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Nigel Benn v Marvin Hagler
In one of the match ups of the first round both enter the ring confident, there has been an air of respect between the two in the build up to this fight. Benn claims it is the hardest he has ever trained for a fight, while Hagler as usual is giving little away. They meet in the middle of the ring and touch gloves during the referees instructions, both men’s eyes are burning with intensity, they need to get this going before the place explodes with tension and excitement.
The bell for the first round sounds and the too fights rush each other, Hagler is starting in an orthadox stance, Benn rushes in and loads up with a huge over hand right, Hagler sees it coming a miles off and rolls underneath it following back with a perfectly timed left hook which catches Benn cold and off balance. Been staggers to his left and Hagler follows in with a one two combinations that leaves Benn sprawling on the canvas in disarray. After all the build up for this one surely it can’t be over this quickly?
Benn scrambles to his feet on rubbery legs, that one hurt. Hagler is a great finisher and as the referee allows Benn to continue Hagler goes in for the kill. For anyone that knows Nigel Benn he is like a wounded animal and at his most dangerous when he is hurt. Hagler throws a straight ring hand but Benn manages to slip it and unloads with one of his trademark left hooks which lands flush on the chin of the oncoming Hagler. This time it’s Hagler who is hurt rocking back on his heals.
At first Benn possibly still dazed is unaware of the real damage he has just caused and by the time he reacts Hagler is moving freely again with his hands up. Benn rushes him throwing flurries of punches, Haglers head seems clear and he is blocking the shots well all be it being pushed back into a corner. Hagler turns defence into attack and fires back with his own shots, neither men seemed fazed by the shots anymore and are concentrating hard to get there own shots through, this one could live up to the expectations after all. Neither men hear the bell for the end of the first round and continue hitting each other with bombs until the referee bravely separates them. Both men are pushed to arms length but stand staring at each other refusing to take a back step, the referee pushes both back to there respective corners.
Round two starts a little different to the first, neither rushes in and they circle each other like a time bomb counting down to explosion. Hagler switches back to a south paw stance, as he switches Benn throws a straight right hand down the pipe which lands flush, Hagler takes it well and time bomb explodes Hagler fires back and both men stand toe to toe. The large ring is wasted on these two who might as well be in a telephone box. First Hagler seems wobbled but then fires back and Benn seems hurt, what a fight. Benn jumps in with a big left hook and the heads smash together, Benn was caught high on the forehead and although staggers back holding his head, Hagler gets it right in the right eye, opening up a nasty cut. Hagler dabs the bleeding eye with his glove and then steps straight back into the action. The bell ends yet another amazing round.
There is a worried look in Hagler’s corner as the ring doctor looks at the cut on Haglers eye, the corner wipes away the blood, it is a bad cut in a awful position, the blood flowing directly into the eye. The doctor shakes his head, will give you another round and then we will have another look he says. Hagler’s corner man turn to Hagler and shouts you gotta stop this boy, lets have a big effort, Hagler nods in agreement. The bell for the third starts and Hagler turns back to orthodox to try and give the eye as much protection as he can, keeping his right hand high against his head. Benn can smell blood and moving to his left throwing as many left hooks into the eye as he can muster, Hagler fires back with some great shots, the eye doesn’t seem to be affecting his attacking options.
While moving to his left Benn meets a sweet right upper cut from Hagler, Benn looks hurt and staggers back, Hagler sees the opportunity and unloads with every shot in the book pushing Benn back into the corner. The referee is taking a closer look at Benn as for the first time there isn’t much coming back, just as he about to leap in and stop the action Benn winds up a left hook which comes from his waist area and swings it in the direction of Hagler missing by absolute miles but he put his whole body behind it and as it misses he follows it to the canvas with the huge momentum of the shot. The referee signals no knock down and Benn uses every second to recover. Hagler is just about to jump on him again as the bell sounds to end the round. Hagler shakes his head as he walks back to his corner knowing he had the fight in the palm of his hand.
The fourth starts and Benn has somehow got a new lease of life and comes out bouncing. This time it’s Hagler who is looking tired, probably from the frustration of the previous round, the corner have done a decent job with the cut and Hagler has been allowed at least another round. Benn unloads with bombs crunching into Haglers bald dome, many a fighter would have been carried out the ring after taking half the shots that these two have so far, Hagler does his best to block, the cut seeps blood into his eye once again affecting his vision. In this round Hagler just doesn’t seem to have answers to Benn, and for the first time in the fight Benn looks really on top. Benn continues the work for the whole round, Hagler does his best to block and move but that was a big round for Benn. As the bell sounds Benn raises his arms and screams to the crowd who by this time are mostly out of their seats cheering Benn’s new found success.
The rest Hagler had in the fourth appears tactical as he roars out for the fifth like a steam train. He starts but switch hitting and picking Benn off almost a will the energy that Benn had in the last round seems to melt away. Hagler forces Benn back into his own corner and unloads with huge punches most of them landing flush on Benn who is now wilting under the attack. The referee take a good look at Benn and says something. This time there is nothing coming back and Hagler refuses to stop the onslaught, the referee speaks again, this time it can be heard, “you need to do something Nigel”, as the words come out Hagler lands four heavy shots to Benn’s head which is flopping around, the referee dives in with no other choice and calls an end to a fantastic fight. Benn slumps against the referee his head buried into his shoulder. Hagler spins around and raises his hands aloft, knowing that the fight would go down as an all time classic.
With a great TKO victory Hagler moves on to the second round of the competition. Benn losses but can walk away with his head held high, as he gave it his all.
Watch out on Friday 22nd for the next gripping 1st Round action between Chris Eubank and Carl “the Cobra” Froch
