Michael Watson (born March 15, 1965) is a former boxer from England. During his fighting days he had the reputation as the nice guy of British boxing, the people's choice who kept to himself (which contrasted sharply with the likes of Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank who both demanded the limelight). He did not fulfill his dream of becoming world champion as a result of his career being cut short and ending prematurely through tragedy, but many in England see him as a hero.

Career

Watson took up boxing at the age of fourteen after being beaten up by the local bully, an issue that would be rectified later on in his career with a victory over Nigel Benn. He started out at the Crown and Manor boxing club, where he proved to be a quick learner, winning the 1980 London Schools title in the under-71kg weight class.

Due to over-confidence in his abilities,[original research?] especially his powerful right hand, he lost his first fight in the 1981 Junior ABA final against Garry Sanderson. He looked impressive during the 1980/81 national tournament, making smart movements and being smooth in the delivery of his punches. In the semi-finals he finally lost to former champion and southpaw Roy Carroll. Though he lost, he still had an impressive 20-2 record at the Crown and Manor Club and with this experience he moved to the Colvestone Boxing Club.

At the Colvestone Club, Michael trained and sparred for over a year with Kirkland Laing, Dennis Andries, and Darren Dyer, an English star known as "The Phantom". After this, he entered the 1983/84 Nationals at under-75kg and won the title. This led him to pursue his first senior championship the following year.

On his 19th birthday, he fought John Beckles, the premier English boxer, during the 1984 London ABAs. The fight was highly anticipated due to both Beckles and Watson being national champions. This match was also seen as a huge rivalry since Beckles boxed for the Islington Boxing Club and Watson's hometown was Islington. Watson entered as as a big underdog but ended the fight in just over 30 seconds (Beckles went on to win medals at the European and World Championships over the next few years). Following this big win for Watson he was seen as Great Britain's best hope for a medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Unfortunately, due to over-confidence[original research?] again he suffered a huge setback in the 1984 British ABA semi-finals when he lost to Scotland's Russell Barker. Because of this loss, Watson's place on the Olympic team was taken by Liverpool's Brian Schumacher, who easily beat Barker in the final. This was also seen as disappointing since Watson had beaten Schumacher, the son of German parents, twice previously. Watson did end up travelling to Los Angeles with the Great Britain Olympic team as a reserve.

Another huge match in Watson's career came two years after his poor showing in 1984. In his seventh professional fight, he took on reigning European amateur champion Carlton Warren. If Warren beat Watson he was promised a shot at Herol 'Bomber' Graham, the greatest post-war British boxer never to win a world title, as early as his fifth pro fight. Warren and Watson went at it in Royal Albert Hall in London, both boxers fighting as if it were the end of the world, with Watson coming out on top in the end. Surprisingly, coins were thrown into the ring after Watson's arm was raised. It was a token of appreciation for Watson's skills, and boxing history was made that night because it was the last time this occurrence came up (the term 'nobbins' referred to an old practice in boxing of throwing coins into the ring but this rarely ever happened).

His defeat at the hands of future European champion James Cook came shortly after his victory over Warren but came at a good time in Watson's career. The match was decided on points, so it showed that he was out-hussled and out-worked rather than out-boxed or out-classed. Soon after there was talk of fights with Dennis Andries or Tony Sibson because Watson was struggling to make the middleweight class weight limit and this was seen as taking away the delivery he used to have in his right hand. In the end he remained a middleweight and racked up seven wins between his loss to Cook and his first bout in 1988.

By the time 1988 came around, the smooth-boxing Watson was getting frustrated at Mickey Duff's inability to land him fights with ranked opposition. He got his wish when he stepped in as a late substitute to face top-rated Dangerous Don Lee, a switch-hitting American. Lee was the most feared and avoided middleweight of the early-to-mid 80's, but was not quite the same by the time he fought Watson. Lee was supposed to have been fighting Herol Graham in a WBA elimination fight, and nobody seemed to give Watson much chance because Lee was going to let out his frustrations at Graham pulling out late onto Watson. A young Gerald McClellan, future world middleweight champion, was in London working as Lee's sparring partner. Watson stood with Lee for five rounds and came out on top. That victory set-up a 10-round IBF elimination fight with Michael Olajide at Caesar's Palace, as chief support for the Frank Tate-Michael Nunn fight. Michael Watson had arrived, or so he thought. Olajide pulled out of the fight at the last-minute, and Watson disappointingly had to settle for fighting late-replacement Israel Cole. That fight only lasted two rounds after an accidental headbutt by Watson led to Cole being cut and the match being called a draw. Three more wins for Watson set him up for his revenge against Nigel Benn in 1989.

On May 21, 1989, Nigel Benn, the power-puncher and former East End Army hero was 22-0 with 22 KO's and was guaranteed a multi-million dollar Las Vegas showdown with Michael Nunn if he knocked out Watson. It was thought that Nigel Benn would quickly take care of Watson, that 'The Dark Destroyer' was supposed to conquer the world. In Watson's first fight on terrestrial ITV (his fights had been shown on BBC on Saturday afternoons), and his first fight screened world-wide (including live across America on free TV), he put on a counter-punching clinic to shock the world with a classic 'rope-a-dope' in a tent at Finsbury Park. He surprised everyone with his peek-a-boo style, timing, and accuracy in seemingly exposing Benn as nothing more than a paper tiger. Watson was seen as old-fashioned and reserved when compared to Benn, who had a very flashy ring entrance, coming out to Conroy Smith's 'Dangerous'. Watson was able to show Nigel Benn who was the best by knocking him out with a jab in the sixth. Thus completing his revenge from his earlier days, he went on to fight six more times. He went 3-3 in those last six bouts.
Source : Wikipedia