AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
In this gripping episode of Ring Talk, our host Lou Eisen, renowned boxing historian, dives deep into the thrilling welterweight title clash of November 30th, 1979. Held at the iconic Cesar’s Palace, this unforgettable bout saw boxing legends Sugar Ray Leonard and Wilfredo Benitez lock horns for the world welterweight title.
Join us as Lou dissects the strategies, punches, and defense maneuvers that defined this epic face-off. From the intensity of Leonard’s punching prowess to Benitez’s robust defense, get ready for a play-by-play analysis that will transport you back to that electrifying night.
Don’t miss out on this detailed exploration of one of boxing’s most compelling matches. Whether you’re a boxing enthusiast, an avid historian, or just enjoy a great story, Lou’s commentary will leave you enlightened and entertained. Subscribe to the Talkin Fight channel for your weekly dose of Ring Talk and stay updated with the colorful world of boxing!
#RingTalk #LouEisen #BoxingHistory #RayLeonard #WilfredoBenitez #WelterweightTitle #TalkinFight
Transcribed
[, Music ], I’m not talking hi.
My name is Louise and boxing writer and historian and soon to be author, and I have to say, I’m 62 and of all the fights I’ve seen.
I started watching boxing in my father’s knee when I was two three years old.
The fight that took place in you know, November 30th, 1979 at Caesar’s Palace between worldwide Champion Wilfredo, Benitez and number one Challenger.
Sugar, Ray Leonard, is one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen, if not the greatest fight next to the Ali Frazier third fight.
This was an incredible fight.
It was two artists they raised boxing to the level of art.
It would be like Matisse uh facing off against Monet.
They were just absolutely brilliant um coming into the fight.
It’S an interesting thing where he told me about this fight.
First of all, um he had Matt, you read it and raise biography, but he told me this that at the hall of fame that when he went to visit Benitez in the early 2000s and Benitez, was quite ill at that time.
You know this is two seven.
Two eight maybe, and beneath is now I mean the last – I’ve seen him at least maybe 100 pounds he’s in a wheelchair, but he’s getting helped by other people in boxing, especially John, the Iceman Scully um.
They watched a replay of their fight and as they’re watching the replay Benitez who, by the way was autistic, doesn’t mean he couldn’t fight.
You know, in fact it probably meant he could fight better um because of the high intelligence of most autistic people, but he said to Ray.
He said you know how long I trained for the fight and right train three four months so Ray assumed, he’s gon na say a month two weeks.
He goes how long a week two weeks and goes one day.
We need his trade one day.
His father Gregorio said I I you couldn’t pay me 200 Grand to make me stay at my son’s corner.
He doesn’t want to train, he didn’t want to train he.
He had a short attention span, he couldn’t focus and he simply didn’t want to train, and one of the reasons for that was everything came easy to him in boxing.
It didn’t end up that way, but you, you know the only other comparison I could make.
I guess would be the trumpet player Chet Baker who, two weeks after he took up trumpet as a teenager as a young kid.
He was playing full songs.
He just had it.
It came easy to him and so Benitez when he won the World Junior Welterweight Title.
He won it against kid: Cervantes, uh, um, Antonio Cervantes, kid pambella.
They called them – and you know his age was listed at 17.
.
He’S the youngest World welterweight uh junior Welterweight, Champion ever later on.
When researchers did a deep dive, they found out that he wasn’t 17.
.
He was 15.
when he won his first world title.
I don’t think it’s ever been a world champion at any age.
At 50.
I mean Ally one two, seven years older this, this guy was 15 and he beat Cervantes for the junior Wilder.
Then he beat the Magnificent Carlos Palomino one of the great Champions at Welter, and then he had this fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, who was the 1976 media uh darling in the Olympics, where he won a gold medal and a junior welterweight Division and an incredible fighter? And he was the number one ranked Fighter for the WBC in the welterweight division.
He was also the the um natural people, heir to the throne of world’s most popular.
It was gorgeous and his skills were perfect.
He was Flawless, he had hand speed that people couldn’t believe he was incredibly smart fighter.
Incredibly great improviser in the ring tremendous footwork tremendous power.
I mean he had it all tremendous um um interpretation of what to do.
He had great Ring geography and great anticipation.
The story I was looking for, but speaking of anticipation, Wilfredo benitez’s nickname, was radar.
L Radar because he could it was uncanny.
You know he’d be in front of you they’re, both Orthodox Fighters and you’d throw punch.
You, wouldn’t you know, you’d, throw Jabs and you’d throw a right hand or you throw a straight right or a hook off your jab and you wouldn’t have any tells you wouldn’t move your shoulder.
It wouldn’t be anything that a fighter could pick up on, but somehow he knew somehow Benitez could stand in front of you and look at you in the eye and you could throw a left and he just knew it was coming and could avoid it.
And that became extremely frustrating for his opponents and it was an incredible thing to witness because he didn’t really pull much effort into it.
You know he was a great fighter, but he didn’t really train so he’s dominating all of these fights and he had his father.
Gregorio Benitez as his trainer, we did a great job with him, but was frustrated because his son would never listen and, of course, uh Ray Leonard had the greatest trainer of all time.
Um Angela Dundee and this fight was an interesting meeting of the minds because Ray said that it was like fighting yourself in a mirror.
It was like looking in a mirror.
He said I miss more in this fight, more punches in every any other fight.
I ever had in all my career fights combined and that’s saying something.
He said he just whatever I threw he just knew it was coming.
I don’t know how he knew.
I wasn’t tipping it with my eyes or my shoulders or my feet.
He just knew and to watch these two guys go out.
It would be like watching two Chess Masters go at it.
Um Bonitas came in at 146, pounds and uh array did excuse me and benin’s came in at 144 pounds uh November 30th Caesar’s Palace at Las Vegas.
The referee was Carlos Padilla November 30th.
1979 is an interesting date a week before um uh.
The fight happened uh, where Fredo sipian Wilfred sipian beat Willie Classen in class and died after the fight.
So this fight Carlos Padilla, the referee, who also refereed the thrill in Manila between Ali and Frazier and many other fights, was told to keep your eye on the condition of both Fighters.
We don’t want a repeat of a fighter getting hurt and then continuing and dying boxing cannot afford that.
So he was real.
He did a really good job and he let the fighters fight, but he was really quick on it.
Uh when, when the fight ended in the 15th round, but we’ll get to that judge, Harry grit, gribbs judge Harry Gibbs, excuse me is from Britain now he was the one that Hagler didn’t want when he fought Leonard, because it made no sense because he wasn’t treated Well by the British fans, and so Gibbs sits out to fight with Hagler and Leonard they’re, bringing JoJo Guerra who scores to fight something like 10 Rounds.
Leonard two rounds, Hagler and Gibbs scored it unofficially for the BBC and he had Hagley winning.
So if Hagler hadn’t objected, he would have retained his title.
Um Harry Gibbs had at 136 134 for Benitez at the time it ended in the 15th round.
Art Larry had a 137 130 and bring Solis had at 137 133 and those are all great scores.
Uh in the first four rounds of the fight Rey seems to be having no problem.
You know out quicking Benitez he’s lining his left jab, which Angel kept saying, use the stick, jab jab jab to the stomach jab to the head, and then he would throw the left hook off.
The jab, which was effective against Benitez he’d, also come over with the right hand, especially when benita’s tried to jab him and gray was slipped inside it and throw the right counter hand.
Um Benitez was as a WBC welterweight champion and Leonard was they say the number two rated fighter, but really he was the most popular fighter in the world.
It was broadcast in prime time and ABC also on this card, was to Marvin Hagler veto into formal fight and which had to beat the hell out of veto.
Antifermo and the fight came out of draw, which is why Hagler had no faith in Las Vegas and judges.
That’S why, when he fought Leonard in 87, he thought it doesn’t matter about the judges, because it’s not going to go to distance.
I’M going to take him up beforehand and Hagler made the mistake of saying sure: it’ll be 12 rounds.
Sure we’ll have a longer ring a wider ring.
You can have all of that.
It doesn’t make a difference.
I’M still going to knock you out, I’m not going to let the judges screw me, but this wasn’t the first time he was screwed.
Also in the fight uh Marvin Johnson uh won the world light heavyweight title by knocking out Victor galindez who lost to Mike Grossman, beat him again and then Johnson, it was just a fantastic heavyweight.
Um knocked out.
Galindez um, you know to win the title and Leonard came into the fight as a three to one, a three to one favorite now Benitez was getting paid 1.
2 million.
His manager was Bill gate and Jim Jacobs, the same as Edward Rosario and later on, Mike Tyson and Leonard got a million dollars for the fight, and this was your richest Payday for anyone to write fight up until that point uh, especially any fight that was not Held in the heavyweight division um and it’s funny, Gregorio Benitez, who was the father and trainer, wrote an article uh for Ring magazine.
Why Benitez won’t win? I mean his own father wrote this in November 79 and he said he hasn’t listened to me.
He won’t do what I what I tell him to do.
He won’t train, he can’t pay attention, he has no focus and then he said you know my son would rather be anywhere else, but then in a gym, training – and that was simply true but Benitez was so skilled that he thought he didn’t need to spend all That time, training and it’s incredible – the fight – turned out the way it did with the guy that trained for one day and still gave sugary Leonard the best fight he ever had and in fact, Gregorio was so disgusted with his son Wilfredo that he said you know You could offer me 200 Grand.
You could offer me a million, I’m not working the corner.
However, after my pleading from his son, he did end up working the quarter for the fight, and he said I don’t think Wilfredo he later admitted I didn’t think Wilfredo could lose because he was the best fighter pound for pound the world best footwork best best eyesight Best field division, best hands best feet at put punches together well, could absorb good shots, but also could avoid them better than any other fighter in the world.
So he said, if I say you know, I can’t tell him, though, that he’s not going to win or that he is going to win, because if I tell him he’s going to win, then he won’t work.
He thinks, if I believe he wins, then he doesn’t have to train.
He doesn’t realize you always have to train uh.
The crowd was about 4 600 to 5 000, that Caesar’s Palace Pavilion and UPI had to fight 130.
129, 139 129 minor and kale magazine had at 137 12800 uh.
So the interesting thing is, you can see this on ESPN classic Sugar, Ray Leonard historian, uh bird sugar was on.
It was one of my mentors and he said that, because of the death one week before of Woodley Classen, you know Padilla stopped the fight in the 15th round off the opinionist went down and they asked him Ray.
Did you have a problem with that and he said no.
I had no problem with that.
There’S no reason to have another fatal injury in the sport of boxing.
That’S the one thing we didn’t need: the great writer William Knack, who wrote about horse racing.
A lot also wrote about boxing and he wrote a wonderful article on the fight.
After and in the first, you know 30 seconds to fight both guys came out, and you know they were just all these incredible moves and fakes.
In fact, the stare now was incredible because they stood there just staring at each other’s eyes for 30 seconds, and you could see this sweat pouring out Benitez.
This was a two-man of equal skill not backing down from each other mentally and in a fight like that.
Where the scale is equal, it comes down to who can better impose your will on the other man and Ray London was the one who could do that Leonard was moving and jabbing through the whole fight.
His plan was to move and Jab, throw left hooks off.
The Jab and then come over counter benitez’s left hand with his with his right hook or straight right and Angelo kept saying you know, forget the head: go to the body just hit his body hit him in the right hit him with your right hand and the Side there and there was kidney and then hit him in the left in the liver and and raise it, but he’s right there in front of me and Andrew said yeah, but then he ain’t, so no one could set up traps like Wilfredo Benitez.
No one could stand, he could stand there with his hands down and you think well.
This will be easy.
I you know I’m going to throw a left jab in the right hand, but I’ll switch him up I’ll, throw a straight right and then a left hook.
Still couldn’t hit him, it was the most frustrating thing, but Ray was contained.
He was in himself and when you watch them when you watch the fight, as I was doing earlier today, there’s thousands of faints and every three minutes of the round head thing.
Shoulder frames arm things foot things: it’s incredible to watch each guy trying to faint the other one into position to get hit and most of the time they just didn’t go for the famous you know Ray had to punch in between punches.
You know benavis’s punches to land like last night when Loma um uh, but that’s another story, so it just said that we lost feed.
So I don’t know if we lost the feed so until I’m informed by my producer Eric that defeat is lost.
I’Ll keep talking.
Um Leonard uh in the early part of the fight um.
Thank you.
Uh was moving and jabbing and it looked like it was going to be easy because in the first four rounds he was moving and jabbing catching him with the left hand and coming overhand with the right.
He was hitting him to the body with left, hands and Benitez was just swarming up the Leonard didn’t realize.
I don’t think at the time that Benitez is in benitez’s mind.
He figured well it’ll, take two to three to four rounds in fact a right hand, and then he came over with a really sweet left hook and cop Anita’s on the chin and Benitez sort of staggered backwards, but he recovered and when Landon went in to hit Him again he was gone, aloe radar, you could see what was coming and then he was gone uh in the third round, uh they’re fainting, each other and Leonard’s, going to the body and Leonard faints a left to the body and then comes up with a left.
Jab to his chin and Benitez his feet were getting we’re preparing for the body, shot got hit in the chimney, went down and it was a legitimate knockdown, Leonard being a very well School Fighter by Angela Dundee went immediately to happen with him was a mistake because Um he he said that uh he he um he got hit with a good shot, but he’s preparing for a different shot, and so we went down um the fight continued from there, and you know at that point I think in the third or fourth round what Happened was they had a headbutt? It was an accident at the headbutt.
When their heads came together.
They were fighting in close and Ray got a bit of a swelling a lot but but problem for him, but he didn’t let it at them.
He didn’t really go into his eyes.
It came down beside his left eye and over his nose and Benitez had to ignore that and and and continue fighting um being it is, you know in the fourth round, beating it started to come on and he caught liner with two good right hands and uh.
You know the fourth round sort of changed the tone of the fight.
It changed the demeanor of the fight, because Leonard thought.
Well, I’m I’m beating him being a different or afraid of being this.
I’Ve just mentioned to the producer he keeps saying on.
My screen seems like one of your streams is not working so uh.
Maybe he could get rid of that uh particular posting um.
You know, as London said, He adjusted to my style and then it was like fighting in a mirror.
You know it was like looking at yourself for the mayor and every punch you’d throw you you yourself would react differently, so it made it very difficult because he wasn’t weren’t um uh, weren’t uh.
You know: okay, we’re gon na, take a pause here and we’re gon na figure.
This out, my internet is dropping in and out.
Okay refresh, okay, you’re gon na have to cut this together, though, you understand: okay, I’ll refresh it is it now foreign Okay.
So this is, the fight is going well.
It looked like Rays ahead.
Three rounds to zip at the fourth round is a very interesting round, because Ray Leonard said that you know in the fourth round he was a different man.
It wasn’t like he was.
He was fighting Benitez, but it was like Bonita suddenly turned a switch on and fought a completely different fight at the beginning.
Leonard came out.
He was having his way with Benitez and Benitez caught him with two right hand leads in the fourth and a right-hand lead.
Is a sucker punch.
It’S saying to the guy that you’re fighting I’m going to Telegraph, my punch, but I’m going to be so quick and so good you’re not going to know what to do and I’m going to land it and that’s what Benitez did and lemur wasn’t just any other Fighter this was one of the great boxing minds and skilled artists of all time and Leonard said.
You know I wasn’t aware uh because they hit him so easy earlier on that he had changed completely his Outlook and his strategy in the fight.
Now it was going to become more difficult.
He had adjusted to my style.
I didn’t realize that I was hitting him so easy because he was gathering information to use against me later on and Leonard started, to have a lot of trouble.
Bonita, especially catching him with an overhand right, very difficult, because the need has kept slipping each right hand or dipping under them and Ray was getting frustrated and Ray was saying.
You know I looked to Angela Dundee after the fourth round.
I he, he just seems to know it’s coming.
I can’t tag him with it and he’s less than two feet away from me and I still can’t tag him with it and he and that Leonard or let me Angelo said, go to the body.
Forget the right hand to the Head, the stick that left in his face.
He said you can’t stand in front of this man and hit him with the right hand.
He’S too good and that’s when he’s you know there so concede the right hand win the fight, win the fight by jabbing him to the face into the body, use the stick.
That’S what you’re going to do you’re going to beat Wilfredo Benitez and win the world title with your left hand, your left hand is quicker than his it gets there.
It hits him in the face hit him on the cut hit him in the nose hit him in the stomach.
Keep using your left hand and double up on the left hand and then start throwing left hooks off your left hand.
One of the plans they had because Leonard had been watching fights.
He threw the left hook, uh it would um, he would uh thrown uppercut off the left.
Excuse me left jab, then a left uppercut and it was an incredible punch but Ray didn’t want to throw that more than once in the fight because he didn’t want to give it away if he gave it away, but he just would start looking for it.
That’S how smart Benitez was so Benitez had to back off or excuse me kept there.
You know Landing his rights and lefts, but Leonard, had to fight a smart fight Leonard, had to actually think about every punch that he was throwing, because otherwise he didn’t want to give Benitas more information.
So London really started had to switch up his his retinue uh of shots.
Um and you know, the fighters stopped face and stared at each other and and they’re flat-footed, and they were fainting each other, and it was the most incredible thing because now that it’s going to throw a punch either fighter knew what both of them knew.
What was coming after each faint, so it was hard for them.
It’S like it’s like.
We said it’s like looking in the mirror, so it was very hard for them.
You know to know what shots to throw, but they kept fainting with their hands and weaving.
Like wind-up dolls, it’s like, when you see a um, you know a baseball player hit a home run and then, when it comes to Dugout and congratulated by his teammates, they sort of do these robotic moves as a joke.
But that’s what it was like with them, because they were so good what they were doing really was searching for openings.
Both men were looking for openings and flaws, and the other ones defense, and more than looking for openings, they were looking for the beginning of openings.
They were looking for how to create openings and that’s why there’s a difference between fast and quick and straight hand.
Speed both bands were incredibly fast.
We needed as an especially Ray Leonard quick is different.
Quick is different than fast.
Quick is being able to recognize an opening about to appear and then throwing the punch, just as it does appear and capitalizing on that, and both men had that skill, but Leonard had that skill and relied on that skill.
A lot more than Benitez did and they were weaving and, as Bill Knack said, they were like wind-up dolls and uh.
It was in the sixth round actually not earlier that they cracked their heads together and that’s when the blood started to throw flow freely.
Some videos, but it didn’t really affect him, Benitez – would smile when that happened.
Even when he went down and knocked down in the third round from a jab, he had a sheepish smile like yeah.
I got caught by something stupid and this is the sixth round they’re fighting on a high level.
They both had you know they’re enclosed they had their head, butt lender got the well Benitez got the cut, but Benitez was still smiling.
I mean he only trained a single day, and yet he was fighting pound for pound the best fighter in the world.
At such a high level on skill alone, uh his Corner treated the cut, and but the cut would keep reopening every time Leonard hit it and the blood would pour down.
But he missed his face and Alpha would impair his vision.
But he still because he had such a comfortability in the ring and knew exactly where he was that he still was able to fight well land his punches and anticipate, while the punches that Ray Leonard was throwing back also early in the fight uh uh.
We don’t know what round it was in the first four rounds.
He broke his left thumb, but he hit it, but he kept shaking his left hand during the fight.
So we don’t know you know no one picked up on that.
They thought.
Is he doing it? Because he’s about to throw it is, is it? Is it a fake or a faint, but actually he’d broken? His left thumb and I’ve had a broken left thumb from playing Hardball, and I got to tell you it hurts like hell and even after they gave me the morphine, it hurt like hell, so the fight to keep fighting in a fight.
It shows you how incredibly tough Benitez was.
Both men were incredibly tough.
That’S one thing that Larry Merchant told me Ray: Leonardo never got credit for that.
He was one tough son of a that of all the guys he fought.
He was super tough and it was an odd fight because there was a lot of ring craft going on a lot of you know faking pairing of punches blocking punches.
You know race down and they’re catching a lot of benita’s punches Benitez is slipping.
His punches raise punches and you wonder how do they see that coming? There’S no way he could have seen it coming gray didn’t know what he was going to throw and Benitez was able to anticipate it.
It wasn’t that he saw it coming.
He thought he’s going to throw a straight left and moved as Leonard, threw a straight left and was able to duck under it and that’s frustrating to a fighter.
He knows what I’m going to throw before.
I know it myself and that’s how great Benitez was uh.
They weren’t able to dominate you know neither man could dominate, neither could move the other guy around.
Neither could set the other man up.
Neither could faint him out of position or faint him into position to get caught with a big punch and there wasn’t a lot of banging.
You know Leonard obviously like the stronger man landed, a heavier blows and um, and you know Benitez was tagged by his blows and a couple times Benitez.
You know his knees buckled two or three times during the fight, but then he just disappeared.
He just got out of the way ducked under shots clenched.
He just he was a hard guy to get out of there uh in the ninth round, um uh Ray column, and this line did a bevy of shots like a flurry at six, seven, eight shots threw Benitez back into the ropes, but Bonita’s recovered uh.
He held on to Leonard, he wrote a dope uh ala Ali, and you know in that round uh.
He probably missed more punches Ray lemon than he had in his 25 previous fights according to him, so um Leonard said after the fight.
No one could make me miss punches.
He said later in his career.
No one made me miss punches.
The way that Benitez did.
He said he was just so slick so good and it was just difficult to hit him and you know it’d be like playing chess against a robot.
You know or artificial intelligence.
You just don’t it’s a frustrating thing to be in the best shape of your life.
Finding the best fight of your life – and still you can’t get this guy, even if you nail him with a good shot, he’s gone in a second.
This is what chevalo said about ali that it was the speed that changed it.
It was a paradigm shift that Ali would line four or five shots, and when you went to throw one back out, you look and out.
He was 10 feet across the ring, and that was real, Fredo Benitez and in the first 14 rounds.
It was a boxing lesson because they used every faint, every maneuver head, faint foot, faint, shoulder, faint arm, faint fist, faint eyes everything they could to to get the other guy right into position to Whack Him and Benitez had a smile on his face and, as they Said later, this wasn’t personal they liked each other.
They were friends, it wasn’t like Devin, Haney, shoving uh lomanchenko, that you know they shook hands.
They had until the fight.
You know then you’re, not friends.
Obviously they had that incredible stare down, but it wasn’t personal Rey had his Destiny.
His Destiny was to become the Undisputed World Welterweight Champion the best fighter on the planet and eventually he’d be fighting Thomas Terrace, the WBA champion and the fight.
You know they went into the 15th, it was, it was thought they both needed to win the rounds.
It was a very, very close fight and Leonard was in front of after 14 rounds uh on all three scorecards.
I think by at least two points, two or three points – and you know boxing is the art of self-defense and as the English judge, Harry Gibbs said, and you got to give Bonita’s credit because he made Leonard miss a lot and you don’t get points for making.
I miss, but it was Gibbs who had a 136-134 was, which was the closest of all the scorecards.
So when it came to the 15th round, all the fainting, all the defensive, Maneuvers, all the headphones.
All of that went out the doors they stood Toe to Toe.
In ring Center and slugged it out, because London thought this – is it I’m, the bigger man, I’m the stronger man, I’m gon na knock him out.
I got ta.
Stop him.
I can’t go to the judge’s scorecards.
I want the title.
This is one as George Foreman would say, comes down to wan na it comes down to who wants it more? The skill level of both men is equivalent.
You know, Benitez is behind.
He doesn’t know that, though it looks like an even fight.
Leonard knows that he’s got to impose his will.
That’S the only thing he can do.
He’S got to close the distance and just let his hands go as Angelo said and try to knock him out.
Leonard, didn’t know.
He was ahead and all three score cards.
If that round, if it goes to the scorecards London wins, the title anyways but Leonard, wanted to close in in spectacular fashion and Leonard, is one of the great clothes of all time in the history of professional boxing.
So they go into the 15th round and, as I said, he’d been watching Wilfredo Gomez, the super Bantam champ, who was brilliant at throwing a devastating left, uppercut off a left jab, and it worked particularly well because for Leonard because what happened with lemon for the whole Fight is he would throw the left jab and then he’d throw a left hook.
So Benitez is standing there.
He catches the jab and he’s waiting for the hook to come around and so Leonard throws the jab.
But instead of throwing the hook, he’s ready for the hook Benitez he comes under and catches Benitez unaware and he drops him and that’s what happened was he threw the up? He threw the left jab and then he stepped inside and he uh.
He threw the uppercut Benitez didn’t see that coming and he caught him on the chin and Benitez went down to his knees.
He was fine, you know he’s a bit groggy, but he he got up and he was able to walk gingerly back to his corner.
He was a bit teeny bit wobbly, but he was still there.
He was kicking his legs moving his arms to get the feeling back to get the blood flowing again and Leonard, moved in Leonard.
Was it one of the best Penny shoots ever and he throwed he threw two more heavy shots to the head and Carlos Padilla stepped in and stopped the fight and people were a bit upset.
They thought you could have let the fight go.
You could have let him get knocked down one more time, but they didn’t do that.
They didn’t do that because, as I said, Willie clash and had died a week before and they boxing didn’t want to have another black eye and Benitez was so popular in such a great fighter.
They wanted to help him out and so Leonard won the fight, and he was a new wc world welterweight champion and the fight here.
Yes, 254.
Six seconds left 254.
The 15th round 15 rounds.
That was a hard fight Angelo Dundee later said, after the fight that, from a technical standpoint, there was more done in this fight.
He said that I’m seeing done for a long time – and this was 79 and angel had been around from the from the middle 40s.
So that’s going 30 35 years, he said you saw two smart scientific Fighters, two champions in the ring at the same time, and the great thing is they brought out the best in each other.
Benitez didn’t complain over to stop it.
They hugged each other uh Jacobs, benitez’s co-manager said I’m glad he stopped the fight.
I didn’t want to see we’re afraid I’ll get hurt unless, after Ray Leonard said, this was the way I’ll fight.
In he’s a great Champion, I love Wilfredo Benitez.
He fought with a lot of spirit and I didn’t think anyone else on the planet can beat him and Benitez was very courteous.
He said Ray is the best in the world.
Now I was happy to get to fight with him.
He’S a great man a great Challenger, and I think he will prove to be an outstanding and a great Champion.
You don’t see Fighters say that today you know, for instance, last night, the Loma fight with Haney.
It wasn’t necessarily Haney’s arrogance.
It was his father’s arrogance.
Why should there be a rematch? My son won every round.
It was a lopsided, it wasn’t lopsided.
It was a close fight that I thought Lomo won.
I don’t think it was a deliberate robbery.
I didn’t think the judges were incompetent, but Benitez and Leonard put it up there.
You know, like Chagall or Matisse or Monet and said here it is or Van Gogh.
It’S a masterpiece, try to match it, and I I’ve never seen a fight that good.
Since I’ve seen a lot of great fights that were great fights for different reasons, you know so the Castile, Diego Corrales fight, the first fight was one of the most incredible fights I’ve ever seen.
If not being was incredible, but this was the most artistic, the most beautifully fought, the most skill I’ve ever seen in a prize fight these men deserve.
You know to be remembered all time the fight’s available on YouTube and Lionel just celebrated his.
I think 66 67th birthday and he’s in great shape, he’s done well.
He was smart with his money.
He’S got all his brains intact, whereas Benitez lost his money, he ended up fighting and living at Winnipeg.
Then they found them and they moved them to to Chicago, and I think he’s back with his family in in Puerto Rico, um Benin has continued after he got beaten by other Fighters, Ray Leonard, not right, Thomas Hearns.
Unfortunately, he got Savaged by a junior middleweight by Matthew, Hilton, but Matthew Hilton destroyed everyone, so um.
You know he just fought too long and he suffered pugilistic and dementia and I think he now weighs, as I said before, a hundred or something pounds.
He looks terrible, but he is improving uh.
What people don’t know about Ray Leonard is he often helps out Fighters like Benitez, not just mentally but financially as well, but Ray doesn’t want people to know about that.
He doesn’t want that to be spoken of and Ray just celebrated his birthday this past week.
So if you ever had the privilege of meeting him he’s just a wonderful fantastic person and pound for pound – probably I would say the greatest fighter ever to have lived.
Benitez was special, you know to win a world title at 15 years of age and then to beat the great Carlos Palomino people today.
Don’T understand how brilliant Carlos Palomino was.
Palomino was one of the all-time great welterweight Champions.
Brilliant fighter went on to have a really good, acting career.
Very literate, articulate man brilliant in the ring and benite has beat him so Benitez was.
There was no one like him before and there’s been no one like him since to put that little work into training and then to go on and dominate the best fighter in the world is incredible.
Both men are still alive, we’re lucky for that.
Their fights are on YouTube and we’re lucky for that, but you will never in your life it’s 2023.
It’S May it’s Sunday, I’m telling you right.
Now you look at the Benitez Sugar, Ray Leonard fight, you’ll, never see an artistic Masterpiece or two brilliant boxes at the top of their game as good as you see in this fight for the next 500 to A Thousand Years, it just isn’t possible.
It’D be like watching Willie Pep fight himself.
These these were two magnificent Warriors who turned boxing into an art form and raised the level of skill.
It’S a genius and if you get a chance to watch it watch it next week we have a special treat.
We have a good friend of mine, William detloff, build that laugh with his book.
Uh Miracle Man about the immortal, uh, Matthew, Assad, Muhammad, the great world light heavyweight champion – who I remember very well and William’s book is – is fantastic.
You can get it on Amazon, William detloff, the e-t-l-o-f-f, and you can go under Miracle Man and or just type in Matthew, Saad Muhammad and it’s an engrossing book, and I just warn you if you pick it up, you’ll read it all the way through and he’s Going to Be Our Guest, all next, all next Sunday for the whole show and he’s going to fiddle Us in on the amazing career of Matthew.
Sad Muhammad, I did the movie Cinderella Man, I said to Ron Howard.
This is one story: Jim braddix of thousands that could be made into movies.
Matthew said: Muhammad’s life was a movie in and of itself from where he came from to where he ended up.
Each fight was like a different chapter.
It was so exciting and uh, but we’re going to save that for next and we’ll see you next week with Odette laugh and Miracle Man Matthew side, Mohammed thanks for watching, enjoy the rest of your long weekend.
Bye-Bye
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