Tony Wilson gets to meet Nigel Benn again

Boxing legend Nigel Benn marked St Georges Day with fellow world champion Richie Woodhall and Black Country ring great Tony Wilson last night.

Former WBO and long-standing WBC super middleweight boss Benn was the feature attraction at Scott Murray's Bar Sport in Cannock Town Centre.

'The Dark Destroyer' engaged in a question and answer session for over 300 guests staged by Telford's Woodhall, one of his successors for the WBC crown, writes Craig Birch.

Wilson, Wolverhampton's last British champion and 1984 Olympian, also attended and first met a young Benn in his late 1980s heyday, on his sparring trips to London.

He said: "I never got to step through the ropes with Nigel when I was training, but I always remember he was a very nice and humble man.

"By the time he had really established himself as a world champion, I had retired. It was great to see him again and have a catch up."

Woodhall added: "I always looked up to Nigel as a great fighter and, when we were amateurs, he was a full international while I was on the young team.

"I never sparred him, though, even though we were on the same squads. He had turned pro before I went to the Olympics in 1988.

"I ended up winning his title, which was an honour, but I was glad I wasn't around when he was the champion!

"He was a phenomenal and ferocious puncher, so it would have been very difficult. It's all about timing - that's the way boxing is."

Londoner Benn, now 51 and a born-again Christian, is now living in Australia and is back on our shores for a month for his UK tour, before heading back down under on May 10.

He said: "It's a lovely country, I have been there for two-and-a-half years now and it's been a fantastic experience.

"As much as it's nice to be home, I won't be coming back here to live, ever! I am enjoying the quiet life over there.

"It's family time for me now, my wife Carolyne and my kids are over there with me and it's great."