LAST night I had the strangest dream. No, this isn’t the opening line of a Matthew Wilder track – I dreamt that Nigel Benn walked though Sakio Bika as only Benn can for a second-round stoppage, looking as good as he was in 1990. Of course, this is not reality but it does show that this is embedded in my consciousness. Benn is as close to an idol as I’ve ever had. I grew up watching the marauding, exciting puncher on Seconds Out – a mid-week ITV show which invariably featured either Benn knocking someone over in double-quick time or George Collins doing something similar, if not as fast. So I find myself torn between thinking what a bad idea this fight is and, dare I say it, real excitement at the thought of seeing this fantastic, brave fighter laying it all on the line one more time. Does this make me a bad person? I think all I can say is, should the fight go ahead, I wish you all the best, Nigel. You owe us boxing fans nothing and I will never forget the excitement you brought to Wednesday evenings in around 1987. Mark Bambury
WILDER’S SOUR GRAPES
I HAVE just read the Deontay Wilder article in the October 17 issue and I have to say that two things surprised me. When Wilder says that “Nobody gives me the credit I deserve”, he is wrong. I believe most boxing fans give him a lot of credit. He is a fine and exciting champion. But when he talks about the final-round knockdown of Tyson Fury involving a “slow count”, that is just sour grapes, in my opinion. Wilder was as shocked as everybody else when Fury rose from the canvas. I would suggest that Wilder should forget the sour grapes and instead concentrate on putting things right in the rematch. If, of course, that match happens. Chris Strange
LONG-TIME READER
I REALLY enjoyed reading your 100 Greatest Heavyweight Boxers and 100 Greatest British Boxers bookazines. These lists are obviously subjective, but in my opinion, I would’ve found places for Ronnie James and Johnny Summers in the 100 best British fighters. In the future, it’d be great if you could one day produce bookazines on the 100 greatest middleweights and the 100 greatest British heavyweights. I’ve been reading Boxing News for 46 years and I collect old issues. In fact, I’ve got got every issue from 1958 – the year I was born. Mervyn Mason
SCOTLAND’S FINEST
I’M a big fan of the Yesterday’s Heroes and EBA articles in Boxing News. Ken Buchanan is one of my favourite fighters of all-time, so I especially enjoy reading about him. I remember watching his fight with Benny Benitez on TV with my late dad. Ken was a wonderful boxer – the best Scotland has ever produced, in my opinion. Kevin Dakers
