"defensive wizards"/fighters that didn't seem to get hit much but ended up punch drunk

Benitez...but is it more than boxing in his case or a disease on top??

 

Whitaker was a crackhead too that’s probably had a bigger affect on him.

Wilfred Benitez is a good example. Probably came from the fact he’d be fighting and sparring adults when he was 13, 14.

 

James Toney

 

Nah, Benitez was damaged from all the sparring and fights he did as a boy. Gregorio Benitez was a piece of ****.

Had him sparring people like DeJesus at 15. And some of those people were jealous of Wilfredo's talent.

 

Over sparring. One of my former roommates Kid Flash, who I think had a lot of potential at featherweight and a great chin made most of his money as a sparring Partner for PAC in his prime and was loved by both Roach and PAC, since PAC could really let his hands go and Flash could absorb everything without going down. He’s 36 years old now and is very punchy already.

This is an old video of Flash and even here all those sparring sessions were already starting to catchup with him.

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James Toney also did excessive sparring just like Ali and Joe Louis.

All of that sparring makes you sharp come fight time, but catches up with you.

 

This

 

Bingo. Until pretty recently fighters had this weird (kind of stupid) belief that hits taken in sparring didn't count, or didn't contribute to brain damage down the line. That's why you had so many talented guys burning out early on because of the notorious Philly Gym Wars. Except it wasn't just a Philly thing. It was more famous in Philly, but it happened in every area code.

I remember when James Toney was still in the successful phase of his heavyweight invasion. He famously only trained by hitting the pads a little, and then sparring a ridiculous amount of rounds. We're talking 2003/2004/2005. Everyone thought it was so cool that this lazy, rolly polly dude only trained by having daily wars with guys like Danny Green, Terry Smith, Javi Mora, etc. I think people would now look at behavior like that and cringe.

Clearly hits taken in the gym do count. Headgear and puffy gloves blunt impact, but they don't erase the risk of head trauma. If a boxer ends up punch drunk, sparring dozens or hard rounds every camp has just as much to do with that as his fight of the year candidate bouts on Showtime or DAZN.

 

Pernell was never articulate. I doubt he is punch drunk

 

Wilfred Benitez

 

Toney was never a coherent speaker, either

 

Toney's completely punch drunk but his defensive game is well overrated anyway.

 

this brings another thing to mind---how in the world is George Chuvalo so sharp and articulate at his age? and all those fights he had?