Did you see the documentary on the fight, a couple of months ago, Sal.
McClellan came over as reasonably ok...for a boxer with "issues" (I seem to recall the dog stuff). But his family, phew. I think it was his sister. Not a nice piece of work

There was a lot of bitterness, which is no surprise seeing as many felt it shouldn't have got past that first round, because Benn was given a lot more than 10 seconds to make his recovery.

Also, there was obvious insinuation from McClellan's trainer (who was a bit of a cock, and probably the main reason for the subsequent tragedy that unfolded) that they felt Benn was on drugs, which helped his almost superhuman display.

It was a great fight, between two absolute warriors, it was just a shame it all ended like it did.

No, No, No Dita's.
You've undersold McClellan's trainer's cockness
He'd make Eric Hall (remember him, Monsthter Monthster) seem like a life long friend. HELMET

McClellan was widely regarded by many as the best pound for pound fighter on the planet (well he was in the US anyway). The american experts were calling in a 1 or 2 round knockout of Benn.... He was coming over to knock our man out and take the belts home. I remember being really angry and thinking 'dont they know who Benn is?'... Wasn't long before he punched Benn through the ropes and we were all looking at those predictions coming true.... Benn then got up off the floor and fought like a man who couldn't feel the punches coming from his opponent... The same shot that knocked him down, now had seemingly no effect.

if you watch the fight back, there is a moment in round 3 when he hits Benn with a massive right hand and Benn just smiles at him, then responds with a flurry of 5 or 6 shots. He knew at that moment he couldn't knock Benn out. You can visibly see his shoulders slump and his head drop.

Shows how good Eubank was then.

Eubank was (or could have gone on to have been) arguably the greatest boxer of his generation... he had devastating power in both hands.

His problem was that after he badly injured Watson, he lost the ability to finish people off in fights properly.. This created a fighter that was there for the taking. I think this was there for everyone to see in his draw with Benn, which he should have won, and both defeats to Steve Collins.

Eubank ended losing his last 3 fights against a young Calzaghe and twice to Carl Thomson (if i remember correctly)... Thomson wouldnt have lasted 3 rounds with the pre Watson Eubank... I dont think Steve Collins would have gone the distance with him either.

Nigel Benn never let that bad injury to McClellan effect the way he boxed.... Chris Eubank never recovered mentally from what he did to Watson.

To be honest, Benn never recovered mentally or physically from the McClellan fight either..... He had a couple of low key defences after that, against opponents who he could beat in his sleep, but then lost to Malinga, who was a very limited fighter.

Steve Collins then outclassed him twice and he was finished.....

The McClellan fight is a funny one, because there were so many ifs and buts.....Yes, Benn miraculously came back, but you could easily make a case he shouldn't have been allowed to - Also, one of the things I did agree with McClellan's coach about, is that the referee was totally incompetent. He guarded Benn through that turbulant opening period, constantly stepping in when Benn was on the brink of being ko'd.

If it had been in Vegas with a US ref, it would have been over in the 1st and McClellan would probably have gone onto be an all time great.

i agree that physically he was never really the same again.... but Benn never lost the killer instinct for me.. he always tried knock someone out... he never held back. Eubank on the other hand was still in his prime and at the top of his game... but it was plain for everyone to see that after Watson he was obviously fighting within himself..... He used to rock fighters with good shots and stand there, hesitating, letting them get their senses back, before going in for a clinch... I remember fans booing in one fight as he refused to finish someone off. He ended up jabbing him on the ropes until the ref stopped the fight.

Greatest comeback I ever witnessed was at a Jimmy Carr gig and there's no way I could repeat it here. It was obviously setup, but still one of the funniest things I have ever seen/heard.

Yeah thats the most demoralising blow a sportsman can inflict on his opponent. It happened in the Ali - Foreman rumble in the jungle, Ali was just letting Foreman punch himself out and taking the punches chirping in Foreman's ear "is that all you got? that all you got???". Foreman said after that it was all he had, he was going full tilt to put Ali out and he couldn't break him, it was then only a matter of time.

Brian Close the old cricketer did something like this as well when he played for England against the West Indies fast bowlers like Wes Hall, they were bowling short balls and he just used to take them on the chest and stand there and take it, so they knew they didn't have a weapon that could intimidate him.

And my favourite RL example along these lines, to keep with the title of the thread, was Glenn Lazarus 'the brick with eyes', he was on the floor after a tackle and the tackler grabbed the back of his head and smashed his forehead into the ground. Lazarus just got up and played the ball and didn't even glare at the attacker, it looked like he hadn't noticed it. In a hardman of RL contest it must have been a close thing between Hanley, Lazarus and Dean Bell.

Not a fan of golf but when the Ryder cup starts i can't get enough of it!

I too felt a great affinity with those 14 plucky multi-millionaires knock a ball around in the name of my geographic region.

What has what their wealth got to do with it?

Now in English please.

I find their pseudo beatification nauseating. Simple as. Elitist, horrible sport, they supposedly represent an entire continent(? - not in my name) and whinge for 3 days about pressure when no one made them do it. They should try doing a hard day's graft on the tools before they start bleating.