Wilfred Benitez vs. Pernell Whitaker @ 147

Benitez's height and reach would cause Whitaker problems. The Leonard fight was pretty close and it took Ray to be more active and turn puncher( the way he did against Hearns) for him to pull it out. I'm not sure if Whitaker could do that, and anyone who only has speed, defensive skills and no power against Benitez, has problems. I also think Benetiz would cause Mayweather the same kind of trouble.

 

What fight were you watching? :huh

 

Benitez prolly wins, but then again why is pernell being compared to someone that is clearly bigger in size than him.

 

:-( This fight [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBXTa1gvOLM[/ame]

last round starts, and Leonard goes DIRECTLY at Benetiz. The stoppage wasn't at brutal as the Hearns fight, but Leonard definitely upped the pace ( which was my point).

 

Leonard spends 80% of his time just jabbing Benitez, which Benitez has absolutely no answer for. Around the 8th or 9th IIRC Benitez realises he's trailing massively and goes out to try and engage Leonard more, pushing the action to the inside where Leonard is happy to exchange and still gets the better of most of it. The last round was hardly pulling victory from the jaws of defeat - he had the fight sown up on the cards, with Benitez having won three or four rounds at most - but instead Leonard putting the icing on the cake with a stoppage.

Art Lurie 137-130 | judge: Harry Gibbs 136-134 | judge: Ray Solis 137-133 all for Leonard going into the 15th.

 

For a 15 round fight, scores of 136-134 and 137-133 are not wide margins (the judge that had it 137-130 must have been either bought or on crack). In reality, the fight was very tactical and closely competitive early on, until Leonard starting putting on more pressure late. Leonard won the fight on activity and power ( the left hook and follow up) as i said.

 

I haven't seen it recently but I was always puzzled of the claims of it being a 'close contest', I always thought Leonard was in control

 

Interesting match up, Whitaker is the better boxer and Benitez is lazy, I say Whitaker pulls it out despite being smaller, he's great inside if needs be

 

Post your score-card if you have one? I re-watched this only a month or so ago and remember it being pretty wide.

 

Anyway, this is an interesting one. Whitaker is always going to find it different when faced with a bigger (if lesser) animal with a similar style because of the range disadvantage and such. I could see this being a close, controversial fight, somewhat like Whitaker/DLH, with Benitez being frustrated into taking the counter-punching role and Whitaker basically just trying to jab and then scarper before Benitez returns fire with his combinations. I'll go for Whitaker to take a narrow decision.

 

I'll have to post it later on today after i rewatch it, Ive had it on tape for about a year now although i haven't watch it in months (even though i remember the main points). I don't remember Leonard being ahead until the latter stages and at no point in time did i ever think that Leonard was winning widely. The 136-134 sounds normal, but I'll post the exact score card later today.

 

Good man, yeah I just think he was really bossing Benitez with the jab until about the half way point where I think it was actually Benitez that got a bit desperate and tried to slug it out more, but even then I felt that SRL had a pretty decisive edge.

 

Whittaker would be the aggressor, definitely at this weight, and he'd be comfortable with that, plus he's a better inside technician than Leonard. Going inside with Benitez and attempting to be technically on point there is a problem though, because of how good defensively he is there. It's better to try and sharpshoot with him i think, like Leonard and Herans did, but you'll always have problems with him no matter what, just look at Cervantes. Anyway, Benitez is a huge dark horse for me, if he takes Whittaker to the ropes i see him having success, if Pernell can keep it centre ring and move to his right, work that jab, he'll probably end up countering the master counter puncher. I'll go for Pernell................... at 140 though, haha

 

Yeah Leonard definitely won the battle of the jabs. IMO Benitez in many rounds out worked Ray and finished a lot of the closer rounds stronger at the end of them. Here is my scorecard

Round 1: Leonard
Round2: Benitez
Round3: Leonard (2 point round with knockdown)
Round4:Benitez
Round5: Leonard
Round6: Benitez
Round7:Leonard
Round8: Leonard
Round9: Benitez
Round10: Benitez
Round11: Leonard
Round12: Benitez
Round:13:Leonard
Round14: Leonard

I had Leonard ahead 3 points until the stoppage in the 15th ( which would make that 137-134 (i believe). The fight IMO was pretty close and without the flash knockdown in the 3rd, the official scorecards would have been interesting going into the 15th. That shows that without the knockdown, two judges would have had it close to being even going into the last round.