Duran and Leonard made ridiculous comments. Like the fab 4 again is untouchable.

Hell of a fighter from 140-154 though. Wilfred came up in a terribly tough era.

 

I agree. I never saw a guy make Thomas Hearns miss body punches. That was odd to see. Tommy figured out early that he was not going to hit Benitez clean or knock him out by being the aggressor, so he decided stay back and used the jab and try and counterpunch. I think Tommy hurt his hand in one of the rounds because he couldn't get a clean punch off and hit Benitez high on the head. Either way it went 15 rounds and Tommy won the title. This was the same year Benitez beat Duran, when Duran tried to take Benitez 154 pound title.

 

I think a lot about how Barrera took stick for burning out early but he started at 15.
Look at the level Benitez fought at from 17!!

And I'll tell you another thing, he gave Ray a tough night.That wasn't the walkover some seem to remember.

 

Aaah, the little Leonard fanboys got their panties twisted have they? I don't care what he did after the Duran fight. At the time he was a hype job, beating nobodies, and the 21 year old 39 fight veteran Benitez, who was already showing signs of deterioration. I don't care how many people want to hug Leonards nuts, it doesn't detract from the facts of the fight in Montreal one iota.

 

What facts about Montreal?
That Duran won fair and square and got right inside Ray's head?
I'm genuinely asking,and not being sarcastic.Apologies if I've missed the point you're making,as I'm on my phone and don't want to trawl through all the pages.

But to suggest Benitez in 79 was anything other than a brilliant win will result in even hardcore SRL haters questioning your credibility on a few points in this thread.

 

Benitez didn't show signs of deterioration until he fought Hamsho.

 

Benitez was a monster and if he was brought up on this era, he'd be seen as better than Mayweather and greater than Mayweather as Benitez would never hesitate to get in the ring with Pacquiao, Forrest, Williams etc.

 

You obviously didn't see the teenage Benitez, fight, and compare him to the 21+ year old version.

 

I second that there were no signs of deterioration until Hamsho.

You obviously didn't know the fact that he barely used to train for any of this fights and some days he would go into the ring giving relatively lacklustre peformances.

 

Hahaha exactly, Mayweather is the best!!!