Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan
| Date | 25 February 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | London Arena in London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line |
WBC Super Middleweight Champion |
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| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Benn wins by KO in the tenth round | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxer |
 Nigel Benn
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 Gerald McClellan
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| Nickname | The Dark Destroyer | The G-Man | |
| Hometown | Ilford, London | Freeport, Illinois | |
| Pre-fight record | 39–2–1 | 31–2 | |
| Height | 5' 9" | ||
| Weight | 168lbs | 165lbs | |
| Style | Orthodox | Orthodox | |
| Recognition |
WBC Super Middleweight Champion |
WBC Middleweight Championship |
Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan was a professional boxing match contested on 25 February 1995 for the WBC super middleweight championship. Benn was victorious when McClellan was counted out in the 10th round while dropped on one knee. Shortly after the match ended, McClellan collapsed and fell into a coma for two weeks.
As a result of the injuries endured during the fight, McClellan is blind, hearing-impaired, suffers short-term memory loss, and needs to use a wheelchair. It has been described as "a fight that will be embedded forever in the memories" of those that watched it.
McClellan went into the fight as the bookmaker's favourite at odds of 1–3, with expectations that he would provide a repeat of his previous three fights, all won by knockout. The fight was joint-promoted by Frank Warren and Don King. McClellan himself predicted "I can't see anything less than a vicious knockout".
Within 35 seconds of the first round, Benn was knocked out of the ring by McClellan, but came back strongly in round two. According to McClellan's sister Lisa, at the end of the sixth round he said to his trainer, Stan Johnson: "I wanna quit, Stan", a claim Johnson denies.
The following rounds were "a brutal, yet exhilarating back-and-forth contest that saw both combatants give as good as they took". Benn gained control of the fight for the following six rounds, before McClellan came back to take the eighth by knocking down Benn for a second time. In the ninth, a tired Benn was missing his "wild" punches, and the force of one caused him to fall forward and accidentally headbutt McClellan, an incident which appeared to significantly affect McClellan's physical well-being.
The fight entered a tenth round; McClellan had never fought past the eighth round in his career. At the midway point, Benn connected with a right hand, causing McClellan to drop to one knee. The referee began his count until McClellan stood back up at seven, and the fight continued after Asaro checked McClellan. Working for American television station Showtime, commentator Ferdie Pacheco described it as "the strangest knockdown I've seen". Shortly after, Benn connected with another right, and again McClellan dropped to a knee, this time allowing Asaro to count him out. Pacheco's fellow commentator Steve Albert opined that it was "one of the most bizarre endings to a fight", while Pacheco himself accused McClellan of quitting.
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