Benitez was a cocky arrogant champion I love him though the only staredown he ever might have lost was to Hearns the way he showed him self was marvelous in the Sugar Ray Leonard staredown wow he was full of self did you see the pride and attitude of him
Benitez was a master Boxer. He even outwitted Duran. Benitez does not get enough recognition - They always mention the fab-four but it should be fab-five!
nah...it should be the Fab One....the others' achievements are not on the same level as Benitez's..u gotta compare apples with apples ...and there r no apples to compare with...the Youngest Ever...Master. Tactician...Boxing Prodigy..!!!
Back when boxing was amazing. This is one of the top 5 KOs of all time in a championship match. He knew as soon as he landed that overhand right. He stood upright and smiled. He was so good.
Benitez was an all time great..winning his first title at SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE beating the great Antonio Cerventes! And being a 3 division champion by 22. We shall never see his like again..
Boxing Prodigy!!! Certainly a Unique Phenomenon in the history of the human race...His exploits for such a young person(the milk had hardly dried from his lips..) beating Super Champ. Antonio Cervantes...defies the human imagination..boggles the mind!!!
@@blite13 He ( along with his brothers) started boxing when he was FIVE OR SIX YEARS OLD. That’s way too young to start taking punches! He was turned pro at 15 years of age, when most fighters are still in the amateurs, fighting kids their own age. He burned out early, but I’ve often wondered how he might’ve turned out if he’d been managed better. He DEFINITELY should not have been in the ring at so early an age.
Thanks for sharing this fight. I wouldn’t have never got to see it if it weren’t for people like you! It was awesome! I wish today’s boxers took a lesson from the past greats and fight each other in their prime not when it’s good for their wallets and past their prime.
remarkable career......Cervantes and Palomino were great fights and ko of the year here watched it live?? Beat Duran and gave Leonard and Hearns hard fights
Before Benitez accomplished the feat in this fight, it had been 40 years since a fighter had won a third world championship in three weight classes. Nowadays, fighters are collecting belts faster than one can say "trick-or-treat"! Even worse, today's fighters are being judged as pound-4-pound bests despite possessing paltry records like 14-1 (Lomachenko)! I'd like to see boxing return to high standards like those of yesteryear.
You don’t know boxing. 14-1 isn’t paltry if you fought high contenders and unified belts in that time . I can tell you were a Loma hater. Loma was fighting contenders since he entered the sport and only wanted the best. P4p is about skills , not record and Loma was clearly a p4p fighter. I hate smug old heads hating on fighters for being good. Why is it only guys like Loma and Eastern European/ Central Asian get the hate? Loma had fought Rigo , Walters ( Only guy to stop prime Donaire) , Campbell, Linares, and Piripinyo , GRJ( hasn’t lost since ) . Loma is clearly a good to great fighter and no one wanted parts of him when he was coming up in boxing. And it took a lot of weight bullying/dirty boxing and him coming in injuries for guys to get parts. He was giving guys the work at 5 6
@@acetofresh1 don't even think about comparing loma and his fixed fight record to benitez. the rigo fix alone should make any true boxing fan despise loma, so just gtfoh with that fanboi shill BS.
@@papalegba6759 Fixed fights? Dude no one wanted to fight Lomachenko and neither did anyone want to fight Rigo, y’all just hate that fighters are daring to be great. Lomachenko entered the game with immense pedigree , so he was fastracked. Was fighting a champion 20 pounds more than him in his 2nd fight rigged ? Inoue was fast tracked as well , but no complaints from you racist casuals. Loma beat Nicholas Walters who KOd Darchinyan and prime Donaire, who even Inoue couldn’t stop. He also beat champions Crolla,Campbell , Linares and GRJ-- with ease , who hadn’t lost a fight before or since. Y’all don’t know boxing and are just old heads bashing guys. Boxing politics has changed. There’s not many fights being made and not enough viewership to stretch our careers
Benitez a defensive master as well as brilliant counterpuncher. I enjoyed watching him. Sadly he is hardly able to speak now. He was definitely a great and sometimes overlooked great as he was overshadowed by Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Hagler.
Great picture quality. Watched this fight live. They had so many great championship fights Every weekend before the internet. 1981. On channels 2 which this one was on. Channel 4 and channel 7 Every weekend on Saturday and Sunday Benitez one of his best fights. The right hand knocked a good champion Maurice Hope out cold
Look brother...I too wouldn't want to give a rematch...to someone who's sure gonna Bust My Arse in a Return...I don't think Leonard was going to risk His pretty ,sugared arse from suffering such an ignominious fate!!!
Didn't give Hagler a rematch either. This was after avoiding Hagler for years until Marvin was getting old. Don't get me wrong, Ray was a great champion, but it bothered me, many people, that he became "careful" with who he fought, and when.
Benitez to me is one of the greatest what-could've-been's in boxing history. It's no secret that drugs, alcohol, and women got in the way of his prime. It was said that he barely trained for the Leonard fight and yet Leonard still believed that Benitez was one of his trickiest opponents ever. Benitez beat Antonio Cervantes, one of the greatest 140 lbs. boxers ever, at only the age of 17. "Kid Pambele" was beaten by an actual kid. He also had notable wins against Duran and Carlos Palomino. At one point, he was 44-1-1 with his only loss coming to one of the greatest to ever do it in Sugar Ray Leonard. After his victory over Duran, his record was only 9-7. By the age most boxers start to ascend the P4P ranking, Benitez began to slip. I always love watching Benitez box. He didn't have a ton of power (only 2 KO's in his 8 title victories), but could duck and slip punches and counter like no other in his time. He was also the only boxer I ever saw who was so comfortable against the ropes (and even the corner). Ali had the rope-a-dope against Foreman but Benitez just about did it every other round in his career.
quadruple-feint lights-out KO, Hope got completely bamboozled there. not many boxers could pull that off at this level, but Benitez made god-tier skills look easy.
Impressive KO and beatdown by Benitez. Hope was a tough fighter, but took a lot of punishment in this fight. Losing a tooth, both eyes swollen, and he ate a lot of body shots. Then that wicked knockout punch. Hope ended up spending the night in the hospital. But showing his toughness, he recovered quick enough to marry his fiance a few days later!
After he got knocked out he got married with that phat check and he could buy a set of bling like teeth He let Benitez roll up on him during the stare down I wouldn't have tolerated that a stare a push or a swing it's on
Yeah, for a short time Cus Damato was training his as well. He said Benitez clearly had exciting power ( you can see it when he steps on punches and in the size of his calves) and wanted to adapt his style for Peekaboo. Benitez already had phenomenal bob and weave , counterpunching and defensive awareness but his philandering and wild boy lifestyle didn’t sit right with Cus. Benitez career is kind of the one fanboys act like Tyson had.
Hope had difficutly getting himself into position to land the left cross, & after seeing his balance, I could see why. His back foot is in the air most of the time. Bad teaching.
Wasn't it so nice to hear legendary ring announcer Chuck Hull get right down to business without the loud, booming and time-consuming grandstanding that is so prevalent with today's ring announcers? It took him all of 90 seconds (from 7:30-8:40 of the recording) to complete the introductions. Oh how I long for the good ol days!!
he conserves so much energy counter punching off the ropes - never seen any fighter position their feet like he does when in the corner lol he literally looks like he's just leaning against the bar at a club lol
Benitez' punches were too much for Hope. After the 7th round, you could see Hope's legs looked wobbly. He kept his left hand down too often, and he paid the price.
22 years old and going for third weight class championship unreal, a legend.
He got sucked in to the party culture, & was burnt out by his mid 20s.
He was 23 when he beat Duran, & it was his last good fight..
@@kufujitsu no man, the hearns fight was great too, he gave prime tommy plenty to think about. but yeah, he still burnt out real young.
@@papalegba6759 Totally outboxed Duran in 1982.
Benitez was a cocky arrogant champion I love him though the only staredown he ever might have lost was to Hearns the way he showed him self was marvelous in the Sugar Ray Leonard staredown wow he was full of self did you see the pride and attitude of him
That day at 17 the money glory and victory yo
As someone from the island of Antigua and Barbuda, much saludos to Maurice Hope 🇦🇬🇦🇬
Quality of this video is exceptional for a 1981 broadcast
When Benitez was being born, the doctor had a hard time pulling him out. He kept moving his head.
😂😂😂
Joeygonzo, that's a joke or cooking recipe
Probably he same goes to Duran with how he kept punching and moving his head😂
Benitez was a master Boxer. He even outwitted Duran. Benitez does not get enough recognition - They always mention the fab-four but it should be fab-five!
nah...it should be the Fab One....the others' achievements are not on the same level as Benitez's..u gotta compare apples with apples ...and there r no apples to compare with...the Youngest Ever...Master. Tactician...Boxing Prodigy..!!!
What a special athlete of talent. As time goes by this great champion is appreciated more.
What kind of natural talent do have to win a title at 17, win 3 belts, & not have good training habits?? Crazy!
Back when boxing was amazing. This is one of the top 5 KOs of all time in a championship match. He knew as soon as he landed that overhand right. He stood upright and smiled. He was so good.
check the feints he uses to draw a weak hook from Hope so he's set for a perfect KO counter. absolute god-tier boxing skills.
Duran
@@markmccann8474Wilfredo beat Duran. Damn near won every round in a 15 round fight
@@markmccann8474 Benitez schooled duran in their fight 😂
@@mongoslade277i dunno,i think Duran takes the middle rounds but Benitez won the championship rounds.
Benitez was an all time great..winning his first title at SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE beating the great Antonio Cerventes! And being a 3 division champion by 22. We shall never see his like again..
Amazing Talent!
Inspiring talent. Like a rock star with talent too much too soon.
Boxing Prodigy!!! Certainly a Unique Phenomenon in the history of the human race...His exploits for such a young person(the milk had hardly dried from his lips..) beating Super Champ. Antonio Cervantes...defies the human imagination..boggles the mind!!!
burned out by 25, a great fighter does it over a long period of time and he lost his most important fights.
@@blite13 He ( along with his brothers) started boxing when he was FIVE OR SIX YEARS OLD. That’s way too young to start taking punches! He was turned pro at 15 years of age, when most fighters are still in the amateurs, fighting kids their own age. He burned out early, but I’ve often wondered how he might’ve turned out if he’d been managed better. He DEFINITELY should not have been in the ring at so early an age.
One of the GOATS for sure.
Thanks for sharing this fight. I wouldn’t have never got to see it if it weren’t for people like you! It was awesome! I wish today’s boxers took a lesson from the past greats and fight each other in their prime not when it’s good for their wallets and past their prime.
Benitez knew Sugar Ray was at ringside, and Wilfredo wanted to make a definite impression!!!
But Leonard never gave him the rematch at 154lbs. cause he knew that at 154lbs. Benitez was stronger and would avenge his very close loss to him.
Benitez un grande de todos los tiempos. No aparentaba su edad, era muy joven ya para un campeon mundial.
Hope was no bum. Benitez stayed too long in the "game". He's in poor shape now.
remarkable career......Cervantes and Palomino were great fights and ko of the year here watched it live?? Beat Duran and gave Leonard and Hearns hard fights
fantastic fighter mr Benitez!!!!
One of the Human Race's Ultimate Fighting Machines bestowed upon us as a gift by the gods..!!!
I could watch Benitez slip punches all day
El 1 Latino en ser triple campeon 140...147...154...de Sant Junst Puerto Rico🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷 Wilfred el radar Benitez.
Freaky-good performance from Benitez. Fitting that it's in the same ring in which Toney would whoop Barkley over a decade later.
Before Benitez accomplished the feat in this fight, it had been 40 years since a fighter had won a third world championship in three weight classes. Nowadays, fighters are collecting belts faster than one can say "trick-or-treat"! Even worse, today's fighters are being judged as pound-4-pound bests despite possessing paltry records like 14-1 (Lomachenko)! I'd like to see boxing return to high standards like those of yesteryear.
We didn't realize it back then, but boxing had it great when there was only 2 titles per division.
You don’t know boxing. 14-1 isn’t paltry if you fought high contenders and unified belts in that time . I can tell you were a Loma hater. Loma was fighting contenders since he entered the sport and only wanted the best. P4p is about skills , not record and Loma was clearly a p4p fighter. I hate smug old heads hating on fighters for being good. Why is it only guys like Loma and Eastern European/ Central Asian get the hate? Loma had fought Rigo , Walters ( Only guy to stop prime Donaire) , Campbell, Linares, and Piripinyo , GRJ( hasn’t lost since ) . Loma is clearly a good to great fighter and no one wanted parts of him when he was coming up in boxing. And it took a lot of weight bullying/dirty boxing and him coming in injuries for guys to get parts. He was giving guys the work at 5 6
@@acetofresh1 don't even think about comparing loma and his fixed fight record to benitez. the rigo fix alone should make any true boxing fan despise loma, so just gtfoh with that fanboi shill BS.
@@papalegba6759 Fixed fights? Dude no one wanted to fight Lomachenko and neither did anyone want to fight Rigo, y’all just hate that fighters are daring to be great. Lomachenko entered the game with immense pedigree , so he was fastracked. Was fighting a champion 20 pounds more than him in his 2nd fight rigged ? Inoue was fast tracked as well , but no complaints from you racist casuals. Loma beat Nicholas Walters who KOd Darchinyan and prime Donaire, who even Inoue couldn’t stop. He also beat champions Crolla,Campbell , Linares and GRJ-- with ease , who hadn’t lost a fight before or since. Y’all don’t know boxing and are just old heads bashing guys. Boxing politics has changed. There’s not many fights being made and not enough viewership to stretch our careers
AMEN Brother .
What an amazing knockout!!!!
Que Pena tener la situaciin actual. Muchos campeones estafados por promotores. Dios bendiga a sus familias.
Wilfred is in a bad way nowadays.
An all time great at his counter punching beat here
Hope was no mug I might add
Great post CS
Benitez a defensive master as well as brilliant counterpuncher. I enjoyed watching him. Sadly he is hardly able to speak now. He was definitely a great and sometimes overlooked great as he was overshadowed by Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Hagler.
And that's crazy cause he beat Duran
@@sherrillraymond7595 Duran was in a down turn in his career, Duran top 10 all time lb for lb fighter, Wilfredo?
@@blite13 excuses at his best Duran couldn't beat Benitez
@@sherrillraymond7595 says you, the people who know boxing, know you are wrong. Top 10 all time, lb for lb, great.....Wilfredo?
@@blite13 people who know boxing know that he couldn't beat Benitez
Wilfred Benítez the best boxer defensive counterpunche all time. Máster fight off the rope.
Let us not forget Saoul Mamby
I would of loved to see a rematch with ray at 154 .to bad it never happened
Ray didn't want a rematch.
There a saying in boxing the brightes star burns out the quickest
A younger Maurice hope had beaten Vito antuofermo in a European light middleweight title fight 3 years before haggler fought him at full middle …
3 years before Vito Antofermo won the Middleweight Championship easily from Hugo Corro
Great picture quality. Watched this fight live. They had so many great championship fights
Every weekend before the internet. 1981. On channels 2 which this one was on. Channel 4 and channel 7
Every weekend on Saturday and Sunday Benitez one of his best fights. The right hand knocked a good champion Maurice Hope out cold
Leonard never gave him the rematch
And this was why
and it took him 8 years to give hearns a rematch and only because he thought he was finished
Benitez showed an extra wrinkle with the body attack here, & Ray wanted no part of it...
Look brother...I too wouldn't want to give a rematch...to someone who's sure gonna Bust My Arse in a Return...I don't think Leonard was going to risk His pretty ,sugared arse from suffering such an ignominious fate!!!
Didn't give Hagler a rematch either. This was after avoiding Hagler for years until Marvin was getting old.
Don't get me wrong, Ray was a great champion, but it bothered me, many people, that he became "careful" with who he fought, and when.
Thanks Coach😁
Goddamnn!!! One of the most badass knockouts definitely
that K.O. scene is impressive!
Benitez was really good up until after the Hearns fight.
Then from 1983 onwards he was done done done.
1976-1982 was his best days 🥊
Benitez to me is one of the greatest what-could've-been's in boxing history. It's no secret that drugs, alcohol, and women got in the way of his prime. It was said that he barely trained for the Leonard fight and yet Leonard still believed that Benitez was one of his trickiest opponents ever.
Benitez beat Antonio Cervantes, one of the greatest 140 lbs. boxers ever, at only the age of 17. "Kid Pambele" was beaten by an actual kid. He also had notable wins against Duran and Carlos Palomino. At one point, he was 44-1-1 with his only loss coming to one of the greatest to ever do it in Sugar Ray Leonard. After his victory over Duran, his record was only 9-7. By the age most boxers start to ascend the P4P ranking, Benitez began to slip.
I always love watching Benitez box. He didn't have a ton of power (only 2 KO's in his 8 title victories), but could duck and slip punches and counter like no other in his time. He was also the only boxer I ever saw who was so comfortable against the ropes (and even the corner). Ali had the rope-a-dope against Foreman but Benitez just about did it every other round in his career.
Un grande entre los grandes y todo un caballero Wilfredo Benitez,ya no habra'otro campeon como el,por algo le decian el radar.
quadruple-feint lights-out KO, Hope got completely bamboozled there. not many boxers could pull that off at this level, but Benitez made god-tier skills look easy.
Thats why journalists used to refer to Hope as Stoneface Maurice...he turned into a Statue when he fought Benitez..heh!...heh!!
Thank you :)
Tyson said Hope just woke up this morning after 30 years he just woke up
Puerto Rico's finest
Impressive KO and beatdown by Benitez. Hope was a tough fighter, but took a lot of punishment in this fight. Losing a tooth, both eyes swollen, and he ate a lot of body shots. Then that wicked knockout punch. Hope ended up spending the night in the hospital. But showing his toughness, he recovered quick enough to marry his fiance a few days later!
After he got knocked out he got married with that phat check and he could buy a set of bling like teeth He let Benitez roll up on him during the stare down I wouldn't have tolerated that a stare a push or a swing it's on
22 years old...what a dream
Jimmy Jacobs managed Benitez ? He's the one wearing a beret .
Yeah, for a short time Cus Damato was training his as well. He said Benitez clearly had exciting power ( you can see it when he steps on punches and in the size of his calves) and wanted to adapt his style for Peekaboo. Benitez already had phenomenal bob and weave , counterpunching and defensive awareness but his philandering and wild boy lifestyle didn’t sit right with Cus. Benitez career is kind of the one fanboys act like Tyson had.
after this he defended 15rd win Carlos Santos undefeated would go on to win IBF jr middle title
1:18 Leonard gives me jokes!! ' Thanks, mo have a good one - back to you Tim.....'
Great fighter.
Not one but 2 at a time the coach ant messing around thanks coachstrout
45:13 Greatest feeling in the world. I promise. I've been on both ends more than once.
Elaborate on it
A good man back there in Wilfredo corner, late Jimmy Jacobs.
Extraordinario campeón de todos los tiempos Wilfredo Benites
베니테스 정말 대단하네요~
3체급.
The radar of boxing,the Bible of boxing Wilfredo Benitez a great champion born in the Bx you know?r.i.p. to wilfredo
Benitez was what Mayweather and Whitaker were in their respective eras. Special talent.
Thought Benitez looked superb here.
in the interview wilfred's right eye already didn't seem normal
Hope had difficutly getting himself into position to land the left cross, & after seeing his balance, I could see why. His back foot is in the air most of the time. Bad teaching.
Not only that Benitez seen it coming
Wasn't it so nice to hear legendary ring announcer Chuck Hull get right down to business without the loud, booming and time-consuming grandstanding that is so prevalent with today's ring announcers? It took him all of 90 seconds (from 7:30-8:40 of the recording) to complete the introductions. Oh how I long for the good ol days!!
베니테스 최고의 KO장면 Bnitez's best ko scene in his life
Benitez looked much bigger than Hope.
he conserves so much energy counter punching off the ropes - never seen any fighter position their feet like he does when in the corner lol he literally looks like he's just leaning against the bar at a club lol
By the end of the 1st round Benitez was laughing at how slow Hope was. Rest of the fight was an exhibition.
ホープの右足はつっていて倒される前からかなりダメージの蓄積があった。。
ボクシングは怖い、やるもんじゃないね。
I never heard Wilfredo speak English before. Maurice went home after the ko getting married that night!
Sad reality is that both boxers have suffered later in life from the impact of boxing.
Extremely loud crowd
Bro I never understood how they were booing for both of there introductions. They just came to watch 2 guys they don't like hurt eachother I guess 😭
21:23
23:27
32:17
40:15
si la de chávez fue mala parada contra taylor esta fue igual de mala
ese parto la pelea Leonard Benítez deben sacarlo del boxeo para siempre
Benitez' punches were too much for Hope. After the 7th round, you could see Hope's legs looked wobbly. He kept his left hand down too often, and he paid the price.
Some people say that Bazooka Gomez was better.
Hmmm Benitez is way better than Mayweather in my opinion..
Why, he is elusive but NOT running!!! He is a fighter, not a track star!
El Radal📡
Two hopes Maurice and No
In
Benitez couldnt crack an egg. Lost to all the great fighters he fought
false.. He defeated duran
He defeated duran, Cervantes , palimino and anybody who knows boxing knows that those three names i mentioned are unquestionably hall of fame legends.
No knowledge of boxing whatsoever: defeated Kid Pambele, Carlos Palomino and Duran, three Hall of Famers, before age 23.
Benitez was the youngest man to win 3 world titles in 3 different weight classes. Do some research, dude.
Do you know what you are talking about?
Greatest Fighter from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 of all time!