Years back I used to think that Benn got extremely lucky for not being counted out and seemingly having the ref on his side. Rewatching the first round McClellan did hurt Benn bad for a bit but Benn did beat the count and was able to weather the storm and fought back despite the damage he was taking. McClellan was far too eager to put Benn away early when he should have taken his time to pick his shots and outbox Benn from long range. The ref was pretty much useless. They should have gotten a more experienced referee.
I agree with that. Many referees would have stopped the fight during that era and, especially, since then. But, if the fight had been fought in the 1940s there would never have been any controversy.
yeah, I dont get the controversy on that fight (bar maybe the headbutt). That was a good decision to let the fight go on
revisionist shit is hilarious. the long ass count to bail him out in round 1, the million rabbit punches he landed
I've heard it said that McClellan was injured going into the fight, in which case it's highly likely he would've ended up in the same spot whether he'd won that fight in the first round or not. But regardless, when you consider that not counting out Benn in the first round not only ended up changing the winner of the fight but that it also ultimately led to McClellan's debilitating injuries, it's easy to see why there is controversey.
It's Also Been Suggested McClellan Had DECREASED Amounts of Fluid On His Brain (Due to PERPETUAL Weight Cutting), Making Him More Susceptible to Head Trauma... REED
Was it really a long count?? You guys do know that the average 10 count last a few seconds more than 10 seconds. Didnt seem to me that it was above the average count, but i might be wrong
Benn got dropped early in r1 and got a long count. Then this fagget gave him even more time to recover by getting between them for no good reason and keeping McClellan away
WBC rules at the time meant he was allowed twenty seconds as he was punched out of the ring, so the long count thing is bullshit, even if it was a 'long count'. Not that I imagine that daft ref knew about it. MTF
The ref was dreadful, that's true enough. Useless. But blaming the ref gives McClellan a pass for being mostly fucking hopeless after the first three minutes of that fight (up to landing a big shot in the eighth). He had Benn absolutely at his mercy in front of him and couldn't put him away. He loaded up and loaded up while allowing Benn to smash him with left hand after left hand for rounds. We'll never know if McClellan was injured before the fight or during it. What is fairly certain is that taking loads and loads of left hands, flush, from Nigel Benn, will have made things much worse. Ending the fight early as he should have might have saved his life. MTF
I've heard the theory that the bombs G-man took in the first Jackson fight made his brain vulnerable. I don't quite buy that, but Julian hit so fucking hard, who knows...
It was the most ferocious, intense fight I've ever watched. There was absolute bloodlust in the country that week. Everyone, even fourteen year olds like me, couldn't wait to watch it. Daft John McCririck waving his arms and telling everyone how quick Benn was going to get destroyed, Jim and Barry in their tuxedos... You'll never see the likes of it again. MTF
Yeah, it's possible. No-one will ever know. Imagine getting hit with about fifty flush shots from Jackson and Benn and NOT getting some kind of brain injury... MTF
What IS fact is that McClellan had a splitting headache after the first Jackson fight. He said so in the post-fight interview. It is possible that Jackson ruined him.
He fought a guy called Ward or Ford who had him blinking badly off a grazing shot. Short fight. Didn't go 2 full rounds. Blinking furiously is always a sign of neural issues. I don't know if that was before or after Jackson. Edit:- he lost to Ward. Must have been somebody else.
Did anyone not have a splitting headache after fighting Jackson, though? I'm not discrediting the idea, but I'm pretty sure that was a constant for all of Jackson's opponents.
“Tarick Salmaci, a Kronk Gym fighter, claimed later in an interview that he had sparred with McClellan over a year before the Benn fight, and that after McClellan was hit by a jab thrown by Salmaci, McClellan started to blink hard and the session had to be stopped. McClellan initially claimed that he was thumbed, but later admitted to Salmaci in the locker room that he was in fact seriously hurt. Salmaci said that he found it strange that a fighter with McClellan's chin wearing headgear was being hurt by a jab.” The writing was on the wall for some time.
And that blinking can be traced back to the first Jackson fight. Damn. While it's still not concrete evidence, imagine if the price to pay for beating Jackson is to later on end up seriously brain damaged?
Imagine if you fight Jackson, win, then decide to have a face first shoot out with Benn? We'll never know the truth, but the odds are he was fucked. Big time. MTF
Jackson and Benn were part of the reason for McClellan's condition but it was also his tendency to cut down a lot of weight for fights and his sparring wars that did him in. Draining himself 10-15 pounds to make weight, sparring with big guys with no head gear, gym wars, lack of defense, and fights with punchers like Jackson and Benn was a recipe for disaster.
