Rank Ray Leonard Thomas Hearns Floyd Mayweather Terence Crawford

He clearly beat Trout

Ive never understood the controversy

 

I think Tito would’ve turned Benitez into David Reid.

 

Imagine winning a fight with open scoring in which you can see that you’ve pretty much sealed it with the judges before the championship rounds, only to have “fans” prattle on about how you “arguably” lost.

 

This is the correct answer.

 

He struggled with a B level guy.

Couldn’t win a round off of a 36 year old WW.

 

Well of course you do.

 

How would Canelo have done better in Benitez’ era, rather than vice versa?

 

Reid had faster hands and a harder right cross tbf.

 

They were expecting huge things from Reid weren’t they.

I can remember.

Him and Michael Grant.

Around the same time.

 

Benitez would make Trinidad look terrible

 

This is a very rose tinted take. Trinidad was considered P4P no1 by many in his era because he dominated WW for years and years, dominated LMW and won a MW title. I don't think Benitez was every considered in that bracket

Where as Benitez beat Cervantes who wasn't a great champion, his next top opponent was Bruce Curry who he goes life and death with arguably losing both fights while getting hurt and knocked down twice. Them he beats Palomino, with all due respect isn't an elite champion. Then he loses to Ray Leonard and probably kept him honest but didn't push him not as hard as Floyd Mayweather Snr did. As I had Sr winning the first 4 against Leonard

Then there's the fact Benitez team talked about training 1 week for fights. Where as Trinidad would run marathons, which obviously paid off in the ring because of the intensity he could bring every round for 12 rounds breaking his opponent down round on round. Where as El Radar would be looking to box a pedestrian pace and knick rounds

 

Ya I never understood the controversy

I thought that one judges scorecard was too wide

Still a pretty clear Canelo victory

 

Ya that was bad also was against Floyd Mayweather Jr who's one of the best ever

 

Because Canelo was better

He peaked higher and had more discipline

 

It’s not a rose tinted take at all.

I didn’t say that Benitez was a better overall fighter, who had a better career.

I said that IMHO, prime for prime, Benitez was better, as in - more skilled. He was a great technician.

Anybody who knows about Benitez knows his story. He was horribly mismanaged. He had too long of a career. He took fights he shouldn’t have taken.

But I’m just focusing on ability.

Tito was also a great fighter.

Yes, he dominated and had a reign.

Yes, he was a top P4P fighter.

But if we apply context, he fought lesser competition.

Would he have had that same reign had he have fought Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Leonard?

His reign and dominance weren’t overly impressive. Not considering who he fought. And he never beat Oscar, even though Oscar deserves criticism for his tactics.