Gomez vs Pintor - Hearns vs Benitez....30 Years Later

[elmersalsa]

In Puerto Rico, it was supposed to be called "The Night of the Wilfredos". Only one of the Wilfredos won. On a Friday Night of December 3, 1982, at the New Orleans Super Dome, the great Wilfredos, (Gomez and Benitez) were defending their crowns against Lupe Pintor and the great Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, respectively.

The first fight, Gomez vs Pintor, was a brutal affair for 14 rounds of slugfest. Gomez made his 17th defense of the WBC World Super Bantamweight Crown and won by TKO. It was Gomez last fight at the weight class. Probably, it was Gomez last great performance in his prime. He was never the same dominant fighter after that brutal fight. He won 2 more world titles in 2 more divisions, but, those victories were not impressive.

In the main event, Hearns took Benitez' WBC World Super Welterweight Title by an unanimous decision in 15. It was a fight much more like when Benitez fought the great Sugar Ray Leonard. Maybe a little more entertaining or a little more boring. That is depending of the taste of you watching those fights. Benitez looked like scared, like if he did not wanted to get inside of Hearns' long reach. It was more of a tactical fight than anything else. Then, afterwards, the reason why Hearns said he could not stop Benitez was because he broke his right hand.

After this fight, Benitez, only 24 years old, went to a steep decline. He was never the same fighter after that. A great fighter that lacked the discipline of the sport, at a young age, was damaged goods.

Seldom we see a boxing card were many of the all time greats fought in the same venue, in the same card. Maybe the 80s was the last great era of boxing.

What were your score cards in these two fights?