Where are they now?

Edwin Rosario
Wilfredo Gomez
Frankie Randall
Wilfred Benitez
Kirkland Laing
Colin Jones
Ron Lyle
Livingstone Bramble
Don Curry
Milt McRory

Any others feel free to add.

Cheers

Wilfred Benitez was not doing well, last I heard.

He moved back to Puerto Rico and lived under the care of his mother Clara on a $200/month WBC pension - he has traumatic encephalopathy, causing dementia and progressive loss of function. In 2004 he developed diabetes and in 2008 his mother died - I am unawareof his current care plan/status - but with such a cornucopia of ailments and issues, he may not be doing well.

A sad decline for a true great of the ring.

Well Rosario is six feet under, and has been for well over a decade. Gomez was jailed for drugs-related offences in 1994 if I remember correctly, and now is a reformed Christian who spends most of his time working with youngsters and charities.

oxring wrote:Wilfred Benitez was not doing well, last I heard.

He moved back to Puerto Rico and lived under the care of his mother Clara on a $200/month WBC pension - he has traumatic encephalopathy, causing dementia and progressive loss of function. In 2004 he developed diabetes and in 2008 his mother died - I am unawareof his current care plan/status - but with such a cornucopia of ailments and issues, he may not be doing well.

A sad decline for a true great of the ring.

One of the best fighters I have seen fight. Wonderful defensive shills, staying in the pocket and making opponents miss. I recall his fight with SRL when SRL threw a spectular looking combination at WB with not one landing.

His KO of Mo Hope was superb. Sad decline.

I wonder if fighting at such a young age and being successful (world champ at 17 for goodness sake) had anything to do with him neing finished at 24?

88Chris05 wrote:Well Rosario is six feet under, and has been for well over a decade. Gomez was jailed for drugs-related offences in 1994 if I remember correctly, and now is a reformed Christian who spends most of his time working with youngsters and charities.

Damn. I didn't realise that Rosario had passed. His left hook on Camacho finished Hector as a box office fighter and made him scared of engaging.

[quote="azania"]

oxring wrote:

One of the best fighters I have seen fight. Wonderful defensive shills, staying in the pocket and making opponents miss. I recall his fight with SRL when SRL threw a spectular looking combination at WB with not one landing.

His KO of Mo Hope was superb. Sad decline.

I wonder if fighting at such a young age and being successful (world champ at 17 for goodness sake) had anything to do with him neing finished at 24?

I lay the blame for Wilfreds decline at a few other factors as well.So many tough 15 round fights .Take away the mega stars he faced and you have Cerventes,Palamino,Villa. All top class operators
A father who was a piece of S*** .Gambled away Wilfred's money whilst matching him the toughest around
It would be classed as child neglect or cruelty I guess now
Leonard was full of respect for him after their fight and that says a lot.
Watch the Hearns fight for some great examples of his defensive qualities despite the loss

After losing to Leonard and Hearns he didn't have much more to prove or achieve, he never had the build to compete at Middleweight and must have lost some desire combined with diminishing abilities.

Elmer Ray completely dissapeared after retiring from the ring. A guy who got close decisions over Walcott and Charles, so he must have had some talent.

Benoitez also apparently didn't train for much more than a couple of weeks prior to fights, which makes me think he should've been fighting around lightweight had he had more dedicated training camps.

"He currently runs the boxing gym, Denver Red Shield in Denver, Colorado.[16] He was the former trainer of Light Welterweight contender Victor Ortiz, who fought out of denver, during some his amateur career"

got that from Wiki

It was all a matter of discipline with Benitez, really. You could probably count on one hand how many fighters have matched the description of being a 'natural talent' better than he did, and to think that, by the age of twenty-three, he was a three-weight world champion who could boast wins over Antonio Cervantes, Carlos Palomino, Maurice Hope and Roberto Duran, it's scary how much he could have achieved. Also puts in to context the way we talk about Khan's (who is twenty-four) 'potential' and 'development.'

Sadly, his relationship with his dad was, to put it mildly, very chequered and his refusal to work with a proper coach for an extended period didn't help. Thrown in a huge lump of laziness and a bit of 'white line fever' and you've got a recipe for disaster.

I think in general people here are a little hard on Benitez .It wasn't just discipline , loss of desire or not able to make middleweight.
He had been a pro since 15..Loads of fights against tough fighter prior to 22 years old..Count the rounds boxed in a professional ring prior to turning 23?
Beaten only by Leonard and Hearns in anything like his prime
Benitez is very much a victim in all this and an excellent reminder of the need to protect young fighters and the danger of 15 round fights

Even when Leonard and Hearns beat him I think he'd already started sliding downwards which is a scary thought with regards to his talent. With better management and desire would have been a nailed on top ten but gets into the top 25 as it is.