Well, I can think of only one, Wilfred Benitez winning a world title at the age of 17. What makes the feat extraordinary is not just his age, but the fact that there are only 2 titles at that time and the guy he beat to win it is a legit champion in Antonio Cervantes. (who is a hall of famer now) Given the circumstance in todays world, I doubt it can be broken for these reasons: 1. some talented teenagers stay at amateur longer for a chance at the olympics (a medal would boost their marketability at the pro level as well) 2. most managers/promoters would not risk their young prospects too early and match them with confidence building journeymen until they think the kid is ready. 3. some guys are just not capable of doing so Thoughts?
you make a good point but there's a lot of titles these days and a lot of mexican fighters start young. i don't think anyone will beat benitez's record either but it may not be completely out of range. archie moore's ko record i think is more out of range.
However, there's an * to that mate. He's fighting for WBO which was honestly, low rent, at that time. No disrespect to Eubank who is a terrific fighter.
Yeah that one too. Would to be too hard to get 145 tomato cans to stop if they're trying hard to top it.
It was no different to the other three titles, in that it was sanctioned and governed as a body and had pretty much the same top-10s.
benitez winning the title at 17yrs of age will stand for a very long time. he beat the man of the division....not a belt holder. winning an interim title nowadays is not the same thing...don't get it twisted.
actually, it was a lot different than the other three belts at the time. it's not that the wbo title holders were not as good as the other belt holders, it's just the wbo wasn't recognized by anyone in the media in that time.
Edwin Valero with 27-0 all wins by KO before he retire's his azz. **** that **** Valero but his short run was amazing.
I'm not sure, but I think Valero won his first twenty fights by first round knock out. Something like that. Surely a record.
Gotta disagree, the WBO has historically had terrible rankings for the top 10's, especially since they would not rank anyone holding the other 2 main belts (IBF not holding the same recognition as the WBA & WBC when the WBO was introduced).