The Dark Destroyer Part Six: The Long Goodbyes
Nigel Benn
The challenger continued to pepper Benn with his lead right, as the 'Dark Destroyer' came forward looking to land one of his bombs on his cagey opponent. A left hook landed on the challenger's jaw to start round seven and the Italian's boot got caught up with Benn's as he fell to the floor. The champion sportingly acknowledged the slip and helped his man up to his feet. A few seconds later a straight right through the middle caught Nardiello on the jaw. In a delayed reaction response, he backed to the ropes and took a knee. Benn's power had finally surfaced. Nardiello bravely got up and beckoned Benn in and they stood trading shots, with the challenger pushing the champion back to the ropes. A left hook put Nardiello down again and before the round was over a right floored him for the third time.
A three-punch combination put the challenger to the floor in the eighth.
He got up, claiming he was tagged around the back of the head, but O'Connell
was having none of it as he administered the mandatory eight-count. Not long
after a right uppercut floored him again and whilst Nardiello protested he had
slipped, his corner men threw in the towel at the one-minute and 43 seconds
mark of the round.
Benn then made the ninth defence of his title against the unheralded
American Daniel Perez on the under card to Frank Bruno's fourth world title
attempt against WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall on 02nd September 1995.
Bruno would beat the champion on points and WBA light-heavyweight champion Virgil
Hill also defended his belt against Drake Thadzi. 23,000 poured into Wembley
Stadium and 'The Dark Destroyer' was once more a firm favourite to retain his
title. The challenger had an 18-3 record with only five knockouts, but he had
never been stopped or off his feet amateur or pro.
Though Benn, Don King and Frank Warren were looking to lure Roy Jones
into the ring, the WBC champion ensured he wasn't taking Perez lightly. The
crowd were very much on the champion's side as he came out looking for the
American. Perez had a good jab on him as Benn landed some hard punches to head
and body. The body attack continued in round two and the American was starting
to look uncomfortable, as Benn had him pinned on the ropes.
Perez tried to use his jab to get some distance between him and Benn in
rounds three and four with the massacre continuing, as Benn landed some
sickening body shots. Early in the fifth, a lead right put the challenger down
for the first time in his career. It looked only a matter of time as Benn waded
in. Perez, though, landed a right of his own and had the champion on the ropes,
bang in trouble. Benn regrouped and landed some bombs and the ex-soldiers
traded, with the champion regaining the upper hand. Both men had a quiet round
in the sixth and the pattern continued in the seventh, until another body
attack put Perez to his knees and referee Mickey Vann counted him out.
The champion next defended his crown in Newcastle against mandatory
challenger Thulani 'Sugar Boy' Malinga on 02nd March 1996. After their first
controversial encounter in May 1992, where Benn won a dubious ten round
decision in Birmingham, Malinga won two on the spin. He then faced undefeated
IBF middleweight champion, Roy Jones, in a super-middleweight contest. Jones
inflicted the ninth defeat and the first stoppage of the South African's
career, going to 23-0 (21 KO's), with a sixth-round victory.
Malinga regrouped and went on a five-fight winning run to become the number one WBC challenger at the age of forty. Benn gave a pre-fight warning that he was fitter now than when he faced Gerald McClellan. The British crowd were deafening as Malinga worked well with his long stiff jab and his defences kept his chin out of harm’s way of the champion's dangerous bombs. By round four Benn's right eye was swollen, courtesy of the challenger's jabs. The pattern continued in the fifth as Benn seemed unable, or wasn't allowed to pull the trigger.
Finally the British crowd, who were behind the champion all the way,
witnessed Benn's power, as a right hand put Malinga down towards the end of the
fifth. The South African got up and survived to hear the bell and continued to
dominate the fight with his jab and right-hand counter. A knockdown, which on
replay appeared to be a slip, cemented the inevitable points victory for the
new champion. Remarkably, judge Chuck Giampa had Benn winning 114-112 as the
other two voted for Malinga 115-111 and 118-109. Benn, emotionally addressed
the crowd, calling time on his exciting career and proposed to his
girlfriend, Caroline Jackson.
However, any plans of riding off into the sunset were short lived when
the opportunity arose to face Steve Collins for the Dubliner’s WBO
super-middleweight title. Collins, the Irish amateur middleweight champion in
1986, turned professional that very year, in America, under the guidance of Pat
and Goody Petronelli. In March 1988, in just his eighth pro match, he
outpointed Sam Storey (8-0) over ten rounds for the BUI Ireland National
middleweight title in Boston, Massachusetts.
Collins stayed unbeaten, capturing the USBA middleweight title by
outscoring Kevin Watts and outpointing Tony Thornton in his first defence. In
February 1990, Collins got a crack at Mike McCallum’s WBA middleweight title.
The Jamaican made a first successful defence by unanimously outpointing the
Dubliner to inflict the first defeat on his record.
Collins won his next five before facing Reggie Johnson for the WBA middleweight
belt, vacated by McCallum, in April 1992. The Dubliner lost by a majority
decision. He then travelled to Italy, losing another majority decision to
European middleweight king Sumbu Kalambay.
In February 1993 he based himself in Great Britain and was guided by
Matchroom’s Barry Hearn. He won his next six bouts and was rewarded by getting
a crack at WBO middleweight champion Chris Pyatt in May 1994. It was third time
lucky for Collins, stopping Pyatt in the fifth to become the new champion.
In March 1995, fighting in Ireland for only the second time in his
career, he stepped up to super-middleweight to challenge long reigning WBO
champion, Chris Eubank.
After a hostile build-up and twelve rounds, Collins was unanimously declared the winner. The new two-weight world champion successfully outpointed Eubank in the rematch six months later.
He had two routine defences against Cornelius Carr and Neville Brown
before facing off against Nigel Benn in Manchester’s Nynex Arena 06th July
1996. Both men locked horns from the opening bell and it was apparent the sweet
science wouldn't be put into practice as the two warriors brawled, with the
champion having a slight upper hand.
Round two was an untidy affair, with Benn having some successes of his
own. The challenger found Collins's jaw with a left hook early in the third and
had the defending champion on the ropes. The tough Irishman had a good spell in
the middle of the round before a big left proved what a granite chin the
Dubliner had.
The fourth was warming up to be one hell of a fight, until Benn went to
throw a right and landed funnily, grabbing his ankle straight away. The
challenger was in distress but continued when prompted by referee Genaro
Rodriguez. Collins stormed in, sensing Benn was there to be taken and the two
gladiators went at it again.
Benn finally turned away in no position to continue with his injured
ankle at two-minutes and 46 seconds of the round. Benn announced his retirement
again, only to be persuaded to face Collins one last time at the same venue on
09th November 1996.
With Benn looking for redemption and Collins seeking an emphatic victory, something had to give in this mouth-watering rematch between the hard punching challenger and the iron jawed champion. Both men were happy to maul and swap blows in an untidy first session and referee Paul Thomas looked as if he had his work cutout in controlling these two warriors.
Rounds two and three continued in the close quarters style of the first, with each man refusing to take a backwards step as they locked horns mid ring and bounced hard shots to each others head. Collins found his range in the fourth, backing up his jab with stinging, unanswered rights to the head and a sickening right to the body. Benn was told by his trainer if he had another round like that then he's going to pull him out. "I don't want to see you take a beating," said Kevin Sanders.
The challenger had a better round, but it was the champion who was landing at will and Benn was looking distressed. A point deduction from Collins due to some illegal head work gave Benn a bit of respite in the scoring, but he could be heard clearly saying, "One more round," as he got back to his corner.
Benn came out blasting to start round six. Though it was short lived as Collins took control and the challenger cut a dejected and tired figure as he traipsed back to his corner to not only end the round, his team brought down the curtain on the contest and Benn's illustrious, exciting career.
Benn dropped to 42-5-1 (35 KO's) as Collins improved to 34-3, with nineteen early. Benn found God in his retirement and became a born again christian, becoming an ordained minister. He moved to Sydney, Australia. With his son Conor, knocking out people in his professional career, the name Benn will continue to live on in the ring.
However, in 2017, Benn coveted a third showdown with Chris Eubank. With the Eubank showdown not taking place it looked like Steve Collins would step in. In 2019, Benn announced he would return for one last fight, again with Eubank and Collins very much in the plan.
The date was set for 23 November 2019 and Benn, looking in good physical shape aged fifty-five, agreed to meet former WBC super-middleweight champion Sakio Bika in Birmingham in a ten round contest.
Benn injured his shoulder during his training regime and cancelled the fight and called time on his career. Hopefully, Benn will stay retired, but there was a small part of me that wanted to see my boxing hero in action one last time.
Comments
Post a Comment