BoxRec

again while reading through the records i noticed he was the youngest ever champ at only 17 years of age when he beat Antonio Cervantes by SD that was in 1976, it says that he started his pro career in 1973, wouldnt that make him debute at only 14-15 years of age? how can this be? wouldnt have thought a 15 year old could mix it with the men... what are your thoughts on this?

Guys like Ted "Kid" Lewis and Georges Carpentier turned pro around that age too. Its a testament to their skills to beat bigger, more developed men.

Yes, he was 15 when he turned pro... a real prodigy, but sadly he was shot at 24 and fought on too long and isn't in good shape today unfortunately.

I also heard that towards the end of his career Wilfred took a bad beating and got KO'd is a sparring session which some claim made his health in later life worse.

Also turning professional in your mid or early teens is not that unusual.

That's the reason his first 11 fights were not in the U.S., although when he made his US debut at the Felt forum in NY he was only 16. I believe his father produced a forged birth certificate in order to get Wilfred licensed in New York.

The radar was a case of pure God-given talent. The last stage of his career (after the loss to Hearns, really) was really painful to watch.

He seemed to really go to peices after the Hearns fight. Against Hamsho he looked very bad and was on the ropes taking a beating foir the whole of 10 rounds... he probably took more punches against Hamsho than in all his fights up to then. Then he was koed badly by Mathew Hilton and Davey Moore... the Hilton ko was particularly nasty. Benitez was a bit like Ali in that when his reflexes went he started taking a lot of punches whereas in the past he had been hard to hit. Some people brought him back from retirement when he was in his 30s and I think that is what probably pushed him over the edge. I've heard he is pretty poorly these days with swelling of the brain... very sad.

that is sad to see, i seen his fight against leonard and he looked really good. It is a good lesson for fighters that want to start at an early age. Thanks for the input guys.

I love Benitez and while he looked bad against Hamsho it must be remembered that Hamsho fouled about 800 time per round in that fight. Low blows, elbows, headbutts, pushing, you name it. The ref was horrible for that fight. Also the Davey Moore fight wasnt a clean KO. Benitez quit after he broke his ankle sustained during a knockdown in the first round. I think he could have beaten Moore had he not been injured. Moore dropped him but Benitez got up, went to the corner, and slipped just about every punch that Moore threw at him which was a lot. Benitez and Locche are the two best fighters Ive ever seen at fighting off the ropes, bar none. They could lay on the ropes and tear a guy apart without hardly getting hit. As early as the late 1970s Benitez was diagnosed with brain damage and much of this is thought to have occured in informal boxing matches that his father was arranging for him on the streets of New York from just about the time he could walk. Benitez' father managed Benitez, stole all of his money, blew it on gambling, and then when Benitez was at his peak in skill and popularity Benitez' dad sold his contract to Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton for practically nothing in order to get quick cash. Very sad story. Benitez is now little more than a vegetable living off of a government stipend in Peurto Rico.

klompton wrote:I love Benitez and while he looked bad against Hamsho it must be remembered that Hamsho fouled about 800 time per round in that fight. Low blows, elbows, headbutts, pushing, you name it. The ref was horrible for that fight. Also the Davey Moore fight wasnt a clean KO. Benitez quit after he broke his ankle sustained during a knockdown in the first round. I think he could have beaten Moore had he not been injured. Moore dropped him but Benitez got up, went to the corner, and slipped just about every punch that Moore threw at him which was a lot. Benitez and Locche are the two best fighters Ive ever seen at fighting off the ropes, bar none. They could lay on the ropes and tear a guy apart without hardly getting hit. As early as the late 1970s Benitez was diagnosed with brain damage and much of this is thought to have occured in informal boxing matches that his father was arranging for him on the streets of New York from just about the time he could walk. Benitez' father managed Benitez, stole all of his money, blew it on gambling, and then when Benitez was at his peak in skill and popularity Benitez' dad sold his contract to Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton for practically nothing in order to get quick cash. Very sad story. Benitez is now little more than a vegetable living off of a government stipend in Peurto Rico.

I find it hard to believe that Benitez was brain damaged in the 70s as his form was so good then I've heard that the problems showed up in the mid and late 80s after the Hamsho and Hilton fights.
His father certainly treated him shamefully and I'm sure having so many hard fights from such an early age has contributed to his condition today.

I dont have a hard time believing he was brain damaged by the late seventies. This is a guy who while living with Cus D'amato would wipe his ass with hand towels instead of toilet paper and then throw them under his bed. Many people back then thought he was borderline retarded.

klompton wrote:I dont have a hard time believing he was brain damaged by the late seventies. This is a guy who while living with Cus D'amato would wipe his ass with hand towels instead of toilet paper and then throw them under his bed. Many people back then thought he was borderline retarded.

I know he was not the cleverest of people outside the ring... but a lot of that could be due to having more or less no formal education.

Wasnt he Dating Leonards sister at some time in his career?

Trent wrote:Wasnt he Dating Leonards sister at some time in his career?

I think you may be right.

I also remember reading a quote by Leonard about his fight with Benitez which went something like "The only difference between Benitez and myself in our fight was that I trained for 9 weeks whilst Benitez trained for 9 days."