Great fight, while it lasts. First round would be as good as (if not better than) Hagler Hearns. Hagler KO 2
agree... Benn would throw everything but the kitchen sink at him in the first 2 ronds, but he'd get picked apart and butchered over the next 3 or 4 before being bounced and rescued by the ref
I remember virtually praying for this fight to occur in the late 80s after Benn had EXPLODED onto the British scene with a string of 20 or so 1st and 2nd round knockouts. But Hagler had had enough of boxing by then. Benn was a powerful motherfucker and dare I say it...his punches may have troubled Hagler more than any fighter hagler had faced, including Hearns. Benn in those days had a clubbing explosive concussive power. He was the personification of power. Hagler though had that CHIN and he would have weathered the storm and bounced benn up and down. Would have been a fight for the ages...
Hagler's chin was pretty ridiculous, what's even more impressive though, to me, was that Hagler was a genuinely excellent defensive fighter, yet he still could take punches like Tex Cobb and was able to keep his wits about him but no disrespect to Benn, he was IMMENSELY flawed but he could sure crack
Yeah, trust me. When I first saw him on the scene his punching power was SHOCKING!! I hadn't seen anything like it up to that point. Perhaps it was the way he fought in addition to his power. He had no game plan or strategy..he'd just walk foward, swing like a madman and knock people the fuck out. The Anthony Logan fight (have you seen it) it the perfect example of Benn's raw power (yet having virtually nothing else).
I have. yeah, he punched like a video game character, wild haymaker stuff... when you combined that threat of his early power with his own questionable durability and his bravery, you get an extremely exciting fighter
agREED. I don't see Hagler jumping all over Benn the way he did Hearns because he wouldn't need to. Hagler knew he didn't want to get into a chess match with Hearns and dragging him into a firefight was his best chance of winning. I see Benn coming out bombing and Hagler boxing and trading when he needs to and generally picking Benn apart. Benn was a huge puncher and would land some scary-looking shots, but Hagler would take them well. By round 5 or 6, Benn would be gassed and hurt and Hagler finishes him.
Yup. I was a huge fan back in the day. I was almost crying when he lost to Watson and then even more devastated when Eubank stopped him.
one thing no one could ever say of Nigel Benn was that he didn't leave it all hanging in the ring... Guy always tried, sometimes the skills were too much for him... certainly that was the case with Watson, who was patient and took him apart carefully
It might have been a fun fight for a couple of rounds, but there's no way it could have happened because Benn had only a handful of pro fights at the time of Leonard-Hagler. Hagler hung around for a while hoping for a Leonard rematch and wasn't interested in any other fights. UK fans, I'm sure, saw Benn a lot in his early days, but the first time I saw him fight on TV was against Michael Watson and that was a full two years after Leonard-Hagler and a year or so after Hagler finally officially announced his retirement. Nothing against Benn, but I doubt Hagler was all that interested in fighting a British prospect who had been a pro for only a year or so. To be honest, I wonder if Hagler even knew who Benn was at the time of his retirement.
Benn is one of the hardest ever punchers at 160 I reckon, alongside Jackson etc. Hearns was a scary, brutal puncher at 154, but at 160 Benn hits harder. He had freakish power, a real explosion of energy in his punches, producing these heavy, swinging blows, but with decent speed. Of course Hagler would win though, he's much, much better. He'd be hurt more than any other time in his career though.
Hagler is too skilled and concise for Benn. Hagler TKO in the 7th or the 8th having weathered some sustained pressure earlier on.
