Who is Gerald McClellan? Did the boxing legend have one of the most tragic career-ending in history?
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gerald McClellan was known as the miniature version of Mike Tyson. Check out the details of his final fight and its aftermath.
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Gerald McClellan (Image Credits - Essentially Sports/Twitter)
Gerald McClellan is a former professional boxer who competed in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions. The promoter of Mike Tyson, Don King, acted as his manager and promoter. He called McClellan the miniature version of Mike Tyson. McClellan amazed the world of boxing when Tyson was incarcerated in prison.
Gerald McClellan started his career in 1988 and put on a ten-fight winning streak in his first year as a professional. He lost back-to-back decisions in 1989 in a career setback. However, he bounced back quickly with a 12-fight winning streak and won the WBO middleweight title. Four fights later, McClellan won the WBC middleweight title. He won 29 of his 31 career wins by knockout.
McClellan’s knockout power made boxing fans, and Don King compare him to a non-heavyweight version of Mike Tyson. However, he had one of the most tragic endings to a boxing ring fighter. There have been deaths in the past inside a boxing ring. However, in modern boxing history, no one had a story ending like McClellan.
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Who did Gerald McClellan compete against in his final bout?
Gerald McClellan moved to the super middleweight division to compete for the WBC title. He fought WBC super middleweight champion Nigel Benn in a blockbuster clash. British boxer Benn possessed incredible punching power and was nicknamed “The Dark Destroyer.” McClellan came to the enemy territory in London to fight for the title.
The American boxer knocked Benn out of the ring in the first round. A slow count in favor of the hometown hero helped Benn get back into the boxing match. Many analysts believed there was a bias towards Benn during the bout. Little did McClellan know that he had to fight the referee, Benn, and fate the same night.
What happened to Gerald McClellan against Nigel Benn?
Once the fight resumed after the first knockdown, McClellan looked out of his element. He appeared gassed after the second round. The following rounds included brutal back-and-forth action. In the middle rounds, Benn took control, only for McClellan to return and land another knockdown in the eighth round.
Benn gassed after the knockdown and lept forward to punch, but instead, his head brutally collided with McClellan. It changed the trajectory of McClellan’s life. In the tenth round, Benn knocked down McClellan twice, and the referee counted him out. After the fight ended, McClellan walked back to his corner and collapsed to the ground. He was immediately taken to the hospital and remained in a coma for two weeks. A doctor performed surgery to remove the blood clots inside his head.
Later years of Gerald McClellan
There were plenty of repercussions for the damage accumulated by McClellan in his final fight. He lost his eyesight and the ability to walk unassisted in life. McClellan also had hearing impairment after the surgery. Later, he regained some strength in his lower body to walk with a cane. However, he never got his eyesight back.
Over the years, multiple reasons were floated around the possible reasons for the life-altering damages McClellan underwent. However, the exact cause remains unknown. To this day, in the mainstream boxing avenue, no boxer has ever experienced what McClellan did in 1995.
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