Dark Destroyer Nigel Benn backing Dublin fighter Tony Senior

He twice set about plotting the downfall of Irish legend Steve Collins over 20 years ago, but one Nigel Benn is now trying to help an Irish fighter reach his full potential.

‘The Dark Destroyer’ has developed a bond with light middleweight Tony Senior and has been acting as an adviser for the Dubliner of Jamaican heritage.

The former Crumlin amateur returned to the ring after a longer than expected absence over the weekend and had the former super middleweight world champion in his dressing room beforehand.

“Myself and Nigel have been in close contact for some time now and he has been happy to come onboard in an advisory role and offer his experience which means a lot,” Senior told Irish-Boxing.com.

The Sydney-based 34-year-old returned from two years out at the weekend to stop Kiwi journeyman Daniel Maxwell in the opening round and move to 9(7)-0.

Senior, who is trained by the Hussein brothers, said that it was “great to be back after so long out. Obviously becoming a father I decided to take a short break from boxing then with that came a death to a close family member I also had some niggling injuries but that’s all behind me now.”

“It’s hard to be critical of performance after a long break but it’s always good to get the stoppage against an experienced opponent that has only been stopped a handful of times.”

Senior would then go on to reveal that he was the fighter that dropped out of the big-money Ireland’s Last Man Standing competition at the last minute, being subsequently replaced by Thomas Finnegan – who himself dropped out and was today replaced by Nick Quigley.

The Down Under Dub outlined how “I had been in talks with both Red Corner and Assassin for some time and was excited about my involvement in the tournament.”

“However with the sponsorship I had been promised falling through and all things considered, it just didn’t make financial sense to me.”

“It’s a great concept and should make for exciting night.”