Wilfred Benitez - the fab 4's 5th member?

[gibo]

Benitez has always been a little bit off mentally, even as a young child, boxing didn't help any but it's not the total cause.

[TBear]

When Leonard and Hearns were welterweights, Benitez was in the fab four. It was Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Benitez when the phrase was first used. Hagler replaced Benitez later after the bout with Leonard. And fans looked back.

[mrboxer]

Should Benitez be included in the group of Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Duran?

He fought 3 out of the 4, and beat Duran.

Although Duran was the first to beat Leonard, and also lost to him twice, and then to Hearns and Hagler.

Could he of survived against Hagler? hHis uncanny defence was remarkable.

not only should he be included he is the best of the group,he beat duran easily,he lost to leonard by a lousy referee stoppage and he got robbed against hearns he clearly won almost every round of that fight,and if hagler never ducked him hagler would of been meet with a middle round stoppage by the best counter puncher the sport has ever encountered

[BennyST]

not only should he be included he is the best of the group,he beat duran easily,he lost to leonard by a lousy referee stoppage and he got robbed against hearns he clearly won almost every round of that fight,and if hagler never ducked him hagler would of been meet with a middle round stoppage by the best counter puncher the sport has ever encountered

Why do you insist on being a troll? Are you just one of the guys that can't think of anything better to do than annoy people and act ******? Do you have no imagination?

Every post you type around here deliberately goes against the grain in an attempt to get a rise out of everyone and create an argument. What's the point man? Does your life hold so little meaning?

Either that or you're simply taking the piss. Surely though, you understand that Hearns did not even come close to losing every round, Hagler did not duck anyone, including Benitez, who lost to Hamsho for a shot at Hagler. Maybe you didn't know that though.

The only guy he beat from the other two was a ****house version of fat Duran. Before that he lost to Curry, but poor Curry got brutally screwed over, he lost to Leonard and Hearns.

How can he be the best of the whole lot? He was young and still in his prime years when facing them all, so you can't see he was past it. He was truly great. A legend. But, he was not close to being the best of those guys.

[BennyST]

** Well, Terry, don't think there's real understanding of pugilistic dementia, but as far as I know Benitez is still the record holder as the youngest champion at age 17, so he was taking pro punches at an early age.

It's my understanding that Pops had him fighting full grown men before he was a teen, so very likely he took a lot of early damage. He also had a reputation of being in poor shape, so punches may have more effect on that type.

Also, he was also something of a party animal, and may have taken some drugs to ill long term effect.

Yes, this is true. Fighting guys like Curry and get hammered from pillar to post, really, really badly, at such a young age would have not done him any favours. He did take quite a fair bit of severe punishment through his career and got hit quite a lot.

As mentioned above too, the partying would have been akin to getting hit so it was like he was getting hit in and out of the ring.

The Frazier fights for Ali jump out at you now when thinking of why he is so messed up. He took brutal amounts of punishment in those fights. Horrible beatings to the head from a hugely powerful left hook, round after round.

Benitez was fighting some hard guys and big punchers at such a young age. His fight with Curry where he was truly brutalised would have given him the start of some horrible damage. No referee today, and it's true that there is not a single ref today, that wouldn't have stopped that fight. No chance they would let it go on. Smoger or anyone would have stopped that fight. That's what the cause of his damage is from. Fights like that, or the Davey Moore fight where he wasn't knocked down really badly or out or anything, but he just got his head smashed in the corner over and over. The ref stopped that one thankfully, but it is those type fights that do the damage.

[Princemanspopa]

Hagler did not duck anyone.

That's debatable

The only guy he beat from the other two was a ****house version of fat Duran..

And out pops the Duran apologist,once again.

he was not close to being the best of those guys.

Certainly better than Roberto Duran,as he proved over the course of fifteen rounds.He didn't offer excuses,nor did he need sad little apologists like you to defend him when he lost either.