Floyd Mayweather Vs Wilfred Benitez At 147 ?

[Live Dog]

The most ****ed up story I've heard about Benitez is that he was trapped in some foreign country for over a year because a fight promoter stole his I.D. and passport. I'm looking for it now.

[Live Dog]

The most ****ed up story I've heard about Benitez is that he was trapped in some foreign country for over a year because a fight promoter stole his I.D. and passport. I'm looking for it now.

http://www.biographyfinder.com/s2136-Wilfredo-Benitez-biography.html

Benitez's career went downwards after that night with Hearns, and so did his lifestyle. In 1984 , he tried a comeback under the hand of Yamil Chade but this proved to be unsuccessful. In 1987, with his health clearly declining already, he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to fight Middleweight Carlos Herrera. Benitez was stopped in 7. But that wasn't the worst part of the trip. He got his money for that fight stolen by the promoter, along with his documents and passport, and was stranded in Argentina for 1 year. After much government huddle and talks, he was finally able to fly back home to Puerto Rico in 1988. One of the most touching moments in his life came when, upon leaving the airplane that brought him back, he handed his 7 year old daughter an Argentine toy doll he had bought for her before his fight there, and told her he hadn't forgotten her one single day during his time there.

[El Jesus]

i read about that in ring magazine a few years ago, the whole incident was ****ed up. i couldnt imagine what it must have been like being trapped like that for years.

[BennyST]

IMO Benitez looked his best more against agressive opponents. He didn't look very well when he was force to fight in a technical battle becuase he seemed hesitant and uncomfortable. Which is why he struggled so much with Leonard, Hearns ect. I like his size advantage in this match up and the fact that he uses them to his advantage. He would trouble Mayweather with a consistant jab and trying to time him on the way in, similar to the way Oscar De La Hoya did. Where Mayweather would run into more trouble with Benitez is the fact that unlike Oscar, he sticks to his game plan, has excellent stamina, is very consistant and is the better outside boxer. Mayweather IMO is simply too small to compete with most of the all time great welterweights of the past generations. Benitez by MD.

Good post, and while I agree with everything else in your post SlickSP, I found that in those fights you mentioned, both Leonard and Hearns won by actually being very aggressive. They didn't box as much as usual. Hearns did more as usual, but really, beat Benitez because of his jab. His long, fast, powerful jab neutralised benitez' own jab and therefore nullified the counter opportunities normally present. It was Hearns' height, speed and the strong jab that beat Benitez in that fight. Great fight!

Leonard though was very aggressive in their fight. Much more so than in most other fights. He stood right in front of Benitez with little movement and once again neutralised a lot of Benitez' counter opportunities with a constant, hard, fast jab followed up with aggressive combinations. Both fighters above had a much more aggressive stance and a more powerful offensive arsenal than Mayweather would bring and both also had a constant long, fast jab which could neutralise Benitez' own jab to nullify the counters.

Mayweather is not a jab first, aggressive boxer. I think, as you said, that it would come down to Benitez being able to better control the pace and distance through his jab and better outside boxing skills and being able to set up counters that Mayweather wouldn't be able to answer enough of with either his own counters or aggression.

Again though, I thought the Leonard/Benitez fight was brilliant. An underrated classic showing Leonard's fighters instinct and Benitez' technical brilliance.

[Live Dog]

i read about that in ring magazine a few years ago, the whole incident was ****ed up. i couldnt imagine what it must have been like being trapped like that for years.

Right! Plus it was Wilfredo Benitez! You think he would have had some connections that could have gotten him out of there.

[El Jesus]

Good post, and while I agree with everything else in your post SlickSP, I found that in those fights you mentioned, both Leonard and Hearns won by actually being very aggressive. They didn't box as much as usual. Hearns did more as usual, but really, beat Benitez because of his jab. His long, fast, powerful jab neutralised benitez' own jab and therefore nullified the counter opportunities normally present. It was Hearns' height, speed and the strong jab that beat Benitez in that fight. Great fight!

Leonard though was very aggressive in their fight. Much more so than in most other fights. He stood right in front of Benitez with little movement and once again neutralised a lot of Benitez' counter opportunities with a constant, hard, fast jab followed up with aggressive combinations. Both fighters above had a much more aggressive stance and a more powerful offensive arsenal than Mayweather would bring and both also had a constant long, fast jab which could neutralise Benitez' own jab to nullify the counters.

Mayweather is not a jab first, aggressive boxer. I think, as you said, that it would come down to Benitez being able to better control the pace and distance through his jab and better outside boxing skills and being able to set up counters that Mayweather wouldn't be able to answer enough of with either his own counters or aggression.

Again though, I thought the Leonard/Benitez fight was brilliant. An underrated classic showing Leonard's fighters instinct and Benitez' technical brilliance.

See thas the thing though benny, even at welterweight or any other weight, you have to admit, if mayweather knows before hand that being aggressive will win him the fight, he will do it, he did it in the judah fight. Mayweather is very smart, now i have only seen benitez in the hearns/leonard fights, but mayweather has shown time and again that if forced into a fight he will fight, but i am not sure that his power will trouble benitez and that would be a telling factor to me.

Mayweather is only aggressive when he knows he has to be.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Good post, and while I agree with everything else in your post SlickSP, I found that in those fights you mentioned, both Leonard and Hearns won by actually being very aggressive. They didn't box as much as usual. Hearns did more as usual, but really, beat Benitez because of his jab. His long, fast, powerful jab neutralised benitez' own jab and therefore nullified the counter opportunities normally present. It was Hearns' height, speed and the strong jab that beat Benitez in that fight. Great fight!

Leonard though was very aggressive in their fight. Much more so than in most other fights. He stood right in front of Benitez with little movement and once again neutralised a lot of Benitez' counter opportunities with a constant, hard, fast jab followed up with aggressive combinations. Both fighters above had a much more aggressive stance and a more powerful offensive arsenal than Mayweather would bring and both also had a constant long, fast jab which could neutralise Benitez' own jab to nullify the counters.

Mayweather is not a jab first, aggressive boxer. I think, as you said, that it would come down to Benitez being able to better control the pace and distance through his jab and better outside boxing skills and being able to set up counters that Mayweather wouldn't be able to answer enough of with either his own counters or aggression.

Again though, I thought the Leonard/Benitez fight was brilliant. An underrated classic showing Leonard's fighters instinct and Benitez' technical brilliance.

Yeah i agree, i just remembered that Leonard had to bring the fight to Benitez becuase he was trying to play the roll of the counter puncher and wait for mistakes. Leonard put those early rounds in the bag easily by simply out working Benitez and throwing more punches. Good post.

[BennyST]

see thats the thing, i think mayweather would only try to force the issue if he had to, and as someone mentioned before, mayweathers power wouldnt really trouble benitez as benitez was a true welter and mayweather isnt. I think the only way i can make a determination other than a benitez UD is to see how mayweather gets into a good toe to toe battle at welter and we never got to see that. A fight like the one against hatton isnt really a good measure for me since him and benitez were like night and day.

Sadly, we'll probably never see a fight like that. Not only are there no great fighters similar to Benitez out there, but Mayweather and his retirement/money games would see that it didn't happen no doubt.

I think that I could guarantee JoartCC has seen neither Benitez' fights nor more than a few of Mayweathers most typical ones ie. Gatti, Hoya, Hatton etc.

[El Jesus]

Sadly, we'll probably never see a fight like that. Not only are there no great fighters similar to Benitez out there, but Mayweather and his retirement/money games would see that it didn't happen no doubt.

I think that I could guarantee JoartCC has seen neither Benitez' fights nor more than a few of Mayweathers most typical ones ie. Gatti, Hoya, Hatton etc.

Majority people here, mayweather fans as well as haters likely hadnt even heard of mayweather before the gatti fight. the fact that "MAYWEATHER SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT MARGARITO" is on the first page again, is a testament that most of these people had no idea who he was until his campaign at welter.

either way, you are right, there is nobody thats really going to force mayweather into something like that, other than mayweather himself, there is no one in his division displaying that kind of technical brilliance like benitez did. Mayweather could beat cotto with the style he has right now, margarito also, he could basically be defensive, pick his shots and whatever. there is no one out there that could really force a toe to toe battle since nobody out there would make him do it, all the fighters who are all out fighters are all slower than him, thus hed just move around and pick his shots, against benitez he wouldnt be able to do that.

[BennyST]

See thas the thing though benny, even at welterweight or any other weight, you have to admit, if mayweather knows before hand that being aggressive will win him the fight, he will do it, he did it in the judah fight. Mayweather is very smart, now i have only seen benitez in the hearns/leonard fights, but mayweather has shown time and again that if forced into a fight he will fight, but i am not sure that his power will trouble benitez and that would be a telling factor to me.

Mayweather is only aggressive when he knows he has to be.

Agreed. Mayweather is a very smart fighter. Nonetheless, his 'aggression' is still based on the other fighter making mistakes. A case in point being the Judah fight. Judah though, unlike Benitez, was an aggressive, offensive fighter himself much more than Benitez and was prone to sinking into a shell if hurt or pushed and would make many mistakes, especially after around round four, which Mayweather knew and capitalised on it.

In my opinion Mayweather has never had the necessary 'attack' aggression and jab that he would need to actually pressure Benitez the way Leonard and Hearns were able to. Mayweather hasn't been truly aggressive in a fight since his lightweight days in which he would seek the openings instead of waiting for them, which would play against him.

Against Judah he was aggressive, but only because Judah started making mistakes and then when he went into his mental shell Mayweather could've done anything. Even then though, it was still counter aggression based only on Judah making mistakes and Mayweather working off those. Apart from that, all his offense, especially at welterweight, is based on someone coming at him and making offensive mistakes which he can then counter off.

Mayweather doesn't have the jab to nullify Benitez' own jab or offense which is what he would need more than anything else. He doesn't throw enough, and hasn't thrown many at all in quite a while at WW, and having Benitez' quick, long jab would not present him with enough to work from and, if anything, would actually make Mayweather more likely to move into an offensive zone he would not be comfortable at in which Benitez would be able to counter more and capitalise on even more than if it was just a jab and counter game.

At a lighter weight in pound for pound terms I think Mayweather could take it. At welterweight though I think Benitez would win a close UD.