Antonio Kid Pambele Cervantes

One of the most underrated fighters of all time, and top 3 all time at 140.

In his prime, I'd pick him over Chavez and Tszyu at 140.

 

I would never in a thousand lifetimes pick him over Chavez or Tszyu head to head, but a great talent and fun to watch.

He ranks Number 8 at 140 for me.

 

Yeah, never in a thousand years could Cervantes beat Tszyu.

I mean for God's sake, he was good, but no Vince Philips...

Tszyu is absurdly overrated on ESB. Cervantes was a better fighter and would have stopped him late.

 

Cervantes is one of those fighters I seriously am planning on learning more about. (Another is Eusebio Pedroza.)
The only fight of Kid Pambele's I have seen is versus Pryor, and that probably is not the best of introductions.

 

Just shows how good Benitez was, a record I don't think will ever be broken, against such a good fighter

 

I always felt Cervantes took Benitez for granted. He had just turned back the challenges of his two top contenders - Esteban Dejesus and Hector Thompson - and then he was fighting a 17 year old kid. It's no excuse for turning in a sub-par performance but it's the only one I've got. I really wanted to see the rematch but that wasn't in Benitez' plans. The peak Cervantes from '72-74 was my #1 jr. welter of all time and I would only consider Jose Napoles in his 140 days his equal or better. He was such a serious blend of height, reach, jab, precision punching and precision counter-punching that every title defense became rudimentary. I can't see someone like Tszyu being anything other than another 15 rounder.

 

Thanks for this post. I asked about this fight before, but nobody answered. How did Benitez even get the title shot?

 

He's too straight-up for Chavez, and not fast or mobile enough to thwart the Mexican's attack. Chavez stops him.

 

Cervantes was a monster. Hed absolutely wreck Tszyu. Totally underrated fighter.

 

I believe it was due to his father Gregorio Benitez having ties with the WBA bagman Pepe Cordero. Just can't recall now. I think there was a long piece written on this by Senor Pepe, who was an unusual poster on ESB. I'll have a look around and see if I can find it. It appeared insightful but sometimes you never knew where he was going.

 

Kevin, here is the link for this research on the Benitez thing. I don't know what's true but you can have a bit of fun going through it and dwelling on the conspiracy theories.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=432376&highlight=cordero

 

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

 

Absurdly overrated because he was beaten once in his prime. That makes sense.