Wilfred Benitez was climbing the rankings as a welterweight as the year 1977 marched on. He won a split decision victory over Bruce Curry on November 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York, and three months later defeated Curry again. Wilfred won the rematch easier on February 4, 1978 back at the Garden, clearing the way to face stiffer competition.
Six months later, he was back at the Garden, this time against the tough Randy Shields, and stopped him in six on August 25. One last trip to the Garden that year, saw Wilfred decision Vernon Lewis on December 8, 1978. That set up a shot at the title against Carlos Palomino a month later.
The bout took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 14, 1979 for Palomino’s WBC welterweight belt. Wilfred didn’t disappoint, boxed well and won a unanimous decision to capture his second championship in two different weight classes at only 20 years old. When the best boxers in the world were mentioned, Benitez was at the top of that list.
Two months later he made his first title defense against Harold Weston in San Juan, and won another fifteen round unanimous decision. The slick boxing Benitez, an amazing boxer to watch in action, was headed in a collision course in the fall with 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist Sugar Ray Leonard. Leonard was the only fighter around that could match skills with Wilfred at this point.
The match was set for November 30, 1979 at Caesar’s Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas, live on ABC tv. I had been a boxing fan now for about a year or so, and I remember seeing the commercial advertising the bout on one of the tv’s at the department store I worked in. I was as excited as I could be when I tuned into the action on my 11 inch black and white tv in my bedroom.
After an intense stare down at ring center, the fight began. Both fighters were evenly matched, but Leonard seized the offensive when he dropped Benitez with a jab in the third round. There were rumors that Wilfred had only trained a week for the bout, but who knows how true they were. The action continued evenly through the night, narrated by Howard Cosell as usual. Leonard was winning more of the rounds as the night progressed, and seemed to have the edge in skill level. Ray dropped Benitez with just seconds remaining in the fifteen round, and was the new champ. Benitez was gracious in defeat, but would go home beltless. At only 21 years of age, he still had the world ahead of him it would seem, but only time would tell.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
