Wilfred Benitez

Obviously it wasn’t enough. I’m not sure it would have made a difference but it might have helped.

 

I’m saying Marvin should have fought him rather than Fully Obel or Caveman Lee.

Whether Wilfred would have won or not is really not material to what I’m saying.

I mean, Hagler beat Hearns … does that mean they shouldn’t have fought? One of them would have won and the other would have lost (unless it was a draw). Everybody thought Tyson was going to beat Buster and Evander, but if they wouldn’t have fought based on people thinking Mike was going to win then we wouldn’t have found out differently.

I get that Hagler couldn’t fight everybody, but the Caveman Lee defense in particular was an absolute joke. And Fully Obel? Give him some step-aside money and a fight on the undercard like Arum did with Juan Roldan three times and make the Benitez fight.

 

I really believe what his dad did to him in his early teen years burned him out early.
His father had him sparring grown pro fighters as a teen. And what I've heard they were more fighting than sparring.
How Benitez practically fell off a cliff in his career in his mid 20's, and having dementia so early , that early abuse had to be a major factor in how quickly his career nose dived.

 

Sound points Flash. Good job!

 

Cool! I just sent Yvonne Benitez some more financial support for Wilfred. It breaks my heart the condition that he has been in. My father knew Carl "Bobo" Olson back in the day when they were kids in Hawaii and he told me that Olson was really bad off for a long time after his fighting days and that his wife and family had to do everything to take care of him. I was glad to hear a few years ago that Wilfred was doing better overall after they were able to relocate him and his sister to Chicago, Illinois, USA after that Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.

His fight with Sugar Ray Leonard is one of my favorite boxing matches ever. What skills they displayed in their fight! He sure handled Roberto Duran very easily. "The Radar" sure had elite boxing skills. I know records fall eventually, but I don't think anyone is ever breaking his record as the youngest boxing champion ever.

 

Wish someone would make a movie on his life, “The Radar,” and set aside a portion of the proceeds for his care.

 

If you can beat the consensus goat at your weight classes in his prime at 17 years old, then move up and put on great performances on three of the best fighters to ever do it, you've go to be some kind of all time great to me.