Wilfred Benitez


Wilfred Benitez (born September 12, 1958), also known popularly as Wilfredo
Benitez, is a perfect example of a person who takes off too fast and crashes hard.

Benitez, a young prodigy who was managed by his father Gregorio Benitez, was
a member of one of Puerto Rico's most famous boxing families, his brothers
Frankie Benitez and Gregory Benitez also being top notch contenders in the
decade of the 1970s. The Benitez troop was also commandereed by their
mother, Clara Benitez. He was nicknamed The Radar.

During the early stages of his professional career, Benitez often traveled
to the Virgin Islands and New York, (where he was born), for fights. He
divided his fights between those locations and Puerto Rico. The proximity of
those two locations to Puerto Rico helped him start to become a household
name in the island while building an international following at the same
time. His stunning speed, combined with punching power and incredible ring
maturity for a 15 year old, took the boxing world by storm. Benitez kept on
winning, and in 1976, he lured the far more experienced, 2 time world
champion and now member of the hall of fame Antonio Kid Pambele Cervantes of
Colombia to San Juan's Hiram Bithorn stadium, to defend his world Jr
Welterweight championship. Benitez stunned the world by beating Cervantes.
Wilfredo won a 15 round unanimous decision, becoming the youngest boxing
world champion in history, at the tender age of 17.

Benitez retained this championship 3 times, and then the lure of a Million
Dollar fight with a certain 1976 Olympic champion named Sugar Ray Leonard,
then made him move up to Welterweight. He and world champion Carlos
Palomino, who hailed from Mexico but lived in Los Angeles, signed up for a
title fight, which again was fought in San Juan, under the auspices of Goya
Rice and Bacardi. It was another tough fight, but Benitez won a 15 rounds
decision to become world champion for the second time. After a defense
against Harold Weston Jr, which ended in a Benitez unanimous decision win,
Benitez and Leonard signed for a fight in Las Vegas in November, 1979. It
was a brilliant exhibition of scientific boxing by both, but Benitez
unsuccessfully tried overcoming a 3rd round knockdown and a cut which was
opened on his forehead by a headbutt in round 6, and the fight came to an
end when the referee stopped the fight with 6 seconds left in round 15.

After that loss, Benitez moved up in weight, and in May,1981 he became
the youngest 3 time world champion in boxing history, by knocking out world
Jr. Middleweight champion Maurice Hope of Trinidad & Tobago, in 12 rounds in
Las Vegas. This one was a frightening knockout and Hope had to be
hospitalized briefly after the fight. The knockout was named one of the
knockouts of the year.

His next fight became a historic bout because when he met future world champ
Carlos Santos of Ceiba, Puerto Rico , it became the first world championship
fight between two Puerto Ricans in boxing history. Ironically, the fight was
fought 3,000 miles away from Puerto Rico, in Las Vegas' Caesars Palace
hotel, and Benitez won a 15 round unanimous decision. Then came Roberto
Duran, beaten in the same hotel in 1982, but at the Carnival of Champions in
New Orleans, Benitez had to give up his belt to that other boxing legend,
Thomas Hearns, after a fight that featured knockdowns from both fighters,
losing a 15 round unanimous decision.

Benitez's career went downwards after that night with Hearns, and so did his
lifestyle. In 1984 , he tried a comeback under the hand of Yamil Chade but
this proved to be unsuccessful. In 1987, with his health clearly declining
already, he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to fight Middleweight Carlos
Herrera. Benitez was stopped in 7. But that wasn't the worst part of the
trip. He got his money for that fight stolen by the promoter, along with his
documents and passport, and was stranded in Argentina for 1 year. After much
government huddle and talks, he was finally able to fly back home to Puerto
Rico in 1988. One of the most touching moments in his life came when, upon
leaving the airplane that brought him back, he handled his 7 year old
daughter an Argentine toy doll he had bought for her before his fight there,
and told her he hadn't forgotten her one single day during his time there.

2 years later he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he tried another comeback
under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward, the famous Kronk trainer. This also
proved unsuccessful and he moved back to Puerto Rico, where he is now living
with his mother Clara, on a 200 dollar a month pension provided by the WBC.

Benitez is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame since 1996.