In February 1995, Benn defended his 168 lb title against WBC middleweight champion Gerald McClellan in a highly anticipated bout billed as "Sudden Impact". Going into the fight with Benn, McClellan had won his last 21 fights, the last 14 of those by knockout, and 13 of those 14 knockouts had come in Rounds 1, 2 or 3. McClellan had twice defeated one of the hardest punchers of all time in Julian Jackson, with knockouts in Round 5 and Round 1 respectively. McClellan had also never gone beyond Round 8 in any previous fight in his career, insisting that he rarely needed more than three rounds to defeat his opponents.