‘In accordance to the way that Benn speaks, he is not educated. Sure, he’s educated to a certain extent, but under different circumstances he would be a bouncer on some door in the West End……I am a superior person to that. I have finer points.’
Chris Eubank Sr
Despite having polar opposite characters, when you peel back the layers of one of Britain’s most prolific boxing rivalries, you’ll notice a number of similarities.
Nigel Benn retired with a record of 42-5-1 and Chris Eubank retired with 45-5-2. They both became middleweight and super middleweight world champions and what speaks volumes on both of their resumes is their five losses to highly respected champions. They both lost to Steve Collins, twice and Benn lost to Sugar Boy Malinga, Eubank and Michael Watson, whereas Eubank’s other three losses came at the hands of Joe Calzaghe and Carl Thompson (twice). The final and darkest thing in common between the pair, is that they were on the winning end of two devastating stoppages, which drastically changed the lives of Gerald McClellan and Michael Watson. However, whenever you mention Chris Eubank, it won’t be long before someone mentions Nigel Benn and vice versa.
When the pair first locked horns on 18 November 1990 at the Birmingham NEC Centre, it was one of the most anticipated domestic matchups for a world title in a very long time. The hate between them was palpable and the prefight press conferences and television appearances would be pay per view worthy in modern day. With each man promising to knock the other out, coupled with huge followings for both fighters, the marketing of ‘Who’s Fooling Who?’, became a promoter’s dream. Eubank’s famous comment of ‘Let’s have some parliamentary procedure,’ during a live television interview between the pair, is engrained in sporting history.
Going into this fight, Benn had 27 victories, 25 by way of stoppage and only one loss, to fellow Brit, Michael Watson, who stopped the Dark Destroyer in six round for the Commonwealth middleweight title. Eubank on the other hand, despite being undefeated in 24 contests (14 stoppages), was the underdog, simply because of the opposition he had faced up to this point. Benn had come off a first round TKO over Iran Barkley, and an eighth-round stoppage over Doug DeWitt, both WBO world middleweight contests, whereas Eubank had been fighting the likes of Reginaldo dos Santos and Kid Milo. The pressure was certainly on the flamboyant monocle wearing future great, who had been calling out Benn as early as 1988.
Despite a sabotaged ring walk entrance for Eubank, which featured his iconic ‘Simply the Best,’ soundtrack by Tina Turner being stopped, supposedly Team Benn, the Sussex fighter was undeterred and hungry to meet his nemesis head on. Springing over the ropes, Eubank ran sideways past Benn, engaging in a deep and dark stare, intending to rattle Benn, but this was not Benn’s first rodeo, albeit, Eubank certainly seemed to do a good job of getting under Nigel’s skin!
From the first bell, it was an old-fashioned shoot out, which leant in Benn’s favour, especially after catching Eubank cleanly in the fourth round. Benn had actually split Eubank’s tongue but Chris never let on to his trainer, Ronnie Shields, in fear that a medic may stop the fight; which would have been totally justifiable for such a painful injury.
Perhaps aware that he couldn’t sustain a similar blow again, Eubank started to unleash his own power shots and by the fifth, Benn’s left eye was pretty much closed. Seconds after the bell sounds for round six, Eubank threw a straight right, Benn slipped it and unleashed a left hook to the body, which had Eubank curling up in obvious discomfort and holding on to Benn. Sensing Eubank was hurt, Benn went for him and in doing so, left himself open. Between his shut eye and Eubank’s greater accuracy ratio of landing shots, the tide started to turn. Or did it?
By the eighth round it was extremely close on the scorecards and Benn came out all guns blazing, hooks, overhand rights, more hooks, and finally one overhand shot which caused Eubank to hit the canvas for a count of eight.
Eubank claimed it was a slip and looked totally unfazed by the blow, but either way, this moved Benn in front on points.
Come round nine, Eubank was picking his shots like a sniper, while Benn was having lesser success due to sight issues and perhaps a little less gas in the tank. Eubank’s jab became a thing of beauty and despite a slip, which may have perhaps led Benn into a false sense of security, Eubank unleashed a big right hand after another ramrod jab, followed by a cracking left hook. With Benn on wobbly legs, Eubank unloaded his full arsenal and with only four seconds remaining in the round, referee, Richard Steele intervened and brought a halt to the contest.
Eubank went on to defend his WBO middleweight title three times. The first two outings were by stoppage victories, against Dan Sherry and Gary Stretch, whereas the third victory was a highly contested majority decision against Michael Watson, which had the arena unleashing a chorus of boos.
Three months later, Eubank met Watson again, but for the WBO super middleweight title. In a fight which saw Watson dominate, going into the last 18 seconds of round 11, Watson floored Eubank for the first time in his career. After taking a count, Eubank got up and threw a wild uppercut, which caught Watson flush on the chin. Unfortunately, Watson never fully recovered from the blow and Eubank finished the fight early in the twelfth round. Watson sustained major brain trauma, and Eubank was now having to live with a heavy burden.
Eubank defended his title a further seven times over the next two years, including victories over the likes of Thulani Malinga, but had to grind out a draw against Belfast boxer, Ray Close. Benn on the other hand was far more active, fighting 10 times and picking up the WBC super middleweight title with a third round stoppage over Mauro Galvano. The unification rematch was officially on course.
On 9 October 1993, the pair met at Old Trafford stadium for one of the most highly anticipated domestic rematches, entitled ‘Judgement Day,’ promoted by Don King. Whilst Eubank was still with long term trainer, Shields, Benn had changed to Jimmy Tibbs, who would train Benn for a total of seven world title fights, with no losses during their partnership. The Canning Town great had Benn working a different, more intelligent strategy to the first encounter. He wanted him to pick his punches more wisely and the sage advice from Tibbs was, ‘Make him miss, then make him pay.’
In front of a sellout crowd of over 42,000 attendees and over 16.5 million people watching on free-to-air television in the UK alone, the pair put on a worthy rematch, however, the action was not a touch compared to the first encounter, in terms of brutality, injuries and work rates.
As Eubank jumped over the ropes, legendary commentator, Reg Gutteridge said, ‘The ego has landed,’ whilst Benn emerged to the loud chimes of Big Ben. Both men came out with a more cautious approach, relying on their boxing skills rather than standing toe to toe, proving their machismo. Benn’s work rate was superior to Eubank’s and if it hadn’t been for his low blows, one of which cost him a point deduction, Benn would have been crowned unified super middleweight world champion that night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for the Dark Destroyer.
Ending with a tantalising final round, the final scores read: 115–113 Eubank, 114–113 Benn, and 114–114. Eubank would eventually admit many years later that he felt Nigel had won.
The only real loser that night was promoter, Don King. The controversially flamboyant promoter has stated in both their contracts, that both the winner and loser would join his stable of fighters straight after the contest. However, there was no caveat made for a draw and consequently, both fighters were off the hook.
A rubber match was in the planning, but Benn took a different route to world honours. After their bout, Eubank relinquished the WBC supermiddleweight strap and four months later, Benn fought Henry Wharton for the vacant title, gaining a wide points victory. After a routine title defence, Benn accepted a lucrative, yet very risky fight against the 160lbs WBC world champion, Gerald McClellan, in his backyard of America. In his previous four fights, McClellan had stopped all his opponents during title defences, including two devastating victories over Julian Jackson. Pretty much every journalist had picked McClellan to be a two-weight world champion over Benn. Despite almost having Benn out of the fight and certainly out of the ring in the first round, followed by a further knockdown in the eighth, Benn stopped McClellan in the tenth, in a contest which sadly saw the American suffer life changes injuries due to brain damage.
Benn defended his WBC crown a couple more times, then lost to Thulani Malinga, followed by two back top back losses against Steve Collins. He retired in 1996. In the meantime, Eubank defended his WBO super middleweight strap six times, then lost it to Steve Collins and never regained world honours again. A loss against Joe Calzaghe for his old 168lbs WBO title inspired a move up to cruiserweight and after two gruelling losses against Carl Thompson, Eubank retired in 1998.
The pair would never lock horns for the third time, but without a doubt, their contest is ingrained in British boxing as one of the memorable and explosive match ups.
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