I just watched an old replay of the Jorge Luis Gonzalez vs Derek "One Man Riot" Bryant fight and I have to say I don't think I've ever seen anyone as shot as Gonzalez was here. I know Gonzalez was no world beater but he couldn't even defend himself in this fight.The much smaller Bryant landed nearly everything he threw,hurt Gonzalez whenever he landed and scored a KO in 1 against what was basically a big,fat 6'7 punching bag. I know Gonzalez isn't the best example but I'm keen to see who you guys think is the most shot once formidable fighter you've seen,and what fight best illustrated it? Another couple of examples I've seen are Joppy-Duran,and Holiday-Fenech. Duran was fat,fifty and fighting a decent prime middleweight.How this fight was sanctioned I'll never know. Fenech got badly hurt each time Holiday tapped him and his own punches were pathetically feeble looking.Thank God his corner stopped it so soon as it was embarassing to see. What are your examples (I know there's plenty of 'em)?
I always think of how pathetic Dick Tiger looked in his rematch with Griffith. His reflexes were gone, he had no strength in his legs, and no power in his punches. Turns out he was just a few months away from dying of cancer. Tony Lopez getting blown out by Quiroz(sp?).
He looked awful against the then highly thought of Matthew Hilton (aged 27), some think the damage was done 18 months previous in the loss to Davey Moore.
I remember when Peter McNeeley fought Mike Bernardo. While McNeeley was never great, he looked completely awful in the fight. He was knocked out in the 1st round.
There wasnt any damage done against Moore other than the broken ankle he suffered during the first round knockdown. The fact of the matter is that Benitez had been boxing since before he was five years old and had been boxing at an elite level since he was fifteen or sixteen. By the late 1970s he was already diagnosed with brain damage and by the time he was 25 he was having serious cognitive problems. Combine this with his propensity for hard partying, drugs, and lack of training and it made a lethal mix to his boxing career. He is now all but a vegetable. One of my favorite fighters. Very sad ending.
Damn, Honeyghan was horribly shot in the Breland fight. Hatton vs Pac is a good recent example. Ali vs Holmes the most famous, how sad.
Basically, he's a younger version of the Quarry boys. Ali himself started getting punched in the head at just 12. Maybe there should be some kind of restriction on how early this kind of thing should be allowed. World class competitors who bloomed late do seem able to retain their faculties later in life. (Either that, or actually try teaching these kids how to defend themselves before they start getting punched in the head. Chuvalo and LaMotta have both claimed that they were better defensively than they were credited as being, and they both seem fine today.)
