Was Benn entirely to blame?

Was talking to a friend about the Benn v Mcclennen Fight and how unfortunate the outcome to that fight was and he informed me that King had handled G-man all wrong in the lead up to the fight. He raised some points that I have never come across that maybe you guys can clarify.

1) G-man was injured going into the fight after sparing with HEAVYWEIGHTS with no head gear a week before the Benn fight.
2) G-man wanted to quit the fight BEFORE the 10th round.
3) G-man was severley weight drained in the Benn fight. he moved up from middleweight coz he was struggling to make weight and ended up coming in 3lbs short of the limit..
4) G-man was not happy with the purse he was to receive.
5) G-man's fight with Julian Jackson took more from him then first thought.

Is there any truth to this guys and can anyone clarify.

News to me.

This is pure conjecture........

If true which I seriously doubt... at the end of the day Gerard decided to fight..his choice and he knew the risks....

Benn is blameless for Gerard..............

For taking the money in Collins 2 and running though.. guilty in the first degree..

Benn isn't to "blame" it just happens in boxing...
I don't know whether any of this is true apart from Gerald did want to quit just before the 10th round but was talked round to giving it one last throw at the dice.
But let's be real the punches that were thrown by Benn landing on you aren't gonna help...

Sure punches by Benn would close to kill anyone, but when you spar with heavyweights and get hurt plus to add the fact that King paid off 1 off the sparring partner then you have to think.

Who say's he sparred with heavyweights...your mate!

My mate say's the World is flat...and christopher columbus was gay.

You want proof?

No..what gives you that idea???

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:You want proof?

Go on then

Oh my! I'd love to see this!

Having been working since 8.30am i'm in dire need of being entertained

Don't think we can or should attach any kind of 'blame' when it comes to something like this, as Alex has rightly said. As harsh as it sounds, serious injuries such as the ones McClellan suffered that night are part and parcel of boxing, just one of those unfortunate things.

First off, though, I'd say that McClellan wanting to quit prior to the tenth round starting (I'm assuming you mean between the ninth and tenth rounds) is a bit of a moot point - the damage had been done by that point. McClellan had been visibly struggling for at least three rounds prior to that point, and I doubt very much that the tenth round caused the major problems - merely, it was only proof that McClellan had nothing left.

The weight drained argument seems to get thrown around every time a fighter below Heavyweight is beaten, so I'm reluctant to read anything in to that claim. Given that he weighed in at 165 lb, it seems a little far-fetched to say that McClellan was struggling to make Super-Middleweight. At a stretch you could argue that he may have overtrained, but as there's little to back this up (and his performance didn't suggest a fighter who'd left it all in the gym) I think we can forget that theory.

Sparring with Heavyweights a week prior to the clash without a head guard sounds incredibly fanciful, to me. Doesn't make any sense and I'm reluctant to believe that a reputable world champion such as McClellan would take such a strange and unnecessarily strenuous route in training. Where is your mate getting all of this from?

I guess we can't be sure, but I shouldn't imagine that a total of six rounds - even against a monster such as Jackson - would have taken all that much out of someone as young as McClellan was, though as I said we can never be sure. With regards to the purse issue, I've seen a few figures thrown about, the most recent one claiming that over installments from 1995 onwards, McClellan has only received $150,000 from the fight, which was reportedly only ten percent of his original 'guarantee.' Who knows, when Kings involved and there are so many different claims circulating, it's almost impossible to say for sure.

I think Mclellan might have been weight drained leading up to the fight as he did fade quickly...Dehydration would account for the brain damage....look at Paul Ingle and Kim...same scenario...

weight draining is a killer....

Think he beat Jackson fairly comfortably twice so I should rule that out unless like Johnny Owen he had a fragile skull or something....

The heavyweight stuff is from the twilight zone.

Trussie

I wouldn't blame being drained as to be fair it'd be the first i've heard to be honest. You are able to sustain head injuries from just trauma you know.

Something quite simply went very sadly amiss with him that night. Kids, adults get killed every day by the simplest of object strikes that just unfortunately catches them at a completely unknown weak point.

For me he got in a war and something was obviously amiss a round or two before he pulled himself out. It unfortunately happens in our great sport. Heck, only the other month a guy got knocked out and never got out of hospital.

Everyone is blameless, the only ones you could portion blame to were the oiks in the crowd who made life very hard for the emergency services to do their thing.

88Chris05 wrote:Don't think we can or should attach any kind of 'blame' when it comes to something like this, as Alex has rightly said. As harsh as it sounds, serious injuries such as the ones McClellan suffered that night are part and parcel of boxing, just one of those unfortunate things.

First off, though, I'd say that McClellan wanting to quit prior to the tenth round starting (I'm assuming you mean between the ninth and tenth rounds) is a bit of a moot point - the damage had been done by that point. McClellan had been visibly struggling for at least three rounds prior to that point, and I doubt very much that the tenth round caused the major problems - merely, it was only proof that McClellan had nothing left.

The weight drained argument seems to get thrown around every time a fighter below Heavyweight is beaten, so I'm reluctant to read anything in to that claim. Given that he weighed in at 165 lb, it seems a little far-fetched to say that McClellan was struggling to make Super-Middleweight. At a stretch you could argue that he may have overtrained, but as there's little to back this up (and his performance didn't suggest a fighter who'd left it all in the gym) I think we can forget that theory.

Sparring with Heavyweights a week prior to the clash without a head guard sounds incredibly fanciful, to me. Doesn't make any sense and I'm reluctant to believe that a reputable world champion such as McClellan would take such a strange and unnecessarily strenuous route in training. Where is your mate getting all of this from?

I guess we can't be sure, but I shouldn't imagine that a total of six rounds - even against a monster such as Jackson - would have taken all that much out of someone as young as McClellan was, though as I said we can never be sure. With regards to the purse issue, I've seen a few figures thrown about, the most recent one claiming that over installments from 1995 onwards, McClellan has only received $150,000 from the fight, which was reportedly only ten percent of his original 'guarantee.' Who knows, when Kings involved and there are so many different claims circulating, it's almost impossible to say for sure.

I think that blame can easily be attached to the following;

1. Whoever appointed one of the least competant refs ever. He couldn't even speak English, and ignored clear signals - the constant blinking and pushing out his mouth guard- that G-man was in serious trouble.

2. His corner. Incompetent yes men that were too scared to go against their boss who before the fight instructed them that in no way should they stop it.

3. McClellan himself- bandaged his own hands, appointed his useless corner.

I highly recommend that you read the book "war, baby" by Kevin Mitchell- a great account of the fight and all that surrounds it- you will see that there there was incompetence, dishonesty and a lack of remorse by many involved, and even if they aren't to blame they should certainly have been ashamed of themselves, but somehow I doubt King, fish eyes and the various other leaches lost too much sleep over it.

I remember in the build up to the fight Gerald continuously talked of it being a short fight and truly believed he had banked on taking Nigel out early in a one sided blow out. I honestly believe his training camp and the general amateurishness of his corner was all due to everyone associated with the G-man and the fight thought it was a forgone conclusion on who would win and Gerald only had to turn up.

A quote from Nigel in the immediate aftermath of the fight "they brought him over here to beat me up" was in reference to King and Warren who were hoping to put on a super fight between Gerald and Roy Jones in the States. Nigel had been forced into a fight with the G-man who was made mandatory challenger without even having a fight in the division before with both men getting small purses considering the stature of the fight but Gerald expected there would be bigger purses down the line.

The only thing Nigel can be accused of is fighting like a champion and beating the odds and everything else is down to those promoting the fight in not having the best support in place and to arrogance shown by Team G-Man on believing their own hype and showing no respect to the defending champion as far as their own preparations are concerned.

I highly recommend that you read the book "war, baby" by Kevin Mitchell- a great account of the fight and all that surrounds it-

I highly recommend that you read "War Baby" and then dismiss much of it as fanciful nonsense given that many passages are the author's attempt to get into Gerald's mind and give us an idea of what he may have been thinking at the time. All that cack regarding his pitbulls, what's THAT about?

It was G-Mans fault. Karma got him back...

~ My dearest fellows, how could Mr Benn possibly have been responsible for fulfilling his job requirements?

He's a boxer. He felt he was being set up as a fall guy to take a beating. That plan backfired. I fail to see how Benn can be blamed.

BALTIMORA wrote: ~ My dearest fellows, how could Mr Benn possibly have been responsible for fulfilling his job requirements?

He's a boxer. He felt he was being set up as a fall guy to take a beating. That plan backfired. I fail to see how Benn can be blamed.

Welcome back Balti. How was the ban for using CAPITAL LETTERS?

Lumbering_Jack wrote:

BALTIMORA wrote: ~ My dearest fellows, how could Mr Benn possibly have been responsible for fulfilling his job requirements?

He's a boxer. He felt he was being set up as a fall guy to take a beating. That plan backfired. I fail to see how Benn can be blamed.

Welcome back Balti. How was the ban for using CAPITAL LETTERS?

Let's not play down the severity of the situation. There were some yellow letters used too...

Cheers for making me feel welcome though, I was a little perturbed at the turn of events. Still, back now.

Gerard McManaman (Just thought I'd add to the various vagrancies of spelling on this thread).

G-man had his plan which was to blast out Benn, which he very nearly did in the first, having had his man out of the ring. However, his plan backfired when he realised he had an opponent who not only could take his best shots but could fire back with some significant ones of his own.

Gerald was knackered after the 8th - he'd thrown everything at a guy who wouldn't just roll over and instead gave him hell. The tragedy was that the hell was living and permanent. It wasn't Benn's fault - he was a boxer and was paid to punch people hard.

Any boxer knows that every time they step into a ring, they may not be able to walk out again under their own steam. This was such a case in point. At least now there are more stringent medical rules and staff in place in case of disaster, but there is always the danger of injury.

Mr Bounce, I very much agree with those sentiments. It was also a bl00dy dirty fight. Both fighters were using their heads and Benn certainly hit the back of th head a few times. Just one of those things that McKinnock was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He beat RJJ in the amateurs. No mean feat.....

McClellan Had only gonE past 10 rounds about once before, hadn't he? I'd imagine that pLayed a Part in what happened, to soMe extEnt.

BALTIMORA wrote:McClellan Had only gonE past 10 rounds about once before, hadn't he? I'd imagine that pLayed a Part in what happened, to soMe extEnt.

Watch those capitals son.

How many times did 'Prime' Tyson go past 10?

DAVE667 wrote:I highly recommend that you read the book "war, baby" by Kevin Mitchell- a great account of the fight and all that surrounds it-

I highly recommend that you read "War Baby" and then dismiss much of it as fanciful nonsense given that many passages are the author's attempt to get into Gerald's mind and give us an idea of what he may have been thinking at the time. All that cack regarding his pitbulls, what's THAT about?

Agree that the bits when he tries to get in his head are rudey poo, but the rest of the book is based on extensive interviews with people directly involved- for example Brendan Ingles insight into what was going on in the corner are facinating, and hardly fanciful. I think it won sprots book of the year or something, and would still recomend it, even with the cack about pitbulls.

[quote="Michaels, Sean"]

BALTIMORA wrote:McClellan Had only gonE past 10 rounds about once before, hadn't he? I'd imagine that pLayed a Part in what happened, to soMe extEnt.

Watch those capitals son.

How many times did 'Prime' Tyson go past 10?[/quote

Without checking I couldn't say, but it wasn't very many. Was Tyson even 'prime' for as long as ten whole rounds..?

unfortunate incidents like this happen from time to time, no one should be blamed for things like this, but they should be used as a learning curve, so the risk of them happening again are minimal

Not only was Benn not entirely to blame, i can't see why any blame can be attached to him, it's his job to punch other men in the face.

Watch those capitals Son..

never a truer word said..

The Galveston Giant wrote:Not only was Benn not entirely to blame, i can't see why any blame can be attached to him, it's his job to punch other men in the face.

I'd like to second that. G-Man had serious problems in that fight and his corner should have pulled him out.

Boxers are always carrying one injury or another into the ring, the blame must lie entirely with his corner.

If any blame has to be given, it would lie with McClellan and/or his corner. This is all hypothetical, I do not pretend to know things which I don't but if "G-man" had any incling that something was seriously wrong he should have pulled himself out of there or his corner if McClellan was in no state to think straight.

Is Lupe Pintor to blame for Johnny Owen's death? Is Eubank to blame for what happened to Michael Watson? The fighters consciously take the risks and responsibilities that the ring offers and imo you're a hypocrite by your subtle suggestion that Benn is morally even a bit to blame.

The fighter will never want to quit. How often have you seen fighters taking an absolute thrashing, for the ref to step in and them to go off on one.

Also if he had brain injury, there is no way he would have been thinking clearly.

ian_jamsie wrote:The fighter will never want to quit. How often have you seen fighters taking an absolute thrashing, for the ref to step in and them to go off on one.

Also if he had brain injury, there is no way he would have been thinking clearly.

I agree, which is why I chose to remain mainly skeptical. There was little chance McClellan would have allowed fear for himself to get in the way of his focus and even less chance he would have realised anything until it was too late.