Amir Kahn vs Wilfred Benitez at 17 At JW

I feel Benitez at this stage had sort of a poor man's McCloskey-style defense, and we both know how that turned out, A.

 

Khan impressed me last night, he completely shut Judah down from the start and no ones done that before. Benitez is a step up in class but I can't help but think of the razor thin Bruce Curry fights and think maybe Khan could do the same or better because of superior stamina. Maybe Benitez would make him miss and pick him apart though, he also has a great jab of his own. The jury is still out on Khan, but he looks very good to me and his technicial weaknesses are improving (not over reaching, not dropping his hands), his punches are looking much sharper too

I don't think there is a different version, it was a trickier style for Benitez to go up against, where as Cervantes is pretty predictable. If anything Benitez had likely improved against Curry

 

:rofl:rofl:rofl

 

Anyone who votes Khan should be forced out of the classic.

 

Aside from running into a huge punch from Curry (an underrated puncher in his day), Benitez was quite dominant against 140 lbers. Sometimes he lacked focus but he was not a "bottler" like Judah, he'd hang in there as he did against Curry despite being nearly out as badly as Khan was against Prescott. Benitez showed incredible toughness and survival skills to weather the storm regardless of who deserved the decision. In a rematch I thought Benitez put the issue to rest.

Khan has attributes that can make the fight difficult for Benitez. He is no Ray Leonard, but much like Leonard he is fast, likes to get off first and keep up a strong workrate. Unlike Judah though, Benitez can match this pace and potentially take the fight to Khan if plan A is not working. Judah I think just didn't have much to offer in that fight and Khan had no difficulty fighting his fight. The big tests are still ahead of him, against mentally and physically strong boxers. These will decide whether he can truly deal with a boxer of Benitez's calibre.

Benitez did not always elect to counter-punch, he was versatile and could put the pressure on against noted boxers:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLNelUxTxZ8[/ame]

 

1 question mark is the rumours that Benitez was really 147lbs never making 140lbs against Cervantes and Cervantes took some form of payoff to accept this. I think Il Duce posted this rumour, anyone else hear it?

Good post GA

 

voted for Khan by accident. Khan isn't even as skilled as Bruce Curry was. Benitez beats him without getting out of first gear

 

I'd still say it boils down to styles making fights, Curry was quicker, less predictable than Cervantes. Cervantes was technically very good and a physical beast but he was quite predictable, which is what aloud Loche to mock him. Are you sure Cervantes and Curry fought, it's not on boxrec. I think Curry is a little underrated, at his best he was clearly very good

Not sure I agree with all these examples either, some of them are about styles, ie Tubbs-Bowe. Norwood was very very good in his own right and an avoided fighter, Hopkins beat Mercado both times

 

I don't know, PP. The footage I saw, I couldn't tell if he was in fact mocking aloud or if it was just gestures.

 

Technically it was but pretty much a robbery imo this is how I saw it: