Gerald McClellan

Gerald Allen McClellan (born October 23, 1967) is an American retired professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 1995. He is a two-time middleweight world champion, having held the WBO title from 1991 to 1992, and the WBC title from 1993 to 1995. McClellan was forced to retire from boxing after a severe brain injury suffered during his final fight in 1995, a loss to WBC super middleweight champion Nigel Benn.

Known for his formidable punching power and one of the highest 1st-round-knockouts ratio in the history of boxing, McClellan was dubbed ‘a miniature Mike Tyson’ by his promoter Don King (Tyson himself, while being incarcerated, reportedly called McClellan ‘the best fighter in the world,’) The Ring magazine rated McClellan #27 on their list of "100 Greatest Punchers Of All Time". In 2007, McClellan was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in California, not to be confused with the more widely recognized International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota.

The last fight

In February, 1995, in England, the fight against the local WBC super middleweight champion Nigel Benn took place. The fight was spectacular, in the first round McClellan knocked out his opponent, but the fight continued. In round 9 Nigel Benn loses his balance and bangs his head on McClellan's head. McClellan crouches down on one knee and holds on to his eye, the ref doesn't notice and continues the fight. Between rounds 9 and 10, McClellan asks his seconds to stop the fight due to pain in the area of his eye that he can barely see, but they don't listen to him and continue the fight. In round 10 it was obvious that something was wrong with Gerrald, Nigel Benn hits McClellan in the head, causing him to sit down on one knee, the referee counts out, but McClellan gets up and misses another punch from Benn, sits down again on one knee and never gets up again. The fight ends with Nigel Benn winning. McClellan goes to his corner and passes out. He was carried off on a stretcher. The fight ended in tragedy: McClellan suffered a brain injury and was permanently paralyzed, he was also blind and almost completely deaf. The fight was named "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine

Professional career

First fight August 12, 1988

Last fight February 25, 1995

Number of fights 34

Number of wins 31

Knockout victories 29

losses 3