You saw what happened when he stepped into the ring with someone faster than himself: he really couldnt do anything with either of them. Duran and Hope were plodders at best but and without speed-the perfect opponents to make "El Radar" look good. And let's face it, Duran was yesterday's news by '81. Norris on the other hand was the new breed of athlete-much much faster both with the hands and feet. I fail to understand how a weaponless fighter like Wilfred could deal with Mr. Norris. If Leonard himself had no chance, what feeble hope would "Wonderful Wilfred" have? He wouldn't. After building an insurmoutable lead, Terry decides to finish the myth of El Radar and unleashes a volley of shots to the head similar to what happened in the Matthew Hilton fight and finishes that sorry mo fo.
Leonard DID stop Benitez. Anyway this is a very close match-up IMO, but Benitez is smarter than Norris IMO. Benitez by close decision, Norris more eye catching, Benitez moer effective. I see Norris getting dropped late.
good fight I think Benitezs jab can nuetralise the speed of Norris. I help Benitez controll the pace. Obviously he cant win it just with the jab his movement plays an important part in this. I think early Norris has alot of sucess with his speed, combos and workrate and can catch Benitez. Benitez might take afew rounds to adjust to the speed of Norris and to get the jab working ot help controll the fight. I like Benitez to controll the range with movement and jab and in turn controll the pace and overrall shape of the fight. But Norris will always be in it. I say Benitez SD as he boxes off his back foot with sharper shots but Norris throwing more and being aggresive.
Wilfredo Beneitz was still a great fighter when he won the title at 154. Tons of natural talent. A frame that carried the weight. The Duran he beat was still very good. He went on to crush Cuevas and Moore, go a tough 15 with Hagler and later defeat Barkley. He simply could not do a thing with Wilfredo. Norris was a terrific offensive fighter with a weak chin. He was a much better hitter than Wilfredo but Benetiz was much slicker , much better defensively and just as fast. I feel a prime Wilfredo beats him but it would be a very dangerous fight because of Norris' power. Wilfredo would throw Terry off his game enough to keep him missing. Duran a plodder ? Are you crazy ? At any weight , the man was never a plodder. That's way off man. The Leonard that fought Norris was shot. A prime Leonard would stop Terry.
Don't mean to offend anyone ezpecially the Duran fans but i feel at 154 he is too stationary. Not as bad as Hope. Hope was hopeless. But Duran was way too flatfooted. Speed was never his game and at these heavier weights is way too slow. Terrible Terry on the other hand at 154 was a natural speedster if I ever saw one. We saw what a mobile fighter could do to a relatively immobile one in Norris vs Curry and I feel Terry would do the same with the mostly flatfooted Benitez. Even Meldrick as fast as he was, perhaps the fastest hands ever, was barely a match for the swarming attack of Norris. And the great SRL-legendary five time champion with 0 losses over the last 11 years could do nothing with my man TTN! Let's be serious folks, Wilfred-O has two chances-slim and none.