The weaknesses of Wilfred Benitez

Close? I don't know if he won a round. That was the problem with bentiez, he wasn't agressive enough. Against Hearns you know to beat him you have to pressure him. Benitez just sat there and let the rounds pile up against him. Just like he did against Leonard.

 

he didnt fight with any passion. not good at taking the play away, slow with hands on on his feet. just didnt have much going for him

 

had God given talents and instincts but I think his biggest weakness was his work ethic and lifestyle. If he had the work ethic of a Bernanrd Hopkins its hard to imagine how much greater he could have been.

 

Not in the rematch:deal. I'm having a hard time finding a Benitez career set with the rematch....Wilfred Benitez is my favorite puerto rican fighter.

 

Right..Hearns was all wrong for Benitez in the same way that he would be all wrong for Mayweather. SRR would have fallen prey to Hearns the first time had it not been for his explosive dynamism as a puncher. That's what seperated Leonard from both Benitez and Mayweather is his more lethal power...his impressive offensive capabilities.

 

I tend to agree with that assessment, so much came so easily and so quickly - world champ at 17! - that (in my opinion) he never developed the serious training attitude to ensure world class stamina and hone his offense.
I still list him as a great fighter - in my top 20 (#17 currently) for WW but I believe he could have been top 5 if only he worked harder and trained harder.

 

Cosell was interviewing SRL and Dundee before Ray's match with Benitez, and the fact Wilfred sometimes tended to duck his head when he jabbed was brought up. Ray assured Howard that he'd been working on his uppercuts to take advantage of that. Sure enough, the final knockdown of their fight did occur as the result of an uppercut.

The initial knockdown came courtesy of a jab, nothing more than a flash knockdown really, but it did seem to reiterate the questions about Benitez's chin stemming from the first Curry fight.

In post #41, Longhorn mentioned Wilfredo yelling about himself being "The Dragon." That took place after he stopped Tony Chiaverini. Shortly after SRL stopped Tony, Chiaverini obtained Dundee's services for himself. Working together, they assembled a very nice winning streak to return Tony to title contention. That set the stage for Benitez versus Chiaverini on NBC's revived Friday Night Fights as the main event, with Ray providing color commentary. Tony doggedly carried the fight to Wilfred against the ropes, from where Benitez beat the **** out of him in the most devastating counter punching performance of his career. (A heavyweight Wilfred would have been Foreman's nightmare of nightmares.) Chiaverini, never took a backwards step, never stopped punching (and swatting air), and was never close to going down, but he was never in the fight either, and was obviously tired and haggard in the post fight interview.

Having beaten a Dundee fighter, and with SRL in the ring for the post fight interviews, Benitez was high as a kite. He came over to Dundee (administering to his charge), wrapped his arm around Angelo's shoulder, and said to him on camera, "I'm the Dragon, no?" Dundee simply turned to Marv Albert, and bemusedly repeated, "He's the Dragon." Then, Wilfred and Ray bantered like old classmates for the cameras. This brings up something else. Benitez actually dated Ray's sister after they fought. He seemed to like everybody, and didn't appear to have a mean bone in his body. Meanness, anger, hunger and hate may not be essential for boxing success, but it doesn't hurt to have some kind of edginess, and Wilfred seemed to be lacking this sometimes.

For his only outing between SRL and Chiaverini, he dropped and carved up power punching welterweight Johnny Turner. A couple years earlier, Turner knocked out and ruined the career of Frankie Benitez. For this one, Turner reversed roles with Wilfred, and tried to play the cutie, retreating on his toes. Big mistake. Johnny got decked with a peach of a sweeping hook in the second round, then had his face turned into a bloody mess as Wilfred slowly stalked him around the ring, vindicating SRL's declaration, "I say Wilfredo Benitez can hit!" After it was over, he was asked in the post fight interview if he'd been intent on punishing Turner for what had happened to Frankie. He very vehemently denied any such intention. (Contrast that with Duane Bobick going into Scott LeDoux's dressing room to say, "You don't beat up my brother!")

Gregorio Benitez did train Escalera and DeJesus, and he saved his son's WW Title by slapping him upside the head between rounds during the rematch with Weston, so he wasn't completely useless in this regard. However, Wilfred, like the Quarry boys, was pushed into boxing and getting punched in the head when he was far too young to have the ability to consent to that. (I'd rather have a kid take up boxing over parental objections, then have that kid pressured into it by a parent living vicariously through their child. Parents like that suck, and should be sterilized at the earliest opportunity.)

 

Benitez was pretty aggressive though. Hard to believe but he actually outfought Duran. Dude you meant SRL right?lol No problem I see what you were saying it's cool.

 

Benitez was a hell of a boxer. Just well rounded at everything. His slick head and upper body movement was sublime.

 

Punani, from what I understand.

 

Not enough offence, to much defence.