The harris thread got me thinking of another contender from that period who failed to live up to expectations. A huge punching boxer-puncher with very good height and reach for 175, he had shades of Bob Foster about his style, utilising a very long jab to control fighters before setting up the bombs. Going into the title fight with Conteh he was well thought of as a contender with a lot of potential, and he certainly fought well, having success early on with his height and reach advantage on the outside and using the long ramrod well.He was badly rocked a few times and getting roughed up on the inside, but the fight was certainlly still up for grabs and yet to fully develop when Conteh's usual rough inside work got it stopped on a cut. Unlucky for Bennett, but no big deal you might say.He had looked good in a high quality fight that ended in an unsatisfactory manner, and seemed a threat who would remain in the mix.That seemed to be confirmed with a pretty awesome destruction of the underrated Billy Douglas, but then the wheels came off. He was inactive and eventually returned to fighting other contenders with a sub-par performance against yaqui Lopez, who he deliberately butted open for a cuts stoppage win.maybe just rust? However that was followed by a good fight against the slick Jesse Burnett,where it looked like his legs had gone from the opening bell. Burnett was an underated exellent fighter himself despite his record, but after that Bennett looked totally shot and was brutally knocked out by every other contender he fought. I've come across interviews with him online where he claimed that he had terrible trouble making weight by the time of his losses and would have been ideally suited to the cruiser division.He did look like a legless drained fighter against Burnett. Anyone watched much of him?.There isn't much out there, but he's another fighter well worth checking out for anyone into the lightheavyweights of that era.Lots of talent even among the more obscure contenders then, and Bennett was one of the better ones along with Burnett, Kates, Fourrie, Mwale etc..
Part of his fight with Burnett: [yt]ySC5Ip4PohQ[/yt] [yt]rsUazyCKTfQ[/yt] His KO loss to Mike Rossman: [yt]KAdBBYd_YDc[/yt]
Yep, he was the Glen Johnson of the '70s: fought all the top LHWs and gave them hell, often falling short on close, disputed decisions.
I remember Bennett. I started following boxing in 1975, as a kid, and Bennett was ranked in the top five or six by all the magazines. He was 6'2" tall and I remember that he had a great left jab. I didn't realize that Bennett was a big puncher, though. I saw Bennett's fight against Billy Douglas Sr. Bennett looked great that night. Next time I saw Bennett, he was really beaten up by Yaqui Lopez in 1977. Lopez had complete control of the fight, hurting Bennett with right hands. The bout was ended when Yaqui was cut by a very clear head butt. It's amazing that the Indiana officials (where the fight took place) didn't call it a no decision. The Lopez fight was Bennett's swan song as a world class boxer. Later in 1977, Bennett was completely outclassed by Jesse Burnett. The fight can be seen on YouTube. Bennett's legs are clearly gone. After that, Bennett lost in the eighth round on cuts to Louis Pergard, in Europe. Shortly afterwards, Mike Rossman totally destroyed Bennett, knocking him down multiple times and ending the fight in devastating fashion in two rounds. A year later, Lotte Mwale finished off Bennett in one round. During his prime, though, Bennett was pretty good.
