How hard did Benitez hit?

[Pastrano]

People think he wasn't such a hard hitter because he won most of his big fights on points, but thats not the case. If you have seen the Maurice Hope fight, you'll know Wilfred could hit. That was just a BRUTAL ko! He also koed Randy Shields in 6 rounds while Hearns took 12 to do stop Shields 2-3 years later. I think he just wanted to prove he was more than a standard boxerpuncher. He liked to show his elegance and ring intelligence.

[Scott9945]

Benitez wasn't really much of a puncher. Everyone points to the Hope KO, but the truth is that he had Hope trapped against the ropes and had pretty much a free shot at him. I remember watching Benitez hit Duran at will without even staggering him. I'm not crapping on Benetiz here. In his prime he was a master boxer and a defensive wizard. Fast hands too. If he hit like Hearns or Leonard his prime would have been one of the best ever.

[Pastrano]

Benitez wasn't really much of a puncher. Everyone points to the Hope KO, but the truth is that he had Hope trapped against the ropes and had pretty much a free shot at him. I remember watching Benitez hit Duran at will without even staggering him. I'm not crapping on Benetiz here. In his prime he was a master boxer and a defensive wizard. Fast hands too. If he hit like Hearns or Leonard his prime would have been one of the best ever.

Nonsense, even if he got a so-called "free shot", he still had to have SOME power to knock Hope out cold. Unless Hope had a crappy chin, which I doubt he did...

[Steak]

Benitez wasn't really much of a puncher. Everyone points to the Hope KO, but the truth is that he had Hope trapped against the ropes and had pretty much a free shot at him. I remember watching Benitez hit Duran at will without even staggering him. I'm not crapping on Benetiz here. In his prime he was a master boxer and a defensive wizard. Fast hands too. If he hit like Hearns or Leonard his prime would have been one of the best ever.

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.

[Pastrano]

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.

Yea, thats the answer. He was not a brawler type. His power wasn't oustanding, so he couldn't rely on it too much.

[joseph5620]

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 never looked at Benitez as a big puncher. I can't use his stoppage of Shields as an example either because most professional fighters are at least capable of KO's at some point over any opponent. Michael Nunn stopped Sambu Kalumbay in one round. Yet Kalumbay went the distance with Mike McCallum and Iran Barkley who I believe hit harder than Nunn. Pernell Whitaker knocked out Juan Nazario in one round.Nazario twice went 8 rounds with Edwin Rosario (once beating him). And many consider Rosario one of the hardest hitters ever at 135. If a fighter is not consistently scoring KO's you can't really say he has a lot of power. If Benitez could have KO'd 80-100 percent of his opponents he would have done it.


Benitez had average power at best IMO.

[Scott9945]

Nonsense, even if he got a so-called "free shot", he still had to have SOME power to knock Hope out cold. Unless Hope had a crappy chin, which I doubt he did...

Any professional boxer can score a KO if he gets a free shot. I didn't say that Benitez didn't have SOME power. What I meant was that as far as world champions go, it was slightly below average.

[IronDanHamza]

Underrated power. Not great power, though.

Enough to keep guys off him, not like he needed it.

[Steak]

I never looked at Benitez as a big puncher. I can't use his stoppage of Shields as an example either because most professional fighters are at least capable of KO's at some point over any opponent. Michael Nunn stopped Sambu Kalumbay in one round. Yet Kalumbay went the distance with Mike McCallum and Iran Barkley who I believe hit harder than Nunn. Pernell Whitaker knocked out Juan Nazario in one round.Nazario twice went 8 rounds with Edwin Rosario (once beating him). And many consider Rosario one of the hardest hitters ever at 135. If a fighter is not consistently scoring KO's you can't really say he has a lot of power. If Benitez could have KO'd 80-100 percent of his opponents he would have done it.


Benitez had average power at best IMO.

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.

[New England]

Underrated power. Not great power, though.

Enough to keep guys off him, not like he needed it.

this about covers my stance on it


who needs to sit on punches and slow your game down when you're fast/good enough to hit guys with stuff they cant see or deal with and do as much on the cards and in terms of changing your opponents mind?
why take the risk?
you're a step ahead, why hold yourself back and relinquish control to deal out superfluous damage when you're already the cleaner puncher
especially when you're not a true bomber to begin with..

if i wizard like benitez was bluessed with god given knockout power he'd have made an even larger dent in the sport.

my .02 anyway.