The two best welterweights in the world were signed to meet on November 30, 1979 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Sugar Ray Leonard was coming off of a spectacular performance in September, a first round knockout of Andy Price. Benitez had come off a solid win over Harold Weston in June as well. As a fairly new fan to the sport, I vividly recall a commercial on a tv at the department store I worked in at the time announcing the card, getting me really excited about a fight for the first time.
Leonard came into the fight with a 25-0 undefeated record, and had slowly climbed the welterweight rankings with expert guidance under the tutelage of his manager Mike Trainer and trainer Angelo Dundee. Benitez had been crowned the junior welter champ at the amazing age of just 17, and had added the welterweight crown in January of 1979 by decisioning Carlos Palomino in Puerto Rico. The two evenly matched fighters actually meeting in the ring certainly made the boxing public thrilled, and I was among that group.
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