This episode contains issues that some people might find distressing. If you need support or advice on any of the matters raised within the programme, please visit: https://www.samaritans.org/
Our guest on the latest episode of Up Front is the Dark Destroyer - Nigel Benn. A fan favourite throughout his career, Nigel was a two-weight world champion who was involved in some of the most memorable fights in British boxing history.
After taking up the sport while serving in the army, Nigel soon established a reputation as a fearsome puncher. He won the WBO middleweight title in 1990 and the WBC super-middleweight belt in 1992 and is best remembered for his contests against Chris Eubank and Gerald McClellan, the latter of which was sadly to have tragic consequences.
Following his retirement, Nigel struggled with addictions that took him to the brink of taking his own life. He talks candidly about that period of his life and how he turned things around, the fights against Eubank and McClellan and the current boxing scene. He also discusses his son Conor, his potential fight with Chris Eubank Jr and the recent lifting of his provisional doping ban by the National Anti-Doping Panel. Nigel and Simon have strongly disagreed on that subject and, for the first time, they sit down to hear what the other has to say. This is one not to be missed.
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Warning: this episode contains language that some people may find offensive.
00:00 Introduction to Nigel Benn
01:11 Podcast Starts
02:14 Early life
07:33 Finding boxing while in the Army
13:00 The Making of 'The Dark Destroyer'
16:30 Micheal Watson
19:20 Going to America
22:25 Doug DeWitt / Iran Barkley
26:46 Chris Eubank
39:25 Gerald McClellan
48:36 Steve Collins
50:12 Retirement & Christianity
01:00:12 Conor Benn
01:14:48 Boxing Landscape
01:20:14 Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk II