I didn’t really like it. He had my number. “I looked into Tommy’s eyes as we touched gloves and I was on a different kind of f*cking fire,” he reveals. By Ian Aldous: Considering he had an episode of the Netflix documentary series ‘Losers’ entitled ‘The Miscast Champion’ dedicated to his story, it’s immensely ironic when studying everything that Michael Bentt achieved in the amateur and professional games. The fifty-four year-old once sat at the top table of heavyweight boxing, when in October of 1993, he became WBO World heavyweight champion. I processed recognising that I was still alive even though I wasn’t aware I was in an induced coma. “Man, I was in ninth grade.”, Some Tough Questions About the Michael Bennett Situation. I was staying at my brother’s apartment and I called Paul and I said we should investigate the Mickey Duff proposal of being a sparring partner for Mason. It’s been a long experience to get to where I am but I’ve found it incredibly gratifying. Fortunately, he would indeed make the very most of the road that was chosen for him and blossom into a sublimely skillful heavyweight. Today, that pride is even greater. But Michael Sr. sees the Twitter responses and he doesn’t understand the vitriol. Don’t fight’. But it’s not that simple. Market and star power have something to do with that but are the Rays actually a fun team to watch? There’s a word for that and it begins with an ‘E’ (laughs).”. He also sees the people who mean well. Michael Bentt It has been nearly 12 years since that fateful day in England for former WBO heavyweight champion Michael Bentt. _taboola.push({flush: true}); The views expressed in all articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of BoxingNews24 or its affiliates. When you’re approached by a police officer you do whatever you are told to do, what they ask you to do, you just do it. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Who had warned him about the inevitable backlash and scrutiny, and advised him that it wasn’t worth it. You can’t do it. Steward believed wholeheartedly in his charge and would openly assure people of how he expected Bentt to one day beat Mike Tyson. My dad had built a huge amount of resentment at me not making the 88 Olympics and this was my ticket out, so I said: ‘Let’s sign.’”, Bentt was an exceptional amateur but he was not accustomed to the hard atmosphere among the pros at Steward’s dank basement gym in Detroit. “I was ready to die that night, if that’s what I had to do.”, “During the fight, I got hit with a legitimate shot that, if it caught me less prepared, the fight is stopped. Overwhelmed with emotion and visibly in tears in the ring and on live television, life wouldn’t necessarily change for the better. After having won the bronze medal at the 1986 World Amateur Boxing Championships and the 1987 Pan American Games he placed a controversial second-place finish at the 1988 United States Olympic Trials and Box-off's to the Seoul Olympics eventual Gold Medalist, Ray Mercer. Things We Mention In This Episode. Having torn both her right ACL and MCL in April 2019, Azzi Fudd missed nine months before returning to the court nine games into her junior year. “I was terrified, to be honest, after that defeat. His first and only title defence would see the curtain fall for a final time. I took those words with me wherever I went.”, He realised he had more to offer and won his next 10 fights, putting him in line for a showdown with WBO champion Tommy Morrison. We get back to the States and my father is having a conversation with the president of the Jamaican amateur boxing team and my father had won some money back then, quite a substantial amount of money, by the way. All Rights Reserved. He was grateful for the work but “just didn’t belong”. If he had said something, maybe he wouldn’t be with us today.”. I don’t beat Tommy Morrison without the years I spent under Georgie Benton’s tutelage as an amateur. “I was afraid of getting into a boxing ring and throwing a punch against someone whose job it was to knock you on your f*cking ass.”. The film shows a boxer who felt he had not only lost a fight but his own masculinity, which had always been framed by boxing and his father. “I never trusted or believed in the hype.”. “This is why you’re kneeling. He said no and tried to walk away. Bentt shunned the opportunity to go to the Olympics knowing that one day his father would use the fact that he paid for the team to go as leverage against his son.