Fight of the Week #23: Wilfred Benitez v. Cervantes & Palomino

I watched the 1st one again, Cervantes vs Benitez, I saw it back in the day, but did not remember over time it was so close.
I scored every round. i7 rounds Benitez 6 for Cervantes & 2 EVEN Benitez Dominated the early rounds and Cervantes like a Champ came on at the end. I will post below my scoring round by round, I may have to split it up into 2 posts if it's too big.
If Cervantes had done just a little more early on, to me he clearly would have won, but you can't overlook Benitez's awesome defense.
I can see anyone taking my scoring and giving the 2 even rounds to either fighter, or 1 a piece, it could easily be 8-7 for either one. 7-7-1 a DRAW. very, very close fight, but I just feel Benitez with his head movement, his defense overall, the ability to make Cervantes miss so much & his early dominance of the fight, and his ability to hit Cervantes at range won him the fight, but I would not argue a draw or someone seeing it for Cervantes.

 

Wilfred Benitez vs Antonio Cervantes
Rd 1 - 10-9 Benitez
Rd 2 - 10-9 Benitez
Cervantes misses a few punches, & Benitez
stayed active both rounds, keeps throwing
jabs and hooks, Cervantes not throwing enough
to keep up or win rounds yet.
Rd 3 - EVEN
The 3rd round is Cervantes best so far, but I'm still
not sure he did enough to win the round, Benitez
matched him punch for punch and countered everything
he threw, plus added a little more, so slight edge
to Benitez in 3, so best I can say or give for Cervantes
is EVEN, or give it to Benitez by the slightest edge.
Rd 4- 10-9 Benitez
Clearly he won this one, he is winning it with the Jab,
hooks and great head movement and getting in and out fast. All of Cervantes's punches are short & compact.
Benitez is very quick, he gets in range or comes inside & out too fast for Cervantes to land his shorter, more compact punches. Cervantes has a reach
of 72* & Benitez 70* but Benitez can hit him at range with longer punches, so far this is a big key to the fight.
Rd 5 - 10-9 Cervantes
Wow Cervantes really does have a jab, finally throwing some good jabs with some hooks a few straight & looping rights, but he let up & allowed Benitez to also have a good round, I would not argue with anyone calling this round even or giving it slightly to Benitez, but I will give it to Cevantes.
Rd 6 - 10-9 Benitez
Another fairly close round, Cervantes missed a lot of punches, Benitez outworked him again.
Rd 7 - 10-9 Benitez
For being the shorter guy & shorter reach, Benitez sure can throw & connect with what appears to be longer, straighter punches at range, & quick enough to do it & backup without getting hit, even when inside or tying up Cervantes only throws 2-4 punches inside & still misses some.
Rd 8 - 10-9 Benitez
Even though Benitez missed more punches than usual this round, Cervantes missed more & half of what he landed were grazing punches, so a round like this could fool someone if not watching closely, the awesome defense of Benitez causing that to happen.
Benitez landed some of his best this round & more of them.
Rd 9 - 10-9 Cervantes
It's hard to give Cervantes a round, even when he has a good one, because Benitez just won't be outworked by much, he matches him punch for punch. But I have to give it ever so slightly to Cervantes, but would not argue anyone giving it to Benitez or EVEN, because most of the round was punch for punch.
Rd 10 - 10-9 EVEN
Both looked a bit tired, neither swayed me this round, they matched each other punch for punch again pretty good, for the last 4 rounds when Benitez comes forward & or gets inside or close, Cervantes just can't seem to unload on him, he throws a few & that's it.
this round again, I can see someone giving it to either one or EVEN.
Rd 11 - 10-9 Benitez
Very good round for Cervantes, you could argue his best, but Benitez outworked him, threw more, landed more, caused him to miss more. Some may give it to Cervantes, but I tried, I wanted to, but just could not do it, Benitez landed more good punches.
Rd 12 - 10-9 Cervantes
Benitez took that round off, Cervantes has just about his best round without Benitez replying.
Rd 13 - 10-9 Cervantes
Benitez just won't let him win a clear round, LOL!
I just felt Cervantes looked better this round, but Benitez's defense, his head movement causes Cervantes to miss so many punches & to not be able to land solid ones on him.
Rd 14 - 10-9 Cervantes
Benitez is just awesome this entire fight with his defense, he can't be hit. Cervantes looks like he feels as if he needs to do something, even though Benitez had a good round, I give it Cervantes.
Rd 15 - 10-9 Cervantes
They say you must take the Title from a champ, well this last round, neither overwhelmingly won the round, but I'm not giving it even, so I say Cervantes defended this round like a Champ.

 

I had it 7-6-2 For Benitez
or 8-7 with no even rounds, I gave each one them one of the even round to see how that looked, it comes out 143-142 Benitez

My Offical Score with 2 EVEN rounds is.
144 Benitez -143 Cervantes

If I give Cervantes the 2 even rounds he wins it 8-7 or 144-143 and I would not argue that choice either.
I just go with what I saw and what I felt at that time.

Offical Scoring: in 1976
Judge: Roberto Ramirez Sr 147-142
Referee: Isaac Herrera 148-144
Judge: Jesus Celis 145-147

 

Antonio Cervantes vs. Wilfredo Benitez

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Benitez
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Benitez
Round 5: 10-9 Cervantes
Round 6: 10-9 Benitez
Round 7: 10-9 Benitez
Round 8: 10-9 Benitez
Round 9: 10-9 Cervantes
Round 10: 10-9 Cervantes
Round 11: 10-9 Benitez
Round 12: 10-9 Cervantes
Round 13: 10-9 Cervantes
Round 14: 10-9 Benitez
Round 15: 10-10 Even

145-143 Benitez

Rspen46, not counting even rounds, which are swing rounds, we actually only disagreed on the 14th round. In a 15 round bout that isn't too shabby. Especially considering the fact that this is a hard fight to score. I had to zero in on what was taking place every second of every round. Subtle shifts were taking place at all times. You, KoolKevin and I saw it for what it was, a good, close fight.

 

No score card but i watched Benitez Palomeno live then a few yrs ago. Carlos fought a helluva fight. Benitez needed some prying from his Dad at one point. Very close. Benitez just edged it. I may be in the minority but i would have settled with a draw. On form Palomeno is an underrated fighter.

 

Wilfred vs Cervantes

1. Cervantes 10-9
2. Even 19-19 (Benitez 10-9)
3. Benitez 29-28 (Benitez 10-9)
4. Benitez 39-37 (Benitez 10-9)
5. Benitez 48-47 (Cervantes 10-9)
6. Benitez 58-56 (Benitez 10-9)
7. Benitez 67-66 (Cervantes 10-9)
8. Benitez 77-75 (Benitez 10-9)
9. Benitez 86-85 (Cervantes 10-9)
10. Even 95-95 (Cervantes 10-9)
11. Benitez 105-104 (Benitez 10-9)
12. Even 114-114 (Cervantes 10-9)
13. Cervantes 124-123 (Cervantes 10-9)
14. Even 133-133 (Benitez 10-9)
15. Benitez 143-142 (Benitez 10-9)

Razor tight fight, could've gone either way. Most rounds were close and difficult to score.

Benitez's defence was excellent, he was very fast with his combos and jab whilst Cervantes wasn't very flashy, he was doing almost everything well.

 

So I decide to check out Palomino-Benitez which I haven't seen since '79? I think. Anyways, time can be rough, because it was a lot closer than I remembered. Also, I seem to have always remembered Benitez performing a boxing clinic off the ropes, but he actually only did it at the end of the 14th and maybe a bit in the 15th. Damn!!! Anyways, enough about my memory, here we go.

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Benitez
Round 4: 10-9 Palomino
Round 5: 10-9 Palomino
Round 6: 10-9 Benitez
Round 7: 10-9 Benitez
Round 8: 10-9 Benitez
Round 9: 10-9 Benitez
Round 10: 10-9 Palomino
Round 11: 10-9 Benitez
Round 12: 10-10 Even
Round 13: 10-9 Palomino
Round 14: 10-9 Benitez
Round 15: 10-9 Benitez

Total 146-142 Benitez

Not a great fight but damn good fight between two fighters that are vastly underrated as the years tick by. I'll add this to the scorecard thread.

 

Wilfred vs Palomino

1. Palomino 10-9 CLOSE
2. Even 19-19 (Benitez 10-9)
3. Benitez 29-28 (Benitez 10-9)
4. Benitez 39-38 (Even 10-10) CLOSE
5. Even 48-48 (Palomino 10-9)
6. Palomino 58-57 (Palomino 10-9) CLOSE
7. Even 67-67 (Benitez 10-9) CLOSE
8. Palomino 77-76 (Palomino 10-9)
9. Even 86-86 (Benitez 10-9)
10. Even 96-96 (Even 10-10) CLOSE
11. Benitez 106-105 (Benitez 10-9)
12. Even 115-115 (Palomino 10-9)
13. Benitez 125-124 (Benitez 10-9) CLOSE
14. Benitez 135-133 (Benitez 10-9)
15. Benitez 145-142 (Benitez 10-9) CLOSE

Razor close fight with a decision I agree with, any outcome would be completely acceptable. My scorecards a mess lol
Plenty of them close rounds could've split and gone either way, drastically changing the card.
In this fight It was very clear who was more skilled, and it was equally clear who was more tough.
Benitez showed in the 14th that he did not fight the right fight, he should've rope a doped the whole night, he seemed very comfortable here.
Carlos Palomino was a very good fighter and would be a ******* of an outing for anybody short an ATG.