No Middle Ground

by Sanjeev Shetty

  Those expecting war to break out may have been heartened by what they saw midway through the third round. Benn was warned again for hitting Eubank low, who responded by doing the same. But the pattern of the fight was not changing. Each man was showing huge respect to the other. Neither landed a punch of note in round three until the end, when Eubank left his chin exposed long enough for Benn to dare to throw a left hook. The punch would have had more impact if the thrower had not been on his heels and the receiver had not had one of the best chins in the sport. A follow-up punch or two might have had Eubank in more trouble, but the two boxers clinched till the end of the round.

  The lack of action in comparison to that night in Birmingham was attributed to three separate factors. Neither man seemed desperate to put himself through the physical agony they had both endured then. There was also the fact that Benn was not making himself as easy a target this time and Eubank always struggled against fighters who were elusive. And though neither would admit it, the thought of what had happened to Michael Watson must have inhibited them. Benn might have been working to a plan based on Watson’s performance in the rematch but he wasn’t being reckless. And there was so much at stake – neither man’s ego could stomach disappointment at this stage, with so much time in the fight left. Far better for each to stand back and wait for the other to commit.

  A glimpse at the scorecards at that moment showed that the lack of intensity suited Eubank. Two of the judges were American and one of those, Carol Castellano, had given the WBO champion all three rounds. The other, Chuck Hassett, scored rounds one and three to Eubank, giving the other to Benn, who, according to the only English judge, Harry Gibbs, only won the third round. It would not have come as a surprise to Benn that Gibbs sided with Eubank – British officials have a reputation for favouring boxing over aggression. But given that American judges are famed for the opposite, to have lost all three rounds was a worry for ‘the Dark Destroyer’.

  They’d all agree on calling the fourth for Benn. On two occasions, he’d land right hands which moved Eubank to the ropes, off balance more than hurt, but looking in discomfort. The WBO champion punched less and covered up more, mindful of what had happened the last time he’d fought Benn, who didn’t commit himself entirely to attack. And there was yet another warning for punching low for the WBC champion. Not one of those blows had hurt Eubank; in fact, they seemed legitimate enough because of how high his trunks were. But with neither Tibbs nor Benn having raised concerns about what was an acceptable height for body punches, they were leaving themselves at the mercy of referee O’Connell and the possible deduction of a point.

  Round five threatened, like the previous four, to be more explosive. It began with Eubank landing a hard jab which rocked Benn back to his corner. The WBO champion ripped more punches at his opponent with mixed success, but the sight of Benn pinned against the ropes, ducking and weaving away from blows and then nodding to his corner that he wasn’t in any trouble, could not have assured his supporters that he was in control or that his strategy was working. By the end of the round, he was chasing Eubank again but without too much success. Both men were throwing more punches than they had done in Birmingham, but there were, as Jim Watt noted, ‘more missing’.

  No round had felt pivotal as yet but the sixth delivered the moment all Benn supporters had feared since Larry O’Connell’s first warning for low punching. A point was taken from the Essex man for another blow that landed low. Benn could have few complaints – he’d been warned three times already and whether those punches were low or not, they were hard. As big a worry was how little he had impressed the judges up to that point. Without the point deduction, Benn trailed by a point on the cards of Gibbs and Hassett and five points on Castellano’s. His controlled aggression had not been a success. Even in that round, when he had responded to being pushed out of the ring by landing half a dozen solid punches, he had not done enough to win it on any of the cards.

  I remember thinking, when I watched this fight live, that scoring was pretty difficult, as very few rounds saw either man putting together sustained periods of domination. Watching Eubank flick out a series of impressive looking jabs, some of which landed, but quite a few of which missed, may have been enough to convince the purist that he was bossing it. Proof of whether those shots were landing or not seemed to belong on Benn’s face, which was unmarked. Equally, if he had landed any of his power punches cleanly, the chances were that Benn may have been floored or been in more trouble than he’d shown so far. Likewise, Benn’s stalking of Eubank should surely have been worth more if he’d have forced Eubank to cover up as regularly as he had done three years earlier. But that had not happened as yet. The wincing which had been so evident at the NEC when Benn landed those terrifying body punches had been replaced by the mild discomfort of being hit low. It would be an exaggeration to say both men were pulling their punches, but their strategies indicated a fear of going to that dark place again.

  Those who thought Benn had regressed as a fighter were re-evaluating. He was definitely less fluent and more cautious, but he was, in general, following Tibbs’s orders to put pressure on Eubank. Beating Eubank meant so much to him, he had in fact changed his approach. People thought that Benn would only be satisfied by knocking out Eubank, but it was slowly becoming evident that victory would be welcome in any way it came. There seemed less idea as to what Eubank’s strategy was, except that it was not that different from the way he’d been boxing for the past twelve months – ever since the Watson fight, in fact. Years later, he would admit what many people believed was obvious, that he had underestimated Benn and found that his opponent was ‘on his game that night’.

  It would not be the first rematch that failed to live up to the original. The light welterweight pair of Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello fought a classic fourteen-round battle in 1982, during which both men hurt each other on regular occasions. Pryor would win by stoppage in the fourteenth but both men were praised for their efforts in a bout voted best of the year. In 1983, their highly anticipated rematch saw much more trepidation, with Arguello much more defensive, before being counted out in the tenth round. Going back further than that, Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles waged a fifteen-round war in 1954 which the former won by decision to retain his world heavyweight title. Later that year, Marciano would beat Charles in half the time, with the challenger’s body perhaps mindful of the pain he’d gone through just three months earlier.

  The other side of that coin is two fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Their first meeting in 1971 was a classic, where both landed and took heavy punishment before Frazier won a unanimous points decision. They’d fight for a third time four years later, in the famous ‘Thrilla in Manila’ in which the punishment they both suffered was even more severe. Ali described it as the ‘closest thing to death’ even though he won, with Frazier’s trainer Eddie Futch pulling him out before the start of the fifteenth. The brutality of that fight could be explained best by the fact that both men became spent forces, their bodies weakened by repeated beatings at the hands of the some of the greatest heavyweights who ever lived.

  That was not the case for Benn or Eubank. The latter had been in a few harder fights than his opponent but, for the last two years, Barry Hearn had ensured that his opposition did not put him in the situations he’d been in for the first Benn battle or the Watson rematch. For Benn, avenging one of his two defeats had meant modifying his style, to the point where he was taking fewer risks than anyone could remember. And he had no sense, at this stage, that he was behind on all three cards. The instructions before the fight had started were to put the pressure on his opponent, to make him work hard, with the hope being that Eubank’s notorious stamina issues would become the decisive factor. For the first six rounds, the WBO champ had tried to match his opponent’s work rate – he had attempted the same when he fought Watson the second time and struggled as the bout wore on.

  Round seven suggested that neither fighter was prepare
d to make radical changes to his plans. Benn pursued his man, Eubank made sure that neither man was ever within punching range and you could only pity the judges. It was impossible to spot any clean punches being landed; if there was one conclusion to draw, it was that Eubank’s accuracy wasn’t something to behold. Against an opponent he couldn’t miss in their first battle, he was frequently left punching at air, bemused, it seemed, by the fact that Benn was moving his head from side to side. Both men slipped to the canvas as well, with Eubank’s loss of balance causing many in the crowd to believe that he had been floored by a punch. A Benn left hook had grazed the top of his head, but Eubank was already on his way down by the time the punch had connected. The noise remained incessant, mostly in favour of ‘the Dark Destroyer’. A lustily sung ‘Nigel Benn, Nigel Benn, Nigel Bennnnnnnnnn’ punctuated the air and certainly gave the neutral the idea that he was ahead. On British television sets, Jim Watt was telling viewers that he had Benn winning the fight and that the quality of Eubank’s work was not of the highest calibre.

  The fatigue that many suspected Eubank was suffering from became very apparent in the following round. Stuck in a clinch for nearly twenty seconds, he was unable to mount any kind of retaliation as Benn continued to pound right hands against his neck and the side of his head. Later in the round, Eubank staggered towards his corner as the result of a Benn right hand, but his uncoordinated appearance owed more to exhaustion than pain. While it was hard to confirm superiority for either man, Eubank’s problems seemed more obvious. He had trained for a fight where the opponent would be a statutory target. Having to think the fight through and force the pace to suit him were not things he was comfortable with. His entire strategy in his pomp was to position himself as a matador – it was why the first fight against Benn had remained his finest performance from start to finish and why Watson had given him so many problems. Benn had fought recklessly three years earlier, whereas Watson’s innate savvy and ring generalship meant he could think three or four moves ahead, especially against less skilled boxers. The other problem for Eubank was the class of opponent he’d faced for the last two years; more often than not, he had not been tested, had not had to operate at his highest level. And now, it was showing. Fighting was the way Eubank stayed fit and sharp, but he had been tackling men whose best days were behind them, whose hunger had long since turned into expedience. And on this night, against an opponent whose need for victory and redemption was greater than any of those, he was struggling for direction and inspiration.

  With four rounds remaining, the noise of the fans, who were probably four to one in favour of Benn, seemed to indicate that the WBC champion was in charge and heading for victory. Neither man had enjoyed a moment that seemed to swing the fight in their balance, but the fact that Benn continued to move forward and had yet to look as dazed as he had in Birmingham meant the moral victories were being won by the man from Ilford. One wonders what the spectators would have made of the fact that Benn was behind on the cards of all three judges after two-thirds of the bout.

  Protect yourself at all times, say the referees before the start of a bout. Nigel Benn would discover the true meaning of that in round nine. After dodging a hook from his opponent, he watched as Eubank lost his balance and ended up with his face on the ground and his legs in the air. His heel managed to hit the back of Benn’s head – it was almost certainly the most trouble the WBC champ had been in. Referee O’Connell allowed Benn a few seconds to recover before inviting both men to continue. Eubank held out a conciliatory glove to Benn, as if to say ‘sorry, it was an accident’. What he was about to do wasn’t. As Benn responded by putting his glove out as well, Eubank threw a right hand at his unprotected chin. The punch missed, with Benn ducking, and Eubank then found himself on the end of a left hook, possibly the best shot of the night. But what Eubank had done, by trying to sucker his opponent, wasn’t anything to admire. It was at odds with what he liked to call ‘the integrity of a fighter’. And it hinted at desperation. For much of the rest of the round, he was on the receiving end of little hooks and jabs. The crowd, which in the main had been behind Benn since the start, roared their approval as their man went forward and landed shots. Sentiment was with Benn as well. Beaten three years earlier but always, it seemed, a warrior, he was apparently earning the chances for revenge.

  It had felt like a Benn round and Eubank’s trainer Ronnie Davies gave his man the slap which was part of their routine – it meant that he needed to fight harder. He did in the tenth, but to no avail. He got caught by a lovely left hook, which seemed to hurt him, and from that point he found himself on the front foot but beaten to the punch. Eubank had been too passive for too long and it was a statement of intent. As Jim Watt would say towards the end of the round, ‘I’ve got Benn in front. He’s always been busier and he has the last word in a lot of the exchanges. And Eubank has not had the accuracy that he usually does.’ Eubank’s psychology was to pose at the end of a round if he felt he might have lost it or had been hurt – and that’s what he did at the end of the tenth. It was part of the package, whether he was winning or losing. It made people wonder whether he actually was in danger and it might influence the minds of the judges who were struggling to separate the pair on their scorecards.

  However much most of those viewing the fight might have agreed with Watt, the three people whose opinions mattered the most didn’t. By the end of round ten, Harry Gibbs had Eubank in front by two points, having given Benn just one of the last three rounds. Carol Castellano, having given Eubank five of the first six, had now gone against him for four consecutive rounds. Even so, she had the WBO champ ahead by a point. Only Chuck Hassett disagreed – he had the fight even. If Eubank won one of the last two rounds on the judges’ cards, he was the winner. Which was easier said than done – the officials had only agreed on three rounds so far.

  There was no way Eubank or his corner could know how the judges were seeing the fight, but informed opinion around ringside could be passed round. The BBC’s radio commentator John Rawling had Eubank ahead, as did the American television commentary team. But the majority of ringside reporters had Benn in front, albeit by a small margin.

  Eubank started the eleventh the way his corner would have wanted. He cornered Benn and unloaded. Jabs, hooks, crosses were all aimed at Benn’s head. The majority glanced off the WBC champ’s head, as he ducked and weaved. But he did not exchange punches. Eubank took a lead in the round. Benn would come back later and land some right hands but he seemed tired. He had been busier for the first ten rounds, that was unquestionable. He also had a history of fading late in fights, when the fire had gone out and he realised he couldn’t knock his opponent out. And as Eubank proved when he beat Watson at White Hart Lane, he was always thinking about how he could win.

  Eubank was warned for the third time by O’Connell, this time for holding Benn’s arms in a clinch and then hitting. Again he escaped punishment. Benn’s body punches continued to look questionable, but he had not been warned since having a point deducted. But as the round came to an end, one was left to wonder how, after all the hype, hate and history, there had been no knockdowns, no cuts and no swellings.

  Eubank had recruited his old amateur trainer Maximo Perez for this bout and he and Davies had taken turns in giving instructions between rounds. For this final round, it was the man who had been with him for his professional career who spoke. ‘You’ve got to stop him, you’ve got to stop him,’ said Davies. The former lightweight is too loyal to his fighter to suggest something that his charge might disagree with, but his words suggested that he felt his man was behind and that only a knockout would do. In the other corner, Jimmy Tibbs, who felt he’d had no reason to reproach his fighter, said simply. ‘This is the biggest round of your boxing career!’

  In the stands, it was felt that this fight was close, but if there was a winner it was Benn. He merely had to survive a Eubank onslaught and avoid a knockdown in order to get the decision. Looking around, there didn’t seem
many Eubank supporters who felt their man had a chance. The momentum and sentiment were with Benn, who had been written off beforehand by so many and was now so near to closing a chapter of his career. In his mind, he could accept that Michael Watson was a better fighter than he was, because he actually liked him. He didn’t like Eubank and had hated losing to him. For Eubank it was not so simple. He didn’t hate Benn – he just didn’t rate him as a boxer or as a human being. And he had struggled with himself throughout. ‘As a champion in my own right, I knew I was more emotionally intelligent than Benn … but I just didn’t have the focus that I did in our first fight.’ And yet, Eubank knew what was on the line – his title, his unbeaten record and the knowledge that he could walk away with that superiority over his nemesis.

  Benn had looked weary the previous round but he began the next round in explosive fashion. A fusillade of blows to Eubank’s chin had the WBO champion on the run. From the stands, it seemed the Brighton man was on the verge of being stopped. He wasn’t responding with punches of his own and looked disconsolate. But Benn had thrown a lot of punches in that opening minute and was now happy to conserve what little energy he had left. Eubank’s responses so far after ninety seconds of the round were inaccurate, but he was now on the front foot. But he kept missing and getting countered. It was what he had done to opponents for the last three years, but in this final act of the fight he was getting a taste of his own medicine. He had talked to Benn throughout the fight, without much response. But now, in a clinch, the pair exchanged words. No one could tell what they were saying, but there didn’t seem much in the way of agreement. ‘A couple of cocky characters,’ said Reg Gutteridge on ITV, summing up in a single phrase why there was so much enmity inside the squared circle. With a minute left, Eubank hurt Benn with an uppercut and then threw everything in an attempt to end the fight. But just as it had been throughout, finding the second, third and fourth punches was beyond him. Rarely had he ever missed as much as he did on this night. At the final bell, both men celebrated, but it was the reaction of the two corners that spoke the loudest. Tibbs, chief second Dean Powell and Benn looked triumphant. Davies, Perez and Barry Hearn seemed less so.