Monzon vs Benn

Less of the 'little', he was proven at the weight regardless of being a champ at 154.

You biased twat:rofl:rofl only kidding

 

Actually, I'm amazed Benvenuti could make Light-Middleweight. I mean the guy is a big Middleweight as it.

 

He is in terms of dimensions, but i don't think that always translates into weight measurements, which is strange. I don't know if it is or isn't the case in terms of Nino though.

It's weird, Jake LaMotta had a nightmare making weight and he wasn't tall. Must be all about body structure or somethin'

 

Benn isn't just going to be plodding forward predictably like Briscoe. He has skills. He has a jab. He can counter fairly.

Monzon always fought tentatively against anybody who was either big or a threat. Monzon/Benvenuti, Monzon/Mundine are practically the era's versions of Mayweather/Baldomir. Why people think he's going to be firing on all cylinders I have no idea.

 

That's a bold statement there mate. Better than Benvenuti, Griffith and Valdez? Nigel's one of my favourite fighters, but an all time great he wasn't. Not to say he wouldn't die trying to Monzon's head off, but still....

Do you think Monzon to be rated too highly on here?

 

Benvenuti was allowing himself to be totally manhandled in the clinches. It was just inexplicable to me. Monzon's standing there, winding up with these telegraphed right hands, and he's just holding on waiting for it to happen. No fighter with any killer instinct or determination would stand for that.

And people rate Monzon as being better inside than Hopkins... Now that's :rofl

 

Nah, he won't be firing on all cylinders. Just his usual game, which would win it for him imo.

 

Perhaps not Valdez, but, at that stage of their careers, better than the other two. He poses more of a stylistic problem as well, IMO.

Absolutely. He's an ATG, but not a high-ranking one in my book. Like I said earlier, a poor man's Larry Holmes in terms of style/ability, and a record built on workman-like consistency rather than any truly great wins.

 

Benn was reckless and too aggresive at Middleweight. He would come storming out at opponent like an animal. He had skills but he forfeited afew thing sin favour of all out aggresion at times, and Monzon aint going to let him get off with that.

You are seriously just plain ignorant if you completly disregard the wins over Mundine and in particular Benvenuti.

Thats right and Bennie Briscoe was just the era's Gatti, Denny Moyer was the era's Steve Forbes, Emile Griffith was the era's Miguel Cotto.

 

He didn't look too tentative to me in either fight with Benvenuti, as I'm sure Nino himself might well have attested to. The Benn you described there sounds closer to the later Benn rather than the middlweight one I'm thinking of.

Still, it's good to read a dissenting opinion I suppose. Makes it interesting.

 

Yeah, no way does he have more skills on the inside than Hopkins, technically nowhere near him in that regard. Monzon was very strong though. In my perception, his close up game was simply to batter his man with wide type shots until his man backed off, when he would go back to working the jab. That's how i perceived it personally.

 

I agree, but there's a difference between exploitable aggression (Briscoe) and not. When you're leading with your chin, you're in trouble. When you're jabbing faster, harder, getting the combinations off quicker, punching harder, that can be an advantage.

Monzon isn't a counter-puncher anyway. He neutralises pressure rather than feeding off it.

I'm not disregarding them. Monzon's whole claim to fame is predicated on wins of that sort. But there are specific things that Monzon did to those guys that would not translate to success vs. Benn, and I think they should be noted.

When did I say that? It's true that Monzon fights low-output much of the time (there are exceptions), though, and he seems to get actual credit for doing that on here rather than the deserved slaughtering other fighters get. It seems to show how unbelievably amazingly ruthless, cold, determined, methodical, calculating, etc. etc. etc.

 

:good Spot on as usual T.

 

Mmmm......Griffith still looked damn effective to me at that point and was always fit and as strong as an ox, as demonstrated against Tiger on the inside battle. Not at his very, very best, but still damn good. And I always thought that Benvenuti seemed to undergoing a fine streak of form at the time of the first fight, not to mention that he seemed to be discovering new heights of punching power ie the Rodriguez fight.

If anything, I'd say that the question marks were over Valdez rather than the other two.

Different overall view on Monzon then? I used to be similar at one point, but watching him in greater detail has altered my line of thinking quite considerably.

 

He took the shots of McClellan, Eubanks (massively underrated power), Barkley and kept coming. :deal Benn has the speed to land his punches too. Monzon won't be in a shell, he maybe be forced into a dog fight here though