Nigel Benn
Nigel “The Dark Destroyer” Benn was born in London on the 22nd January 1964, the sixth of seven sons; he went to school in Ilford, before, at the age of 17, joining the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers where he honed his boxing skills. In the army he proved unbeatable and on leaving the army he joined the ranks of professional boxing, making his debut in 1987 in London against Graeme Ahmed. The outcome proved to be inevitable, a second round knock-out, Nigel went on win his next 21 fights in the same devastating fashion and over half of them within the first round. He was awarded The Young Boxer of the Year in 1987, and his all action style and devastating punching power earned him the title the “Dark Destroyer”.
The British public had found a true champion, and Nigel never let them down with many classic encounters against the best. He won his first title in 1988, winning the Commonwealth Middleweight Title against Abdul Sanda, but this was just a stepping-stone to the world stage and in April 1990, Nigel went to Atlantic City, USA, where he beat the reigning WBO World Middleweight Champion Doug DeWitt bymeans of an eighth round knockout. Nigel then defended the title against Iran Barkley in Las Vegas, winning with a first round knockout. This led to the first of the two memorable contests against Chris Eubank. The first fight took place at the NEC Birmingham November 1990, in front of a packed arena, and on this occasion Eubank got the better of Nigel, stopping him in the ninth round. Only the second defeat of Nigel’s career, the next time they met, it would be 1993, at Old Trafford the home of Manchester United, in front of 49,000 people and a television audience of 18 million. It was to be a classic encounter, Nigel defending his WBC Super-middleweight title, with Eubank defending the WBO Super-middleweight title. Nigel had won the WBC version of the title when beating Mauro Galvano in Rome in October 1992, and this was to be his 4th defence of his title and the chance for him to gain revenge for the 1990 defeat. The crowd would not be disappointed in a classic encounter the fight went to the final bell, and even the judges could not separate them as they called the fight a draw.
Since leaving boxing Nigel has made an equal impact in the world of media featuring in ITV's "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" in which Nigel raised funds for the NSPCC. Another television project that Nigel worked on was the Channel 5 programme "Gladiator". Nigel was once again up against is old adversary Chris Eubank. Away from the public gaze Nigel is a devoted family man, his wife Carolyne, and children Dominic, Sde, Renee, Conor and India are now the main focus of his life. Nigel is a devout Christian and lives his life in complete contrast to the man who ruled the boxing world with his fearsome reputation. Nigel is available for personal appearances, question and answer evenings, corporate days and media projects.