Saul Canelo Alvarez vs Wilfred Benitez at 154 lbs, 15 rounds, both prime.

It is hard for me to believe that Benitez would be infallible at 154 with day before weigh ins when a 158 pound Hamsho beat him down during what was supposed to be his prime.

 

That's dumb , everyone knew Canelo was not at his best and Benitez was.

 

I don't think that anybody has said that he was infallible.

He wasn't in his prime against Hamsho up at MW.

He'd started slipping before then.

He was similar to Mike Tyson, in that his flame burnt brightly, but not for a prolonged period. He didn't have great longevity.

His prime ended around his fights with Duran and Hearns.

I think that a fight with Canelo would have been great. But the issue is, we can only choose the versions of Canelo we saw at JMW, unless we try and envisage this current version of Canelo being at JMW. But really, that's unrealistic.

For me, you're looking at a version of Benitez from the early 80's, around the time of the Hope fight, against a version of Canelo from around 2015-2016, who fought the likes of Khan and Smith.

Although Benitez was past his best against Hamsho, Hamsho was a very tough guy who hit guys with everything. He jumped on guys and mauled them. And that's what he did with Benitez. But Canelo doesn't fight like that. So the likelihood is, Canelo would have just tried boxing him, like he did against Floyd. And as we saw, he never pressed Floyd and put him under any serious pressure. He stood off of him and just tried to counterpunch.

I'd have loved to have seen it. And it they'd have boxed each other, where it was boxer vs boxer, instead of a boxer vs fighter, I think that I would have had to have favoured Benitez on a decision.

 

I understand. But again, the TS is looking at a fight at JMW. So that's the only versions of them that you can put forward.

 

If Mayweather-Canelo had not have happened I think it would be hard to find anyone who would pick Canelo at 154 vs. the Benitez of 154 and below. In a lot of minds it’s because it enhances Mayweather’s reputation by making it look like a weight-drained catch-weight pre-prime Canelo thats why such a pick is made. Yeah Benitez who hung with Hearns, schooled Duran who went on to win major titles at 154 & 160 against the odds later, iced Hope etc; is losing to the same “prime” Canelo at 154 who really lost to Lara, was razor thin against Trout, then even was in a competitive fight with an almost shot Cotto. This is not even mentioning how a lot of Canelo’s “improvement” coincides with failed PED tests among other things.

 

Canelo was probably bigger than Hamsho even as a 154. He couldn’t effectively pressure Floyd but he did everyone else when he chose to, including GGG in the rematch. I do not think Benitez would like being in with a bodypuncher and counterpuncher like Canelo who could do it while moving forward, and would enter the ring near 170.

 

Good post.

Yeah, Canelo would have been bigger than Hamsho. He’d definitely have weighed more. His rehydration weights were huge.

It all depends on how Canelo would have approached the fight. Against Floyd, he was obviously physically capable of pressuring him. But psychologically, he didn’t. But I think that he learnt a lot from that fight. And the versions who fought GG were more seasoned. But I think that movement will always cause him issues. I’m really hoping that BJS can get himself in top condition. It’s a fight that I’ve wanted for ages.

Against Benitez, he may have stood back and just looked for counterpunching opportunities like he did with Floyd. He may have showed him too much respect like he did against Floyd. We don’t know. All we know is that from the period where he was a JMW, he struggled with pure boxers in Floyd and Lara. So unless he’d have completely changed his usual tactics and gone straight at Benitez hard like Hamsho did, and also like Maidana did with Floyd, then I think that he’d have been in for a hard night’s work.

 

Me too

 

G

Great post Chris