond eight rounds on a knockout streak that had many warning Benn to stay well clear. History would be kinder if he had.

Benn was down again in the 8th, and McClellan was ahead, but for a few rounds, something had changed. If only we knew then what we know now. It ended in the 10th and cries of ‘No Mas’ an abject surrender, they said. It was anything but. McClellan had given everything. Too much. Benn also, in a different way, of course. The fight broke him as well.

The winner fought on. There were a couple of wins before three straight defeats finished his career. McClellan never fought again. At least not in the ring. A much bigger fight began, a darker one, the toughest fight of all, courtesy of the sport he made a living in.

Many things never healed after the brutality of that night. A little insight into what the Gladiators in ancient Rome must have gone through. A fight that went well beyond the pale. It was a fight that was billed as ‘Sudden Impact.’ Sadly it was.