Why Did Benitez career fall apart so quickly after the Hearns fight?

That blasted psychotic daddy, was the main issue!!!

 

I think it was simple. Bad choice to fight Hamsho at middleweight. He did so great at 154 in 1982 and was back on top. He beat Duran in Jan, and had a title defense between fighting Hearns in Dec. of 1982, and the Hearns fight he looked good.
I think sometimes one bad decision on who to fight can change a man's future in boxing. Hamsho was a guy Benitez should have never fought. Czyz found that out about Hamsho also. Benitez did ok in fights he was not hit, but Hamsho got to him with that style of his and being a natural middleweight. I just think Benitez career would have been different had he stayed at 154 and tried to get another title. When he finally went back down I think the psychological effect of the Hamsho fight affected him.

 

moving up and fighting Hamsho started his decline. Moore was an ankle injury wasn't it? And Hilton in 1986 was devastating. His last great weight and time he was great was probably when he fought Hearns and Duran in 1982. he should have stayed there and kept on training, He would have won one of the other titles, but I don't think he could beat Hearns in a rematch.

 

Moore was an ankle injury but the decline was evident, the right hands thrown by Palomino that he slipped with ease were landing cleanly. It was a bummer to see.

 

Moore's right hand was a lot quicker and sharper than Palomino's...a real beast of a punch, and Benitez did still slip all the follow ups with ease when against the ropes before the ref stopped it.

He didn't even try against hamsho.Just ****ily leaned in his corner slipping punches, it's hard to believe that fight had an effect on him.It was garbage.

 

If I were any fighters manager, I would have avoided Hamsho as an opponent. I always thought that was the crossroad fight which hurt Benitez the most. You would think his fights against fellow greats would have hurt him, but it was more that one against Hamsho.

 

what wars? Leonard benitez wasnt a war; it was a staring contest

He was just outboxed by better fighters

 

The beatings toook their toll, probably was affected before he even got professional, one of the worst fathers in boxing history.

 

This.

 

Wilfredo Benitez seemed to be a very unstable individual even during his heyday as a great fighter. Under the circumstances, it is little wonder that he faded at an early age.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Jack Quarry was another who did Jerry and Mike no favors, and they both said while they retained lucidity that they just weren't old enough to validly consent to getting punched in the head.

Ali was just 12 years old, but still made a volitional choice to learn boxing with Joe Martin's supervision. Plenty made mature decisions to undertake boxing with longevity as a payoff.

There have been few good fathers in boxing history. Bear in mind that it was only when adoptive father Floyd Patterson guided Tracy Harris Patterson to his first championship in 1992 that any former title winner in boxing led a son to the top.

 

Benetiz always was a little "unstable" even back at the SRL time frame.

Calling himself "The Dragon" & "El Radar" after fights...and actually meaning it.

He "dated" SRL sister some before the SRL fight.....but that is not talked about much these days.

Benetiz isn't given enough credit for his defeat of Duran....Duran was just beaten.

 

Well when you first start winning titles at 17 you can't expect longevity to be had. Seriously he started getting hit way too young for his own good, and it eventually caught up with him. Rumour had it as he got older he trained less and less for fights and he only trained for about 2 weeks for the Leonard fight. Given that much of his style was reflect based, and often along the ropes, a fighter can expect to pay a heavy, heavy price, for entering the ring rusty. His defense was good/great but not in the same way as say Duran's who could move with punches and avoid getting hit flush, so when he got hit, he really got hit good.

As to his win over Duran, I agree it was a great win.

 

Nice post. Benitez defense was considered the bestin boxing for quite some time but as you say, it was reflex based vs fundamentals and when he got a bit past it had nothing to fall back on. Still was fine vs Hearns as evidenced the one time Hearns went (outside the fight plan) berserk with him on the ropes.

Maybe there was some stuff going on outside the ring too.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUyGpKg9rW8

Here, in 1986, a faded Benitez still has enough left to beat a jouneyman Middleweight - Paul Whitaker. In the late rounds, Whitaker, behind on points, forces Benitez to the ropes, but Benitez still has enough radar to slip practically everything. Even here, near then end of his Career, Benitez retained a semblence of his skills. Now, he did come back in 1990 and had a few fights. That was a terrible decision. I assume he was totally shot then, but none of those fights was televised so there is no video.