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Wikfredo Benitez Boxing
Autograph
An 8x10 Action Photograph signed by three
times World Boxing Champion Wilfredo Benitez. Action shot
from his fight with Roberto Duran.
Wilfredo Benitez
SOLD
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 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 23,1981 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, a devastating
left hook to the face 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 handed 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.
