What was it about Benitez that gave Duran so much trouble?

It is natural ability but it's also thousand upon thousands of hours in the gym behind that anticipation. He instinctively sees even minuscule twixt of muscles and tendons or tightening of eyes of the chest, that tells that a punch is coming. And even when he doesn't see a punch coming he can in the most cases instinctively calculate what's coming next from the previous punch. And good defensive technique means that you're always prepared also, even when you make a mistake. If he slips to the left to get outside a right he thinks is coming, but a left comes instead, he will still be balanced enough to roll or ride that punch. Or get his head down just enough for it to land high on the forehead. That's why fighters that truly know their craft so rarely get hit really clean. McCallum-Kalambay 2, for example. There's hardly a truly clean punching landing through the whole fight, despite both guys continually throwing leather.

 

Cheers mate, great stuff. I would love to see a peak for peak match vs Pryor, the great defensive master vs the hugely unorthodox volume puncher.

 

Simple. Duran like other hard punching swarming fighters could be outboxed. In Benitez he was fighting one of the great boxers of that time. Duran was simply outboxed.

 

Styles making fights here I believe
. WB such a talented, skilled guy and Duran s style played right in to his hands. Shame that W B ended up like he did.

 

I mentioned that I and my bud bet $500 on Wilfred against Duran. At the final bell, we knew we had it won but one judge scored it 143-142 Wilfred??? What the heck was that moron smoking??

 

Benitez was younger, faster, bigger and better defensively at 154 lbs then Duran was.

He stood right in front of Duran, made him miss, then countered all night long.

It's as simple as that.

I laugh when I read youtube comments of causals who say "If Duran was in the same shape for Benitez that he was in for Moore, he would have destroyed Benitez." LOLLLLL

 

I think the beating against Hamsho at 160 lbs. took a lot out of him. Hamsho trapped him on the ropes continually and shoved him back in whenever he tried to move out of there. The radar seemed to fail him in that fight but I think Hamsho's strength and workrate were too much for the smaller Benitez. Benitez was a little past peak, but hadn't really showed any slippage until the Hamsho fight. I think Hamsho was just way too physically strong for him and 160 lbs was one division too many for Benitez to move up to. 154 lbs. apparently was his best weight once he reached his physical prime.

 

This thread turned into a real little gem.

 

I agree , I'm a big Duran fan but at that weight and at his age he wasn't going to beat that Benitez. That performance was magnificent. I recall after that fight there was a call for Wilfred to fight Hagler. If he had been mentally sound I wonder what he could have accomplished?

 

Well Hamsho was as crude as sand paper, but it could have been a Gene Fulmer type situation