Benton was a good fighter. Very good defense. He was a good technician. People always talk about the Cud D'mato "stamp" that it seemed was placed on his fighters; like Torres, Patterson, or Tyson. Well you can see the Benton stamp on Pernell Whitaker. Around the time Whitaker faced Diaz, you could see the creation Benton always wanted. Whitaker was the living embodiment of Benton's boxing philosophy. Back to Benton as a fighter. He was good. Good is not enough for a fight with Hopkins. Benton was never the caliber of fighter that Hopkins became. He would have been good enough to be a challenger to Hopkins, but he really isn't in the same class as Hopkins. Hopkins may have to think to figure out Benton's defense, but Hopkins wins this one.
Benton fought in a far more competitive division than Hopkins did and took on a vastly superior level of competition. I don't doubt for a minute he would have been a long running champion in Hopkins era. That's not to say he beats Hopkins of course.It would be a tough fight for both men.
I have the Benton Carter bout on disk. Very good tight fight,although Im told Benton wasnt at his best that night while Carter was.
Hopkins would be the best Middleweight Benton ever faced, and talented as he was, George lost to most of the best.
Benton would definitely have been the most skilled middleweight Hopkins ever faced. We know Hopkins beats his opponents through superior skill so it could have difficult for him to deal with an opponent who could match him move for move and even out-think him at times. He wouldn't have been able to land those lead right hands so easily and the mauling tactics on the inside would be matched by Benton's in-fighting skill. On the other hand, Benton often let himself be outworked and he did legitimately lose decisions to good men but he did also beat Joey Giardello who was a clever, capable boxer like Hopkins. If anything in particular gives Hopkins an edge, it's probably his size although Benton chopped some capable big men down such as Jimmy Ellis, Bobby Boyd and Allen Thomas. It would certainly have been a tougher test than any of which Hopkins faced in his career, which is telling of the era he fought in as Benton never quite made the top level in his day.
Hopkins' "greatness" is based on his wins over former 147 lbs titlist and a former 130 lbs titlist @ 160 and then a foul assisted win over a 154lbs titlist and a 160 lbs titlist @ 170 . And a severely drained Antonio Tarver @ 175 , much more drained than Jones was when he fought Tarver . What a great he was . Having lost 2 Segundo Mercado , body punch KOd by old&shot RJJ in their rematch , his only impressive win is over Glen Johnson , which is only impressive in retrospective , because until their fight , Johnson was a serial bum beater with an empty resume . Fact is , that after Johnson was stopped by Hopkins he lost 2 a truly shot Merqui Sosa , and later 2 Julio Gonzalez and others . By d time Hopkins stopped Johnson , that win was worth nothing , just like stopping / beating Alfredo Evangeista was 4 Holmes & Ali .
