I've never seen either of them. How high were they on the food chain in their primes? They have similar records and also have in common that they went on to train complete nutcase heavyweights (Cokes with Ike Ibeabuchi and Benton with McCall).
Curtis Cokes (WBA-WBC Champion) was the best welterweight in the World from mid-1966 to mid-1968. He fought the top welters all over the world in his career. There were many good welters around then....and a loss to someone was not considered to be a "disaster" like it is now. Per his manager Doug Lord, by 1969 Cokes' skills had been to slip and Napoles beat him in two very tough fights....and the results weren't that unexpected. Since I saw Cokes live, I would rate a fight between him and Oscar as even money because Cokes was a tall and rangy boxerpuncher, with loads of experience, had fought all kinds of styles, and had great stamina since he fought in the "15 round era". If BHop could put Oscar down with a body shot, Cokes could have too.
Curtis Cokes was a very good but not great welterweight champion who came into his own between the eras of Emile Griffith and Jose Napoles. He beat some guys in his reign and fought gallantly as champion, but had the misfortune to meet Mantequilla Napoles, who WAS great and was turned into a punching bag by Jose both times. Cokes looked terrible after both fights.
Both were very good but not great in my opinion ,Cokes style was more fan friendly ,he had the hard luck to be around just as Napoles was comung to the fore. Benton was a safety first boxer ,very skilled but too negative for me.
Cokes intrigued me (a bit before my time), but I found this: From the June 1966 edition of The Ring "No more Welters? What about me? Cokes asks Emile" In an article by Alan Eskew, Cokes (ranked #4 by The Ring) pleads his case for a title shot against Griffith, who says he is moving up to 160lbs because he has run out of challengers. Cokes and his manager (Doug Lord) beg to differ: Lord points out Cokes had a win over the then #1 ranked Luis Rodriguez.... Cokes never did got a fight with Griffith; but when Emile moved up, Cokes won the vacant championship with a win over Jean Josselin in November 1966.
