Dick Tiger Or Wilfredo Benitez Who Was Greater?

Tiger, and in my opinion it is not even remotely close.

 

Given Tiger's superior resume and greater success above his best weight, and Gomez's series of embarrassing KO losses, I'd have to give Tiger the edge here.

 

its Benitez not Gomez - i get them mixed up all the time aswell

im goign to think on this and get back here

 

Pretty much.

 

Tiger edges it for me too, because of greater success at higher weights. Still, I think its close.

 

Tiger...I think its reasonably close personally but not close enough I could see an argument for Wilfred.

 

I would say Tiger. But it could have been different had Benitez been more serious. And better managed.

 

****, I could've sworn it said Gomez. atsch

 

Tiger or Gomez would make a much closer and more interesting debate I think.

 

Im going with Benitez. Tiger might have had the better resume but i also dont see Benitez losing to alot of the guys that Tiger lost too. Benitez in his prime only lost to ATG like Leonard and Hearns. Depends on your criteria for ranking ATG fighters.

 

Tiger practically cleaned out a very good division whilst only losing razor thin (and sometimes contentious) decisions to master stylists like Giardello, Griffith and Archer in his prime, all of whom were all time great fighters themselves and bad stylistic foils to boot. All of his other losses came early and late in his career. Benitez had a couple of close scrapes against lesser men than the likes of Griffith if I remember rightly. And even if he was more 'naturally gifted', his own defensive style still proved relatively ineffective against Leonard and Hearns as much Tiger was slightly susceptible to movers. Ergo, certain styles could trouble him as much as certain ones could Tiger.

Throw into the pot that Tiger's win column absolutely buries Benitez's, and it's obvious who was greater in an overall sense, even if Benitez's final achievements didn't quite do justice to his extraordinary talents.

 

Well, he arguably should've lost to Bruce Curry, who was basically just an exciting TV fighter, and also just scraped by with a draw against Harold Weston, just an OK contender. He also wasn't that far past his prime when he was blasted out in just two rounds by a post-Duran Davey Moore.

 

Didn't he break his ankle when he fell and had to quit?

 

Just watched it. Benitez was fighting on a broken ankle courtesy of the KD. Regardless he was shyte by this stage, it's obvious he's not seeing punches like he used to. Fighters like Benitez and Jones, who rely mostly on incredible athleticism and reflex to avoid punishment are pretty ugly once they hit the wall. They don't have solid fundamentals to fall back on and neither had the greatest jaw, Jones certainly not once he was past it.

Ali relied on reflex too but he had an incredible chin and other abilities that kept him competitive late career.

By this fight Benitez had a full career + behind him. 50 odd fights since he was just a kid and he was never very dedicated at the best of times. I don't think he put in a decent showing post Hearns.