Wilfred Benitez (SRL fight) vs Duran (SRL Montreal fight)

It was no surprise that he outslicked Durán by being sharper and quicker. There were few fighters that Benítez could not outslick.
What was surprising is that Benítez was also quite aggressive in this fight. That's where his size advantage came in. i doubt that a 140# Benítez could have pushed Durán around that way.

 

The question is do you think I am suggesting that? I think you know what I meant by Duran going up to 250 in retirement.
With Hearns, I think after he lost to Hagler, he was unsure what weight to go to and he did not make himself comfortable at 160 by staying at that weight and fighting exclusively there. he moved around too much.. Remember it took him a couple of years to get the power going at 154-so I think had he stayed at 160 it would have helped. I thought he looked great with Shuler and then he moves down a couple of months later to defend against Medal at 154. A dumb move. It took away all the good it did making him look solid at 160 against Shuler. Then again back up to 160 for Dewitt and months later 175. That is taking for granted the weights. He was good enough to pull it off. Hearns would have done well at 175 had he used his jab and not exchanged punches, but he liked in engage and with bigger guys that could be bad for him, but he usually beat guys to the punch. Hearns was great, but he weakness was almost his need to knock guys out and go for knockouts. He would have been better had he stuck to gameplan and let knockouts come. I suppose his weakness was patience.
Well he said if Mike went down to 200 he would fight him. No one ever took it seriously. That was after he beat Hill and he was a little too overconfident. I would have liked to have seen Hearns settle at one weight for a long time to see if his power came back. I think it would have.

 

At WW I would bet my mortgage on it. You guys are putting too my into Benitez at this point. Let's hold it strictly to the question here and no diverting from it. Montreal Duran Stops Benitez from Leonard fight. Not only that after about the 4th Duran dominates the rest of the fight. Yea I'd bet my mortgage on this question.

 

I don't think people are putting a lot on Benitez. When Hearns fought Benitez, the only guy who beat him to that point was Leonard. Hearns and Leonard beat Benitez, but with speed not really with power. I think Benitez is a lot quicker than Duran and I think that would be the key at all weights.

 

You know I disagree lol but we already went over that. What I'm focusing on rite now it exactly the 2 versions that the question asks. I see no way in hell that Benitez from Leonard fight beats Montreal Duran. Just no way whatsoever.

 

I think Benitez wins. He was faster and he wouldn't fight Duran like Ray did. If he did he would probably lose. The point about that fight to me is Duran did well because Ray fought Duran's fight, and Ray admits to it. I don't think that is a mystery, but you guys want to ignore what Ray himself says
Benitez did fight great almost best at 154, but at 147 he was still good and I think he outboxes Duran. I don't think the weight means as much as people think. Hearns and Leonard the two fights were very similar and fought 20 pounds difference, with the difference being Hearns experience was much more in 1989 and he was a little stronger.

Duran was not great enough to win all his fights? He can only win in Montreal version? That logic is rather ridiculous. It is an insult on boxing knowledge and history.It is too selective.. A fighter is only good when he is motivated as though fighting Benitez and Hearns would not motivate him but fighting lesser fighters Moore and Barkley would. He beat the latter two because they were not high quality as Hearns and Benitez were. Imagine that with a fighter. A fighter has his best win in Hawaii.. And forever people say, yes he lost to everyone great in reality, but the Hawaii version of him would beat everybody.

 

I agree that his size and strength helped greatly. My actual point is that his speed and sharpness helped a lot as well. I am not mentioning speed and sharpness in the context of running around the perimeter or boxing predominantly on the outside i am mentioning it per the exchanges and somewhat aggressive tactics. Benitez' speed and sharpness allowed him to dominate exchanges that Duran would normally thrive on.

I would agree it would be much harder at 147 as he would not be able to boss Duran to the same degree, absolutely.

It is however surprising that Benitez was able to outslick Duran so often in exchanges.

 

Why surprising? Leonard was faster when he boxed and moved and countered (in both rematch and rubber match), Hearns later was too fast. Leonard,Hearns and Benitez stand alone as far as speed. That high level outclassed him. Nothing wrong with that, but surprising? I don't think so.

 

I wouldn't bet my mortgage on anything in regards to Duran vs. a elite boxer and great like Benitez. The fact is it took Ray fighting Duran's fight for Duran to have that win. You guys think I am stubborn, but you don't want to admit that Ray came out differently in the rematch than in the first fight. And that a strange.

 

Man in not getting into this with you again. You know where I stand and its completely opposite to your opinion

 

I understand you have your opinion but at WW Duran stops Benitez

 

The conversation is completely over your head. Neither myself nor Matt are talking about boxing and moving.

 

You don't have to. Believe it or not I am not an argumentative person, but I do have opinions when it comes to excuses and overrating and people for some reason don't want opinions which differ from their own.

 

I commented on this and somehow it is not showing. The fight was not a complicated fight. Benitez won clearly and more dominantly than the scores showed. And the speed is what allowed Benitez to win the exchanges. He outclassed Duran.

 

You can say it but it does not make it true. Benitez outclassed Duran in early 1982. I understand admiring someone and some guy comes out here and says something which is not what you all believe. I never did what everyone said or believed what everyone said. But what is evident is that speed can make a person win the exchanges, look at Leonard. He hit Hagler and Hagler covered up and then Ray would stop and move and Hagler would then follow him. Was Ray backing him up with power or were the combinations being fast making Marvin cover up.