Fight of the week #4: Hurricane Carter double feature (Georgie Benton and Giardello)

Carter v Benton

Good fight, but this was frustrating as hell to watch for me. When Benton stays on the outside he is very pretty to watch. He has a beautiful jab and sharp-shoots with the right. The fight was his to lose and he did. He spends 90% of the fight on the inside fighting Carter's fight. And it appears it is of his own volition rather than Carter being that forceful. Here we go. New York's rounds basis.

Round 1: Carter
Round 2: Carter
Round 3: Even
Round 4: Carter
Round 5: Benton
Round 6: Carter
Round 7: Benton
Round 8: Even
Round 9: Carter
Round 10: Carter

Total 6-2-2 Carter

Round 10 was the best. Carter started so strong, but in the middle of the round Benton takes over and appears to hurt Carter, but then Carter finishes with a rush to take the round. Again, strange that Benton would fight Carter's fight, especially when Benton was known as a cutie. Rumors were rife at the time that Teddy Brenner had Holly Mims go in the tank against Carter. I'm wondering......

 

Carter vs. Benton is a good fight to watch. I scored it a few weeks ago so it's not fresh in my memory but here is how I scored it then. I gave Benton rounds 1,2,7,8, I gave Carter 3,4,5,6,9, and scored 10 even. On the 10 point system I scored it for Carter 96-95. Carter turned his shoulders over with his punches to protect his chin and he was quick and strong, to use Seamus' words, he was "fast twitch." Benton, had excellent fundamentals too, and although I don't like it when fighters hold their left hand low, Benton made it work for him.

On the inside they would keep their lead shoulder toward the other, bend their knees, AND still pull their midsections back away to make it harder for their opponent to hit their body. Both of them did some nice work on the inside and there wasn't much holding. The ref stayed out of the way and the commentator did a good job too. A good fight, maybe I'll score it again later, but first I'll score Giardello and Carter.

 

Just watched Giardello - Carter, scored it 144-142 for Giardello. I gave Carter 1,4,6,7,10,15, I gave Giardello 2,3,8,9,11,12,13,14, and I scored round 5 even. Neither was hurt and a lot of the rounds could go either way. I thought that the round Carter cut Giardello and round 15 were good rounds for Carter. Again Carter was explosive, particularly in the first 10 rounds, he either slowed or fought Giardello's pace in 11-14. Most of these "fights of the week" have been close IMO, the judges at ringside and the ref had Giardello comfortably ahead, maybe the fight looked different at ringside? I like Carter's style so I might be giving him more rounds for being the aggressor?

 

1 Carter
2 Carter
3 Benton
4 Carter
5 Carter
6 Carter
7 Benton
8 Even
9 Carter
10 Carter

I scored it 7-2-1 for Carter. I seem to remember scoring this a draw years ago but can’t say for sure. There are a couple of close rounds but for the most part it seemed Ike Benton was fighting Carters fight and letting him dictate the tempo and infighting.

Good fight, not great.

 

From boxrec:

1963-05-25 : Rubin Carter 158 lbs beat George Benton 158¾ lbs by SD in round 10 of 10

• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Arthur Mercante 4-5
• Judge: Leo Birnbaum 6-4
• Judge: Johnny Dran 7-2

• Unofficial AP scorecard: 5-4-1 Carter
• Unofficial UPI scorecard: 5-4-1 Carter

 

Is Arthur Mercante the best ref ever? He had great control of the fight without really interjecting himself into it. I only remember about 5 or 6 breaks, where he intervened and outside of that he had an uncanny ability to stay out of the video frame for the most part. One of my favorite refs.

A fight breaks out in the stands in round 3 and it looks like everyone in the arena is focused on that rather than the ring action including those at ringside.

End of round 7 both guys tap gloves looking like a mutual show of respect.

 

A short 2008 thread on this topic

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/rubin-carter-and-george-benton.55025/

 

The ref was so good that after I watched the fight, I was wondering if there was a ref? Then I went back to the beginning to see who the ref was. A lot of refs could learn from Arthur Mercante, he was seldom seen in the fight and as you mentioned everything was well controlled. I also appreciated the television commentator, he talked when he had something to say, when he didn't he stayed quiet and let the fight speak for itself.

 

Yeah some old time commentators don’t resonate with me, but Dunphy does a solid job of calling the interaction without self imposing his view or bias upon it. He is a class act

 

Wow! This fell to page 5! I guess black and white film didn’t do as well as I hoped.

Just got done round 1, will score the first 5 tonight.

 

I always thought Benton edged it. If I’m not mistaken he fought Carters fight more than he should have but just about deserved. A lot of close rounds. Will have to watch again.

 

Does anyone know the ring size for this fight? Seems large

Why did the PA boxing commission demand that Carter shave his beard? Carter agreed and came to the weigh in having shaved. Was this the norm for the day?

 

If you watch the "Hurricane" you would believe it was an egregious robbery in favor of Giardello.

 

that’s why this fight was suggested