Who do you rate higher Wilfredo Gomez or Wilfred Benitez

I had Lockridge winning but it wasnt some all time bad decision like a Sturm-DLH or Lennox-Holyfield 1

 

Wilfredo Gomez!!!

 

Even though he's one of the fighters I dislike the most, Bazooka. But El Radar is definitely on the same level as far as greatness is concerned.

 

You never answered my question.

Palomino, Duran and Cervantes > Zárate, Pintor and Laporte.

Benítez has better top shelf wins. Moved up better in weight. Was the youngest champion ever. And you have him below DeLeon and Vásquez?

 

Wilfredo Benitez.

Wins over Cervantes, Palomino and Duran.
Competed with Leonard and Hearns. Gómez has a great boxing record as far as title defenses and KO percentage but in my opinion Benítez’s wins over these three tip the scales. The Duran win wasn’t even close. He played with Duran.

 

Gomez PfP the hardest puncher ever!

GTFOH where that "he was an attrition puncher" garbage.

 

I thought it was a terrible one. I had it 146-139 to Lockridge. Gomez got the **** kicked out of him at points - it was such a blatant hometown decision that one.

 

I think Gomez was more skilled but Benitez fought and beat the more difficult boxers.
Based on that I would have to lean towards Wilfred.
Zarate and Sanchez are impressive but Gomez lost to Sanchez.
Leonard,Hearns,Cervantes,Duran are more impressive in my opinion and even know Wilfred lost to some of the above he was competitive with them which is Impressive considering they are considered all time greats.

 

^ This. Benitez fought three guys better than Salvador Sanchez and he was competitive against every one of them, while beating the one most people rank the highest all-time.

 

An unmotivated Durán is better than a highly motivated Sánchez? Doubtful. You're also talking like Gomez wasn't competitive with Sanchez.

 

Gomez really wasn’t competitive with Sanchez. He was down badly from the first round and Sanchez was biding his time while Gomez was trying to work his way into the fight. Gomez was terribly under prepared for the fight though. He trained for about three weeks. All his own fault. He’d gotten married and went on a cruise ship and partied hard. He tried to get the fight pushed back but couldn’t. He had to shed something like four pounds on fight day. Sort of the way Zarate was sick as a dog and wanted to push their fight back but couldn’t. I think that led to one-sided fights that perhaps would t have been so dominant if both sides had ideal preparation.

What’s to say Duran was unmotivated for Benitez? I know Duran is the ultimate excuse maker and has reasons for every loss but hates opponents using them on him but he looked in good shape and talked a lot of **** to the point it was a grudge match. Duran hated Benitez, I refuse to believe he didn’t get motivated.

 

+ Duran prepared for Benitez fight in isolation on Coiba island. Prison-island, without any distractions

 

Wilfredo Benitez has the better resume and the better wins, but he also has the worst losses.

Gomez was never a punching bag for prospects coming up. When Gomez realized he wasn't at the top of his game anymore, he called it a career. (Then came back a few years later for a couple wins and got it totally out of his system.)

Some great fighters do real damage (not only to themselves physically but how they are remembered) by hanging around too long. Benitez was one of those guys.

Where you rate them probably depends on if you judge fighters' careers on their entirety or just when guys are fighting their best.

 

Ugh. No no no. Just no.

 

Tough to split them, as the responses so far show.

Gomez obviously the more consistent and reliable championship performer over a longer period of time, with more than twice as many world title fights and wins as Benitez. Super-Bantam might not be the oldest or most talent-stacked division (still some great fighters there, of course), but nevertheless Gomez is still indisputably the greatest fighter in its history, a very rare and significant accolade.

Without splitting hairs, I'd say Gomez's win over Zarate and Benitez's over Duran are roughly equal. Gomez absolutely hammered a peak, unbeaten and fearsome-punching Zarate into the ground, whereas Benitez put on a clinic of the sweet science in outclassing an ever-so-slightly faded Duran. The fact that Zarate was unbeaten and fully prime obviously adds some extra cachet to Gomez's win there, but stylistically he was well-suited to Bazooka and didn't have the skill and adaptability of Duran, even if Duran was significantly above his best weight as he was against Benitez. Duran still had some of his better career moments to come (Moore, Hagler, Barkley). Worth noting that Benitez was able to dissect Duran without resorting to any of the disgraceful and dirty behaviour Gomez resorted to against Zarate.

Outside of those blue ribband wins I'd favour Cervantes and Palomino over Pintor and Laporte, though. I struggle to give Gomez too much credit for Lockridge as the decision was an insult to our collective intelligence. Gomez beat one or two more ranked contenders or alphabet titlists than Benitez outside of that, so it depends how wide your range is. If you concentrate on each man's best small handful of wins then Benitez takes it (Hope on his ledger was no mug, either), if you widen the net then it's a bit trickier. I'd probably edge towards Benitez for quality of opposition beaten.

Although he has longevity on his side, Gomez's inability to translate his dominance at 122 across the higher weights harms him in comparison to Benitez. Gomez was a phenomenon at 122, but never really looked like anything more than a standard alphabet titlist at 126 and 130 in the grand scheme of things. His only really notable performance and win at the higher weights was Laporte, who was pretty limited albeit very tough with a good right. On the other hand, Benitez usurped one of the better champions at 140 and could still produce dominant, virtuoso performances against quality opposition at 147 (Palomino) and 154 (Duran). Both guys lost to the very best they fought at the higher weights, but Benitez was at least competitive with Leonard for the most part, and very competitive in going the distance with Hearns...Compare that to Gomez, who was absolutely trounced from start to finish against Sanchez and taken out by Nelson.

Although the margins aren't huge, the only thing Gomez really has going in his favour is his longevity compared to Benitez's, so it depends how much you hold Wilfred's early decline against him. When I first saw this question my instinct was to go with Gomez, but the more I've thought about it and outlined my reasons above, I'm now leaning towards Benitez.