McClellan was forced to retire from boxing after a severe brain injury suffered during his final fight in 1995, a loss to WBC super middleweight champion Nigel Benn.
As an amateur, McClellan was a four-time Wisconsin Golden Gloves champion, 1984–1987, competing mostly in the junior middleweight division.
[2] After turning pro, he also fought out of a Palmer Park gym run by Sugar Ray Leonard.
McClellan defended the WBC title three times, all first round stoppages, including a rematch with Jackson.
McClellan moved up in weight to challenge WBC super middleweight champion Nigel Benn in London on February 25, 1995.
In a 2011 documentary broadcast by ITV (which originally screened the fight live in the UK), Lisa stated that Gerald is in fact not deaf, but that he has trouble with comprehension when spoken to.
McClellan initially claimed that he was thumbed, but later admitted to Salmaci in the locker room that he was in fact seriously hurt.
[citation needed] Nigel Benn himself has also helped to raise funds for McClellan's treatment, and the two men would meet again for the first time since their bout at a fundraiser held in London on February 24, 2007.
[11] In May 2012, the World Boxing Council publicly appealed for donations to a trust fund set up in McClellan's name in order to help his sister Lisa maintain his 24-hour care.
"[14] Ring 10, a nonprofit organization that helps impoverished former fighters, provides McClellan with monthly food credit and raises funds to assist with payment of other necessities.