O’Neil Bell Tribute (1974-2015): Senselessly Murdered – A True Champion Who Will NEVER Be Forgotten!
By “The Commissioner” Alan J. Kindred
“The Supernova” O’Neil “Give’em Hell” Bell, 27-4-1, 25 KO’s, was in 2006, the lineal undisputed Cruiserweight world champion, on top of the boxing world in his division. Sadly, this past Tuesday night Wednesday morning, November 25th at approximately 12:30 AM, in Atlanta, Georgia, he was shot in the chest and murdered during a robbery. He died at the scene at only 40 years of age, just about a month shy of his 41st birthday. He will be remembered by the boxing community however. While Bell was not ever a household name to casual fans, the hardcore boxing pundits know who he was. It is unfortunate he wasn’t better known, because he fought in a style that everyone can appreciate. He fought in the style that put people on the edge of their seats. He gave drama and walked the tight rope of danger, for both himself and his opponent. Out of 32 bouts, only 4 went to the scorecards, with all others ending by knockouts or stoppage, win or lose.
This fighters passing probably touches me and saddens me a little more than others that have passed, because I was always partial to guys who fought in this style. High offense with low defense type guys give so much of themselves, whether by choice or their genetic make-up, they are seek and destroy guys who tend to either get their guy or they get got themselves. These type of guys will stick in my memory, and they have earned the right to be remembered for what they gave of themselves. Guys like Thomas Hearns, Rocky Graziano, Eddie Cook, Michael Moorer, Diego Corrales, and Arturo Gatti, are all from the same cloth that O’Neil Bell is from. Granted some of these guys rose up the pound for pound charts higher than others, but I think you can see the trend in style I’m talking about. These guys left their heart and souls in the ring, whether they won or lost, and they all dared to be great. So for those that don’t know about Bell, and to some that do but want to have their memory refreshed, let us take a walk down memory lane.
O’Neil Bell was born in Jamaica, on December 29th, 1974. He eventually found his way to the United States and settled in Atlanta, Georgia and found a love for boxing. He turned pro at 23 years of age in February of 1998, knocking out Holyfield in one round, no not that Holyfield. The future world champion Bell would however, lose in just his second fight, to Mohamed Benguesmia, who was highly regarded in the amateur boxing ranks. Benguesmia would amass a 40-3-1, 33 KO’s record over the course of his career, with one of his losses to Antonio Tarver. His victory over Bell was probably the best of his career however.
Bell would rebound nicely after that loss, scoring 11 straight knockout wins over mostly non-descript opponents, before facing the veteran Michael Rush, who was 20-4-1, 13 KO’s at the time, for the NBA Cruiserweight title. Rush had been fighting as a Heavyweight and had recently moved down to Cruiserweight where he was on a 3 fight win streak all by KO. Bell took Rush apart stopping him in 5 rounds. The same amount of rounds Heavyweight contender Hasim Rahman took to stop Rush earlier that year. While Rush was not a world class contender, he had fought some names, so this was the win that announced Bell as a possible player in the Cruiserweight division.
After the win over Rush, Bell kept his momentum going with contention climbing wins over undefeated James Walton, in which he earned the NABF title, and he scored solid wins over fringe contenders Jose Luis Rivera and Jason Robinson. Against Robinson he would get up off the canvas to win a decision, for the first time in his career he heard the final bell ring. His record stood at 16-1, 15 KO’s. It would not be the last time he would display his massive heart. In his next bout he would face his first true top level contender in former IBF world titlist Arthur Williams. The fight would be an all-action fight of the year candidate. The action went back and forth in a war of attrition, with Bell coming out on top, winning by 11th round stoppage.
He would follow this nice win with a few more fights, two more knockouts over non-descript opponents, and a technical draw with Earnest Mateen, that resulted from a head clash cut, before facing Arthur Williams again. Their rematch would be another hi-octane all-action bout, only not lasting as long, with Bell stopping Williams in 9 rounds this time. By this time Bell was among the highest rated Cruiserweights in the world, and was matched in an eliminator with fellow top ranked contender, Kelvin Davis, who was 19-1-1, 15 KO’s at the time, while Bell sported a 20-1-1, 19 KO’s record. It was quite the showdown in which the fight was once again a war of attrition, but perhaps even more brutal in nature than the Williams fights. Once again, Bell arose triumphant late in the fight, stopping Davis in the 11th round. Some say Davis, even though he did manage to win a vacant world title a couple of fights later, was never the same after the beating Bell gave to him. The hardcore battles in which Bell had been engaging in, had to be taking a toll on him as well.
He would continue on his brutal march of ascension however as he next defeated, former Light Heavyweight world championship challenger Derrick Harmon, and contender Ezra Sellers in yet another title eliminator, even though he was already the number one contender. Finally, O’Neil Bell would meet Dale Brown, who was 33-3-1, 21 KO’s at the time, for the vacant IBF world title that was vacated by previous Bell opponent, Kelvin Davis. Surprisingly the fight went all 12 rounds, as Brown fought a bit cautiously at times, allowing Bell to be the aggressor and get off first. Brown hung tough and was competitive at times, but in the end, Bell had done more than enough on the cards to win his first world title by unanimous decision.
Bell would defend his IBF world title once against Sebastiaan Rothmann, winning by knockout in the 11th round of another close and brutal war of attrition, before heading into what would be his career defining moment. There was one more brutal war of attrition to win though for Bell, in what would be the apex pinnacle of his career. It was in a title unification against WBA and WBC world titlist Jean Marc Mormeck. The winner would have 3 major alphabet world title belts and be considered the undisputed world champion and fill the lineal vacancy at the time. A lot was on the line, and both men delivered a classic. While Somsak Sithchatchawal vs Mahyar Monshipour won fight of the year honors that year, I think if the Mormeck vs Bell fight didn’t take place in the often neglected Cruiserweight division, they would have won the award. It surpassed the brutality of the Williams fights, and even the Davis fight, to bring Cruiserweight brutality to heights it hadn’t seen since the great Evander Holyfield roamed the division. If you haven’t seen this great fight, give yourself the treat of watching it, and head to YouTube. They have it in its entirety and in good quality.
Bell was hurt early and often, and looked as if Mormeck was headed towards a stoppage victory, but just when you thought Bell was close to being finished, he would roar back and hurt Mormeck. Back and forth they would go taking turns hurting each other, giving the fight the appearance of a real life Rocky movie. Once again, in the championship rounds, late in the fight, O’Neil Bell would win the brutal war of attrition. Bell would become only the second undisputed world champion in the Cruiserweight division, with Evander Holyfield being the first. Bell would land some thunderous blows to the body and head and finally wore down the exhausted previously iron chinned Mormeck, knocking him out in the 10th round. Mormeck had never even been knocked down in his career up to this point. He also had a knockout victory and a decision victory over International Hall of Famer Virgil Hill. Bell was now the champion of the world having defeated a top class opponent. Mormeck gave nearly as good as he got in that fight and despite winning, Bell took a great deal of damage from Mormeck, and left what was left of his prime in the ring that night. He would lose the subsequent rematch to Mormeck by decision, and then end up on the losing end of a war against a young Thomas Adamek, getting stopped in 8 rounds. Bell retired for 3 years after the Adamek fight. He could not resist the urge to eventually try to make a comeback though.
Unfortunately for Bell, he would return only to be stopped in 2 rounds by former Light Heavyweight contender Richard Hall. Bell would fight once more, winning in one round against Rico Cason in December of 2011, after which he would retire for good. He would experience the retirement of a boxing world champion for just under 4 years due to the recent tragic events. As sad as this is, and the RSR staff and I send out our deepest heartfelt sympathies to his family and friends, he will always be remembered in the chronicles of boxing history. Not everyone gets to be remembered so. Rest in peace champion.
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