BoxRec

^ ^ Benitez was PRETTY washed out! But....I'm gonna look again at the record. I'm sure it IS NOT SAME "outrageous" as, ah....lets say GC vs KN or GC vs RL!

bollox wrote:Whoever allowed Hilton to butcher a clearly shot Wilfredo Benitez, should have been themselves shot

It was pretty much a fight that was "smart business" and their IS NOT signs that Benitez..Not going to present problem.
Benitez lost to Leonard Nov. 30Th 1979. His first defeat of an already HOF career. Six seconds left in r.15. They STOPPED IT!
6-0 record follow. L-MD Hearns in 1982 (remember them both down?). 1-0 record follows. Then..he lost UD-12 vs Mustafa Hamsho. July 83. So....that is at the TOP OF the charts yet and still! 1-0 follows and he loses TKo-2 vs Davey Moore. Moore quite "hot" a.t.t.\\\ 3-0 follows including a UD-10 vs a 22-0-0 Kevin Moley.
Next they set it against Benitez.
Bet people "remember" it as Benitez being "shot", because Benitez SUCH A BRILLIANT BOXER..but...fact is is that that match coming together WASN'T in such bad territory.
This is defense of Matthew Hilton. Later losses to Pat Lawlor a.s.o. it really showed! IF you are representing Benitez I can see it the argument OR, as I say..if you have Benitez "big" as most fans will.....he takes a frightful beating. It was shame..but.. one can defend that fight being made. GC vs RL or KN can't defend it AT ALL!

I spent quite a bit of time with the Hilton family in 1985-'86.
First, when they set up training camp in my hometown of Buffalo when Matt & Alex were both on the undercard of Don King's BLOCKBUSTER IN BUFFALO headlined by Greg Page's ( unsuccessful ) title defense vs Tony Tubbs.
I already had a job at camp sparring with the 1984 welterweight Olympic alternate Louis Howard who was just beginning his pro career at the time. He was being trained by Ray Leonard's former coach Janks Morton & signed by Don King as big things were planned for him. He was an outstanding amateur & had given Mark Breland a good fight during the Olympic Trials.
So, I was already taking my lumps before the Hilton clan arrived & not having a whole lot of fun doing it either, let me tell you.
That changed once the Hiltons arrived though as they really took a liking to me & hooked me up with other opportunities that I had never dreamed of occurring. Not that Howard's camp was the least bit rude to me or late with my pay or anything of the sort. LOL. In fact, Louis & I stayed in touch for a few years afterward. But, they were busy & focused on their fight & that's it.
Whereas the Hiltons camp was twice as large what with the whole clan being in town, along with their significant others & the boy's co-trainer former WBA Heavyweight Champ Jimmy Ellis. Who treated me like a long lost on or something.
Anyhow, within a couple of days they had me working in the gym with them whenever I wasn't sparring with Louis.
Though, believe me, since I was still just a light-welter at that point, while Matt was '54 & Alex '60, so they took it easy on me.
Still, even though they weren't sitting down on their shots with me, I still got a good taste of that infamous/terrifying left hook to the body that Matthew was so known for.
It could stop a truck.
And, for literally the only times in my life when I would ever do so, I adopted the use of a padded rib protector while sparring with the Hiltons. And, while Alex COULD crack, he wasn't the puncher that his bro was. Not even close. He had some crazy quick hands for a middleweight though. A shame that Alex was/is so overlooked though as he was MUCH better than given credit for. People just thought of him a the "other" Hilton. Or, now, as the one that didn't win a title ( actually, they also had another fighter in the family in lightweight Stewart, who had a brief unbeaten pro career before being killed in a tragic car crash ) but had he reached his potential, he may have.
In fact, it was Alex who got me chance to spar with Hector Camacho who had use of the training facilities just before the Hiltons' timeslot. Well, Alex had gone down early & heard that one of Camacho's sparring partners Lenny Valdez had to go get his eyes checked & wasn't available, so he mentioned that since I was 140 lbs I'd be a good replacement & Camacho's trainer at the time, Jimmy Montoya had Alex call up to my room & that's how I got to spend that morning going 4 rounds with the most famous fighter that I ever shared a ring with.
What was it like?
Literally a blur. LOL.
Most of it was just me trying to cut the ring off on him & throwing lots of punches that never went anywhere near his head. Though, on a couple of occasions he chose to stay on the ropes for a while & I did manage to land some shots to the body. But, not many.

And, I think I'll finish this post up a little later.

^ ^ ^ ^ "dang"/sweetviolenturge! What is your real name? You fought as pro? I was on the Davey Hilton card of June 27 (26?) 1989 [went against there 6-0-0 protege]// interesting story!
Luis Maysonette who fought Hector on 2/28/95 was TEAM MATE of mine and I know Luis from the time he was youth just starting. "Great chap".
Camacho, R.I.P.

sweetviolenturge wrote:I spent quite a bit of time with the Hilton family in 1985-'86.
First, when they set up training camp in my hometown of Buffalo when Matt & Alex were both on the undercard of Don King's BLOCKBUSTER IN BUFFALO headlined by Greg Page's ( unsuccessful ) title defense vs Tony Tubbs.
I already had a job at camp sparring with the 1984 welterweight Olympic alternate Louis Howard who was just beginning his pro career at the time. He was being trained by Ray Leonard's former coach Janks Morton & signed by Don King as big things were planned for him. He was an outstanding amateur & had given Mark Breland a good fight during the Olympic Trials.
So, I was already taking my lumps before the Hilton clan arrived & not having a whole lot of fun doing it either, let me tell you.
That changed once the Hiltons arrived though as they really took a liking to me & hooked me up with other opportunities that I had never dreamed of occurring. Not that Howard's camp was the least bit rude to me or late with my pay or anything of the sort. LOL. In fact, Louis & I stayed in touch for a few years afterward. But, they were busy & focused on their fight & that's it.
Whereas the Hiltons camp was twice as large what with the whole clan being in town, along with their significant others & the boy's co-trainer former WBA Heavyweight Champ Jimmy Ellis. Who treated me like a long lost on or something.
Anyhow, within a couple of days they had me working in the gym with them whenever I wasn't sparring with Louis.
Though, believe me, since I was still just a light-welter at that point, while Matt was '54 & Alex '60, so they took it easy on me.
Still, even though they weren't sitting down on their shots with me, I still got a good taste of that infamous/terrifying left hook to the body that Matthew was so known for.
It could stop a truck.
And, for literally the only times in my life when I would ever do so, I adopted the use of a padded rib protector while sparring with the Hiltons. And, while Alex COULD crack, he wasn't the puncher that his bro was. Not even close. He had some crazy quick hands for a middleweight though. A shame that Alex was/is so overlooked though as he was MUCH better than given credit for. People just thought of him a the "other" Hilton. Or, now, as the one that didn't win a title ( actually, they also had another fighter in the family in lightweight Stewart, who had a brief unbeaten pro career before being killed in a tragic car crash ) but had he reached his potential, he may have.
In fact, it was Alex who got me chance to spar with Hector Camacho who had use of the training facilities just before the Hiltons' timeslot. Well, Alex had gone down early & heard that one of Camacho's sparring partners Lenny Valdez had to go get his eyes checked & wasn't available, so he mentioned that since I was 140 lbs I'd be a good replacement & Camacho's trainer at the time, Jimmy Montoya had Alex call up to my room & that's how I got to spend that morning going 4 rounds with the most famous fighter that I ever shared a ring with.
What was it like?
Literally a blur. LOL.
Most of it was just me trying to cut the ring off on him & throwing lots of punches that never went anywhere near his head. Though, on a couple of occasions he chose to stay on the ropes for a while & I did manage to land some shots to the body. But, not many.

And, I think I'll finish this post up a little later.