Sonny Liston vs George Benton sparring

My thoughts exactly. Several posts in a row, all A+ quality.

Great posts, great information, great thread so far.

 

Another Benton tid bit i remember. George was already a pro at 17 i believe. When his Manager/trainer I think his last name was Rose used to take a fighter out of town George was left with the responsibility of overseeing the other fighters in the stable and making sure they were training properly.
I'm a huge Benton fan and at one time researched him deeply and spoke to as many people as I could find that knew him. I was actually trying to set up a visit with him shortly befor his death. In my eyes he was an amazing fighter and now just an afterthought to most people.

 

Benton was a master boxer. In another era he's champ EASILY.
What a lot of people fail to realize is Benton was the master mind behind almost all the Duva boxers- Whittaker,Taylor,Holyfield,Lockridge,
Bumphus etc all learned from Benton.
Benton was very quiet while Lou Duva was the colorful one who garnered all the attention.
Watch Whittaker vs Nelson and see whose giving the advice-its Benton .
In my opinion Benton is on Harold Johnsons level in terms of talent.

 

Can't find the article but I actually started copying it a while back. It was called, "The Philadelphia Gym Story," by Robert Seltzer. The Benton story comes up in the beginning:


The Philadelphia Gym Story, Robert Seltzer

A Philadelphia gym is a good place for a man bent on homicide.

“I remember the day Sonny Liston tried to kill me, Georgie Benton said.

It was 1960, and the two men were preparing to spar at a gym in North Philadelphia. Liston was the top heavyweight contender, about three prone bodies away from the world title. He aimed to turn his sparring partner—poor Georgie Benton—into one of those prone bodies.

Liston weighed 220 pounds, Benton 160. It looked like a colossal mismatch. Liston would pound him from here to the state line, no question.

“Sonny was a brute, a bad dude,” said Benton, then a middleweight contender. “We got into the ring, and he started swinging at me. I had to outbox him, sticking and moving, sticking and moving. I wasn’t trying to show off, but I had to make him miss. Sonny didn’t like it. He got mad.”

After two rounds, Liston became frustrated. His hooks and uppercuts, coming in wider and wider arcs, severed the hot, stale air. He began breathing heavily, but he maintained his assault, chasing his opponent from corner to corner.

“In the third round, he started to swing at my head,” Benton said. “He usually concentrated on body shots in the gym, but he wanted to hurt me. He was getting a little peeved. My manager saw what was happening. He didn’t want me to get hurt, so he stopped it. I boxed the hell out of him, but I’m glad Sonny didn’t land anything…That was the first and last time I sparred with him.”

 

They were scheduled to fight in 1956 but Johnson injured his shoulder and Marty Marshall was subbed in his place. Johnson showed up at the weigh in for the fight. Here he is in a still from the film posing with Liston.

[url]https://flic.kr/p/24Q8HGj[/url]

 

Thanks compadre.

 

The story was never that Futch stood up to Louis. He simply had some spars with him.

 

Some research will find numerous "lighter" weight fighters sparred with their heavier, more famous stablemates over the years. Both learned from each other...heavier punch vs faster hands & feet.

 

He was a big part of Holyfield and Lou Duva's team IIRC

 

This is a very impressive and fascinating thread.

 

Fighters of greatly varying weight classes still mix it up. Whats the saying, iron sharpens iron?

I remember De La Hoya sparring with barely a hundred pound Ivan Calderon later in his career, and supposedly being bamboozled.

 

This is correct. The story was that Futch was working on a punch which he could catch Louis with by kind of bouncing off the ropes. He was able to do it but said the next time they sparred Louis had improved so much he wouldnt fall for it
and ended up making Futch pay.

 

Great read always liked Benton style Mayweathers is very similar. Benton always described Whitaker as his "masterpiece"

 

He is credited with giving Joe Frazier a right hand for the," Thrilla In Manilla" ,working alongside Eddie Futch.