Wilfred Benitez?

[Ray Corso]

I don't buy into Wilfred's excuses about not training! He trained he also went out and partied because he loved the attention he received from boxing. You can't go 15 rounds with Leonard and do well if your not in shape.
I doubt he went above 160-65 if he had a decent lay off so training for condition and making 147 didn't take long.
If Wilfred had a better "clock in his mind" when it came to "round management" he would have had more success against any of the top men.
He had excellent eye/hand coordination along with natural ability to avoid shots. He simply was on the defense to much of the rounds and let opponents get off first far to often. Great counter move and counter punch guys always have problems with great offensive fighters. Theres a reason the most widely used phrase in boxing is "be first"!

Ray

[billeau2]

I don't buy into Wilfred's excuses about not training! He trained he also went out and partied because he loved the attention he received from boxing. You can't go 15 rounds with Leonard and do well if your not in shape.
I doubt he went above 160-65 if he had a decent lay off so training for condition and making 147 didn't take long.
If Wilfred had a better "clock in his mind" when it came to "round management" he would have had more success against any of the top men.
He had excellent eye/hand coordination along with natural ability to avoid shots. He simply was on the defense to much of the rounds and let opponents get off first far to often. Great counter move and counter punch guys always have problems with great offensive fighters. Theres a reason the most widely used phrase in boxing is "be first"!

Ray

Makes Sense! And countering a guy as fast as Ray? Oy vay!! i would rather try to get a ham and cheese at moishe's kosher kitchen.

[BennyST]

christ, i said palomino lol

He did beat Palomino. Cervantez for the 140 title and a close SD over Palomino for the 147 title, then Hope at 154.

[BennyST]

I don't buy into Wilfred's excuses about not training! He trained he also went out and partied because he loved the attention he received from boxing. You can't go 15 rounds with Leonard and do well if your not in shape.
I doubt he went above 160-65 if he had a decent lay off so training for condition and making 147 didn't take long.
If Wilfred had a better "clock in his mind" when it came to "round management" he would have had more success against any of the top men.
He had excellent eye/hand coordination along with natural ability to avoid shots. He simply was on the defense to much of the rounds and let opponents get off first far to often. Great counter move and counter punch guys always have problems with great offensive fighters. Theres a reason the most widely used phrase in boxing is "be first"!

Ray

I've always thought this. It doesn't matter how talented you are, if you don't train for a fight at that level, you aren't going 15 hard rounds and you aren't making it remotely close.

He trained as hard as anyone for all his big fights, as he did very well in all of them. At that level, everyone is basically as talented as each other in a general sense. It's the tiny 1% stuff in training that puts one above the other.

I'm sure there were some fights he hardly trained for, but it was 100% never any of his big fights. It would have been the small ones that he really didnt have to train that hard for. You can tell pretty easily the ones he didnt train for. He's sloppy, slow, looks out of condition, doesn't move well, seems to have lost his 'radar' etc.

But, no matter what, you can't go in against Leonard, Duran, Palomino, Cervantez and Hearns on a week or two of training and go a full, hard 15 rounds of moving, slipping, ducking, rolling, punching, and getting punched. It just doesn't happen. Our bodies just aren't capable of it without intense conditioning. It's obvious as **** when someone hasnt trained much, no matter their talent or level and Benitez was always up for those big fights.