How hard did Benitez hit?

[joseph5620]

oh no, I never said Benitez was a huge puncher. he was kind of like like Whitaker...his style flat out did not incorporate power. you could not call him a big puncher in that respect, because his winning style of fighting did not often use power.

but when they needed it or wanted to use it, they definitely did have pop to their punches. Whitaker on a few occasions had some pretty brutal KOs(most notably against Hurtado when he knew he needed a KO), and Benitez could turn up the heat too. Its not like Shields win was a random counter shot KO that Shields didnt see, Benitez was on a rare attack sequence and bombed him with the right hand.


I wouldnt consider Nunn a weak puncher either by any means...although no, not a bigger puncher than Barkley. both Barkley and Nunn had the power to put away Kalambay, its just that Nunn was the only one with the ability to land a KO punch like that.

I've actually watched the Sheilds fight before and for what it's worth Sheilds did say Benitez hit harder than people thought he did.

[Scott9945]

He did stop Randy Shields as well, who went the distance with Leonard and Cuevas, and went 12 rounds with Hearns.

I wouldnt call him a murderous puncher or anything, but he had plenty of pop when he wanted to use it.

had he used that power in all his fights his defense would have suffered greatly however, which is probably why he preferred to fight without power.

I remember watching Randy Shields, and he was a tough guy with a solid chin. But I never saw that fight so I can only assume it was legit. But other than that and the home run against Hope, there isn't one KO over a major opponent in Benitez's career.

[TheGreatA]

It's correct he wasn't a puncher, but D'Amato went onto say that this was as much due to his attitude as his power. He rarely stepped on the gas and tried to put his opposition away, except when it was demanded of him. The Randy Shields fight was an opportunity to show he was a legitimate threat at welterweight after the two unimpressive performances against Bruce Curry.

[Scott9945]

It's correct he wasn't a puncher, but D'Amato went onto say that this was as much due to his attitude as his power. He rarely stepped on the gas and tried to put his opposition away, except when it was demanded of him. The Randy Shields fight was an opportunity to show he was a legitimate threat at welterweight after the two unimpressive performances against Bruce Curry.

Have you ever seen the Benitez-Shields fight? For some reason Shields' fights with Benitez, Hearns, and Leonard weren't on national TV in the US.

[TheGreatA]

Shields vs Cuevas and Hearns are also on youtube.

Benitez looked like Jose Napoles against Shields, stalking him down while slipping the opponent's blows.