Nigel Benn says man is the best he has faced after 15 world title fights

Nigel Benn has faced an elite selection of middleweight and super middleweights throughout his career, but only one man is considered the best he has ever shared a ring with.

“The Dark Destroyer” suffered his first professional defeat to the skilled Michael Watson, who ultimately stopped him in the sixth round in 1989.

After this, Benn was able to repair his formidable reputation and quickly won the WBO world middleweight title against Doug DeWitt, before defending it with a first round victory against Iran Barkley in 1990.

It was then on his next outing that the Ilford man encountered Chris Eubank Sr, his fierce domestic rival, and found himself on the receiving end of a ninth-round run.

The two then collided a second time just under three years later, this time at 168 pounds, where Benn felt aggrieved to have come away with a very controversial draw.

Late in his career, Benn suffered two more defeats against Steve Collins, another great middleweight and super middleweight, but it was Gerald McClellan, whom he beat in 1995, who immediately became his best opponent of all time.

Heading into their competition after three consecutive first rounds, all at world championship level, McClellan had certainly established himself as a monster puncher.

But while their fight offered a truly thrilling spectacle, where Benn earned a 10th-round stoppage victory, with McClellan ultimately left with a life-altering brain blood clot and now suffering permanent damage..

In an interview with Ring MagazineHowever, Benn insists that McClellan’s ferocious power puts the American above any other opponent he has clashed with.

“Gerald McClellan [was the best] from afar. He had an incredible knockout rate and was a prolific puncher. There was a mile between him and anyone else.

“I came out of that fight with a damaged nose and jaw and I was urinating blood. Afterward, I lay in bed for three days and I had a shadow on my brain. That shows what a powerful champion this man was.”