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What If? Wilfred Benitez Vs Keith Thurman

Who Wins?

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WBBy Ian “The Boxing Historian” Murphy

Time for a little “Old”-ish School versus New! By special request from the Boss, we have rising Welterweight star and belt holder Keith “One Time” Thurman versus one of boxing’s all time great prodigies, Wilfred “El Radar” Benitez. The jury’s still out on Thurman in a historical context, as he’s still pretty young and should be fighting at a high level for at least five more years, but at this stage of his career, we can get an idea of how he’d develop. Benitez is the ultimate fistic enigma, and at his best, was a handful for any Welterweight in the history of the sport. Now before we delve into the match up, let’s see how these two stack up:

Wilfred “El Radar” Benitez
Height: 5’10
Weight: 140-160 lbs.
Reach: 70”

Strengths:
-15 round championship level fighter.
-Multiple world champion during a highly competitive era.
-Incredible reflexes and body awareness.
-Very hard to hit, excellent counters.
-Very good command of distance.
-Defeated Roberto Duran, Antonio Cervantes, Carlos Palomino.

Weaknesses:
Was unmotivated to train properly at times.

Many boxing fans and experts rate Benitez with the “Four Kings” (Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns) as far as his skills and ability are concerned. Indeed, he fought well against Duran, Leonard, and Hearns. Many feel had “El Radar” been more motivated in the gym, the “Four Kings” would have grown to Five. Benitez was a master defensive fighter with exceptional counterpunching ability. His command of distance was legendary, as he made great fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns look foolish at times in their fights. Benitez was a legit prodigy, winning his first world title at the tender age of 17 against a tough and respected Antonio Cervantes in 1976. As frustrating a fighter as there has been in boxing, Wilfred achieved tremendous success in the ring, winning championships at 140, 147, and 154lbs. The biggest question in this matchup versus Keith Thurman: Would Benitez’s talent and skills be able to overcome a lackadaisical (at times) work ethic? Could Thurman capitalize on that lack of discipline?

Keith “One Time” Thurman
Height: 5’7
Weight: 147 lbs.
Reach: 69”

Strengths:
-Excellent athlete
-Well rounded
-Hard puncher
-Underrated defense
-Good speed

Weaknesses:
-Vulnerable to body punches
-Can be over reliant on his power
-Still untested as a professional by a fighter of comparable ability
-Never went 15 rounds

Thurman is a modern day fighter in every sense of the word. He’s a great athlete, possessing good speed, power, and athleticism. These attributes have allowed him to defeat every man he’s fought to date. As impressive as an undefeated record may be, it is entirely too commonplace nowadays, with nearly every division having multiple undefeated champions. It cheapens the “zero”, if you ask me. That being said, Thurman is one of the top fighters in boxing’s most competitive division, which implies Keith is indeed a good fighter among good fighters. Thurman possesses a well-rounded skill set, and has shown to be effective against different styles of opponents. The question in regards to his fantasy match against Wilfred Benitez is: How would he be able to deal with the slippery and elusive Benitez, someone who not only makes you miss (and tires you out), but makes you pay with sharp counters?

The Fight

Thurman comes out cautiously, knowing he could get lit up if he gets too reckless. He wants Benitez to come to him and press the pace. Benitez allows this because he knows Thurman will eventually get frustrated enough and get a little sloppy. This will lead Thurman right into his trap. Perhaps “La Arana” (the Spider) may have been a better nickname for the Puerto Rican enigma? True to form, the first three rounds has Thurman hanging back trading jabs with Benitez, who is just biding his time. Neither fighter does much damage, and the fight is two rounds to one in favor of Benitez, who kept Thurman on the end of his jab and took little in return.

Thurman starts round four with more urgency and lands a few glancing hooks, but Benitez just rolls, rolls, rolls with them and none connect with any authority. Twice in the round, Benitez cracks Thurman with hard right hand counters inside Keith’s wide left hooks. In the fifth and sixth rounds, more of the same occurs, and Thurman’s is gifted a nasty cut over his left eye courtesy of Benitez counter right hands. Thurman is getting desperate now, because he just can’t touch Benitez with anything other than a few body punches here and there while “El Radar” is lighting him up with right hands and doing significant damage to that injured eye. By the 9th round the eye is in horrendous shape, and the ref stops the bout at 1:43 of the ninth round for the winner by TKO (cut): Wilfred Benitez.

The biggest difference maker in this fight is the fact that Benitez applied his skills during an era where the Welterweight and Junior Middleweight Divisions were at historically high levels. Fighters who were good for their times would likely be belt-holders at a minimum today. Benitez decisively beat very good fighters like Pete Ranzany, Davey Moore, Mustafa Hamsho, Maurice Hope, and Bruce Curry would likely handle most of Thurman’s opponents fairly easily. Take it a step further: how would Thurman do against the likes of Antonio Cervantes or Carlos Palomino? Not that well, to be honest. How about Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard? Forget it. I am not saying Thurman isn’t good for his era, because he most definitely is. He brings it and he takes pride in his work as a championship caliber boxer. I also believe his attitude is spot on and that he is good for the sport, so I wish him well, hope he makes a ton of money, and fights the best of his era. This doesn’t change the fact that he is several notches below the likes of Wilfred Benitez, whose refined skills and innate ability are not matched in today’s version of professional boxing.

This fight looks interesting enough on paper, as Thurman has shown to be a well-rounded and adaptable fighter, but reality is that Benitez just feints and slips him out of his shoes. He has nothing to offer in resistance to Wilfred’s command of distance, which would limit the hard punches Thurman would need to land in order to be effective. If Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns (both far superior overall to Thurman) had a lot of trouble timing and landing clean on “El Radar”, “One Time” will be totally befuddled. There is no one boxing today that can match Benitez’s style or elusiveness. Floyd Mayweather, JR. is the closest, but he’s retired and probably wouldn’t risk his own “zero” against Thurman anyway

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