The Tragic Story of Gerald McClellan
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by SSreporters
Gerald McLellan was a star boxer, who had an up and coming future. He had the hardest punch anyone in the middleweight division had ever witnessed, even harder than Julian Jackson. McLellan proved that by knocking Jackson out in the 5th round of their 1993 bout. It was a thrilling fight, and Jackson had McClellan hurt. He had shown signs of dizziness after the fight, he would continue his career. One scary moment, but that's boxing.
He had a 31-2 record coming into his bout with British man Nigel Benn in the UK, with 29 knockouts, most of them within 3 rounds. That's how great he was. Gerald had to go up in weight to fight Nigel, who was a super middleweight star. Fight time, Benn was 168 pounds, McLellan was 165.
It looked like Benn was about to get a beating, knocked down 20 seconds into the first round, literally out of the ring. He got up, and continued to fight. It looked like McLellan and Benn had a war to remember, and Gerald dropped Benn again in the 8th round, with the Brit still standing. It would be the last knockdown in McLellan's career.
Two rounds later, McLellan was pounded by a combination of punches by Benn, causing him to take a knee, he was counted out after collapsing. Benn had won a thriller, little did he know what had happened. The man who had so much potential, had suffered a life-threatening blood clot in the brain.
Immediate surgery was needed, but after he regained consciousness, doctors discovered major brain damage.
Gerald, to this day, aged 40, is blind in both eyes, almost completely deaf, barely capable of walking. In addition to that, Gerald's short-term memory was very poor. Sure there are many foundations to help his cause, but it may be irreversible at this point.
A truly tragic story, of such a young and sensational fighter. It sheds a tear to your eye to think that he had the chance to become a legend, and now he can no longer see.
