Just how did Benitez beat Duran..And I believe Duran Fought a great fight!

I don't think the performance itself is fully appreciated. Duran looked in good shape to me, and even with every possible incentive to give it his all and win the fight, he just couldn't do anything with Benitez. No answers.

 

Watch Benitez take away Duran's right hand. Its a thing of beauty.

 

Benitez was a damned genius. If he had kid gavilans chin he might never had lost.

 

Give him Chuvalo's chin, and he still loses to Ray. Power wasn't the decisive factor in that one. Ray boxed his ears off.

Still, Benitez was phenomenal.

 

I wish Duran from the Moore bout had showed up. The duran in the Benitez bout was slow on the trigger. Benitez got off easy that night. Had Duran been anywhere his Moore outing it would been a very tough test, that I think Benitez wins, but still a tough test.

 

The fight was damn near even at the end, despite Wilfred's reluctance to even train, which had his dad fly back to Puerto Rico a week before out of frustration, not to mention challenger Ray was 23 against champion Wilfred being barely 21.
IMO! Wilfred Benitez & Eddie Gregory. Two fighters who, had they had the grit and moxie? We would be talking about two all time greats.

 

I think Benitez did do enough to earn the mantle of ATG, despite underachieving and passing peak at too young an age. But Cervantes, Palomino and Duran, all over the championship distance, is a pretty good trio for his belt.

Eddie? He might just be the biggest underachiever of the last 40 years to actually win a title.

 

Benitez was a better fighter.

At age 17 he beat the legendary Antonio Cervantes. Cervantes had not lost in 4 1/2 years and did not lose again for another 4 1/2 years.

He also beat Bruce Curry x2, Randy Shields, Carlos Palomino, and Harold Weston. Curry gave him trouble in their first fight.

He was stopped by Sugar Ray Leonard in the 15th round (6 seconds left in the fight)... he had given Leonard plenty of problems prior to the stoppage.

He went on to beat Tony Chiaverini KO9, Pete Ranzany KO8, Maurice Hope, Carlos Santos KO12, and ROBERTO DURAN.

He lost a close decision to Thomas Hearns. After Hearns he was hot and cold and clearly past prime. He went just 9-5 (3) after Hearns and was stopped 3 times.

 

I dont think the Duran of the Moore fight does any better. I think he looked slow against Benitez because Benitez made him look slow. Leonard himself said nobody could make him miss like Benitez did.

Speaking of the Leonard fight I dont think he boxed Benitez ears off so much as he was just busier and his punches that did land had more pop than Benitez. The story has always been that Benitez only trained a week or whatever for that fight. I dont know if thats true but he certainly wasnt in the kind of condition Ray was in. Ray just kept on going where Benitez had to take breaks.

 

I disagree.

Sure, Duran fought for a million years and even had some good wins and close losses while way past prime. H2H? I think Benitez is better and that's what matters to me.

IMO, Benitez has the right style to defeat Duran more times than not.

 

Ever notice that the fights we actually see between two great fighters usually end in a way that would only happen 1 out of 10 times???!!!???

Come on man!

Holyfield went 2-0 vs. Tyson but prime vs. prime so many say Tyson would win. They forget that Holyfield was past prime as well.

Duran lost to Leonard 2 out of 3 (once by TKO) and the win over Leonard was very close. He also lost to Benitez, Hearns LKOby2, and Hagler but I see people rating him over these 4 men everyday. Some people just look at that one night in Montreal and think that Duran could have beat anybody. Duran fought great that night but Leonard could have beat Duran had he fought a smarter fight.

Had Foreman and Frazier fought 10 times I think Frazier would have stopped Foreman 8 times... however, they only fought twice and Foreman won both of those by KO. Had Foreman fought Frazier 8 more times though??? Lol

Ali beat the **** out of Liston, the fight wasn't even close. The rematch was **** but Ali was in control prior to the controversial ending. Way too many people still think that a younger Liston would have beat Ali. Why?

 

I agree Benitez had a style and skillset that would have troubled Duran. At the same time a younger Duran was much quicker and more active. He would have presented a different picture to Wilfredo.

In short Benitez was at his best and Duran wasnt. Still a quality win for Benitez as I believe Duran was in good shape for that stage of his career.