Should Benitez make it the FAB 5 ????

Leonard fought - Hagler, Hearns, Duran, Benitez.... (5-1-1)

Duran fought - Hagler, Hearns, Benitez , Leonard ( 1- 5)

Hearns fought - Hagler, Duran , Leonard, Benitez (2-2-1)

Benitez fought - Hagler, Duran, Leonard, (1-2)

Hagler fought - Leonard, Hearns, Duran ( 2-1)

Benitez was a legend...a three time world champion when this was very rare................and had a better record than Roberto amongst the fab lineup...

Has he been short-changed!!!

Lack of charisma has cost him I reckon and his nationality........

Puerto Rican boxers have tended to be more popular than Panamanians I will point out first of all. For me Benitez isn't included because his star shone for a very short time as well as not facing Hagler, had he done it he would probably have been included.

Duran was a one off though Ghosty.....

Hagler and Duran stunk as well it has to be said..

Rosario, Laporte, Camacho, Torres, Ortiz, Trinidad among a host of other highly rated and popular puerto ricans, not facing Hagler is the main reason for me.

Rosario didn't sell......Nazario 1 after he'd beat Bramble could've been held in a phonebooth........

Trinidad and Camacho.....one was outrageous and the other exciting...

Wilfredo Gomez never sold in America...

I'm talking about Tv wise.......Rosario, Gomez all needed high profile opponents or they were stuck on NBC....

As Ghosty says, the fact that Benitez didn't complete his set by fighting Hagler probably costs him inclusion in that 'Kings' era. Also, so many of the 'Kings' era highlights took place after Wilfred had departed the world stage; if you take some of the standout fights of that series you'd end up with the likes of Duran-Hagler in '83, Duran-Hearns in '84, Leonard-Hagler in '87 etc, but Benitez was finished as a top line operator by 1982.

I think Benitez was always destined to be secondary to those four in a sense though, whatever the weather. Duran was already a legend thanks to his Lightweight feats before the 'Four Kings' days got rolling, so his all-time standing rested less heavily on his results against them. On the other hand, Benitez had hinted at becoming a legend with his wins over Cervantes and Palomino, but was then unfortunate to encounter those guys before he'd had time to get there. He'd have the Indian sign over Duran most of the time, but I'm not sure he could have ever beaten Leonard, Hearns or Hagler no matter how many attempts he had.