I’m gonna stick my neck out and favor Benitez on points. Took prime Hearns 15 rounds at that weight and beat Duran, Santos and Hope. Lara would be a tough fight though
I am scratching my head at all of these threads on the completely overrated Lara. There is absolutely no question that Benitez beats Lara. The only question is whether Lara lasts the distance, or not. It probably just depends on how much Benitez cares that day. If he is fully motivated and fired up, he probably gets a stoppage.
Lara wouldn't look far out of place mixed in with some of the decent 2nd tier light middles of the 80s. Drayton, Thomas, Aquino, Hope, Skouma, Braxton, Minchillo etc from the same rough era. Probably a step down from Moore, old Duran and so on. He's postcodes removed from the 154 Benitez though, nowhere the same talent or skill level. The same for Hearns and to a lesser extent, McCallum. Consistent struggles with the likes of Molina, Martirosyan, Hurd, Williams, the green weightdrained Canelo, Angulo etc even in victory aren't indicative of a very good/excellent -in-any-era type of fighter, never mind a great one. Even if you are a Cuban southpaw who moves a lot.
If you have to say that a basically prime version of Canelo green and weight drained (at 155), it tells us what we need to know. Benitez has one standout win at 154 against Duran, who would lose to Laing right after that. And Duran tells virtually nothing about Benitez vs. Lara. His other wins there were against guys who were worse than Lara.
Benitez quite clearly prime for prime and career accomplishments-wise is on an entirely different level to Lara.
Are you forgetting the Hope win which was an excellent performance by Benitez along with easily beating Carlos Santos who would latter go on to win a title. Both were southpaws and Benitez had 0 problems with either.
