22 years old and going for third weight class championship unreal, a legend.

Quality of this video is exceptional for a 1981 broadcast

As someone from the island of Antigua and Barbuda, much saludos to Maurice Hope 🇦🇬🇦🇬

When Benitez was being born, the doctor had a hard time pulling him out. He kept moving his head.

What a special athlete of talent. As time goes by this great champion is appreciated more.

Back when boxing was amazing. This is one of the top 5 KOs of all time in a championship match. He knew as soon as he landed that overhand right. He stood upright and smiled. He was so good.

Benitez was an all time great..winning his first title at SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE beating the great Antonio Cerventes! And being a 3 division champion by 22. We shall never see his like again..

What kind of natural talent do have to win a title at 17, win 3 belts, & not have good training habits?? Crazy!

Benitez knew Sugar Ray was at ringside, and Wilfredo wanted to make a definite impression!!!

Benitez was a master Boxer. He even outwitted Duran. Benitez does not get enough recognition - They always mention the fab-four but it should be fab-five!

Benitez un grande de todos los tiempos. No aparentaba su edad, era muy joven ya para un campeon mundial.

Thanks for sharing this fight. I wouldn’t have never got to see it if it weren’t for people like you! It was awesome! I wish today’s boxers took a lesson from the past greats and fight each other in their prime not when it’s good for their wallets and past their prime.

One of the GOATS for sure.

Hope was no bum. Benitez stayed too long in the "game". He's in poor shape now.

fantastic fighter mr Benitez!!!!

Before Benitez accomplished the feat in this fight, it had been 40 years since a fighter had won a third world championship in three weight classes. Nowadays, fighters are collecting belts faster than one can say "trick-or-treat"! Even worse, today's fighters are being judged as pound-4-pound bests despite possessing paltry records like 14-1 (Lomachenko)! I'd like to see boxing return to high standards like those of yesteryear.

Freaky-good performance from Benitez. Fitting that it's in the same ring in which Toney would whoop Barkley over a decade later.

I could watch Benitez slip punches all day

El 1 Latino en ser triple campeon 140...147...154...de Sant Junst Puerto Rico🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷 Wilfred el radar Benitez.

remarkable career......Cervantes and Palomino were great fights and ko of the year here watched it live?? Beat Duran and gave Leonard and Hearns hard fights

Que Pena tener la situaciin actual. Muchos campeones estafados por promotores. Dios bendiga a sus familias.

Wilfred is in a bad way nowadays. An all time great at his counter punching beat here Hope was no mug I might add Great post CS

Wilfred Benítez the best boxer defensive counterpunche all time. Máster fight off the rope.

A younger Maurice hope had beaten Vito antuofermo in a European light middleweight title fight 3 years before haggler fought him at full middle …

Benitez a defensive master as well as brilliant counterpuncher. I enjoyed watching him. Sadly he is hardly able to speak now. He was definitely a great and sometimes overlooked great as he was overshadowed by Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Hagler.

What an amazing knockout!!!!

quadruple-feint lights-out KO, Hope got completely bamboozled there. not many boxers could pull that off at this level, but Benitez made god-tier skills look easy.

Benitez was really good up until after the Hearns fight. Then from 1983 onwards he was done done done. 1976-1982 was his best days 🥊

Goddamnn!!! One of the most badass knockouts definitely

Leonard never gave him the rematch And this was why

Benitez to me is one of the greatest what-could've-been's in boxing history. It's no secret that drugs, alcohol, and women got in the way of his prime. It was said that he barely trained for the Leonard fight and yet Leonard still believed that Benitez was one of his trickiest opponents ever. Benitez beat Antonio Cervantes, one of the greatest 140 lbs. boxers ever, at only the age of 17. "Kid Pambele" was beaten by an actual kid. He also had notable wins against Duran and Carlos Palomino. At one point, he was 44-1-1 with his only loss coming to one of the greatest to ever do it in Sugar Ray Leonard. After his victory over Duran, his record was only 9-7. By the age most boxers start to ascend the P4P ranking, Benitez began to slip. I always love watching Benitez box. He didn't have a ton of power (only 2 KO's in his 8 title victories), but could duck and slip punches and counter like no other in his time. He was also the only boxer I ever saw who was so comfortable against the ropes (and even the corner). Ali had the rope-a-dope against Foreman but Benitez just about did it every other round in his career.

Tyson said Hope just woke up this morning after 30 years he just woke up Puerto Rico's finest

Impressive KO and beatdown by Benitez. Hope was a tough fighter, but took a lot of punishment in this fight. Losing a tooth, both eyes swollen, and he ate a lot of body shots. Then that wicked knockout punch. Hope ended up spending the night in the hospital. But showing his toughness, he recovered quick enough to marry his fiance a few days later!

that K.O. scene is impressive!

A good man back there in Wilfredo corner, late Jimmy Jacobs.

22 years old...what a dream

1:18 Leonard gives me jokes!! ' Thanks, mo have a good one - back to you Tim.....'

after this he defended 15rd win Carlos Santos undefeated would go on to win IBF jr middle title

Jimmy Jacobs managed Benitez ? He's the one wearing a beret .

Thank you :)

Un grande entre los grandes y todo un caballero Wilfredo Benitez,ya no habra'otro campeon como el,por algo le decian el radar.

Great fighter.

Not one but 2 at a time the coach ant messing around thanks coachstrout

I would of loved to see a rematch with ray at 154 .to bad it never happened

Thought Benitez looked superb here.

45:13 Greatest feeling in the world. I promise. I've been on both ends more than once.

Benitez was what Mayweather and Whitaker were in their respective eras. Special talent.

Extraordinario campeón de todos los tiempos Wilfredo Benites

in the interview wilfred's right eye already didn't seem normal

베니테스 정말 대단하네요~ 3체급.

The radar of boxing,the Bible of boxing Wilfredo Benitez a great champion born in the Bx you know?r.i.p. to wilfredo

By the end of the 1st round Benitez was laughing at how slow Hope was. Rest of the fight was an exhibition.

There a saying in boxing the brightes star burns out the quickest

Benitez looked much bigger than Hope.

he conserves so much energy counter punching off the ropes - never seen any fighter position their feet like he does when in the corner lol he literally looks like he's just leaning against the bar at a club lol

ホープの右足はつっていて倒される前からかなりダメージの蓄積があった。。 ボクシングは怖い、やるもんじゃないね。

Hope had difficutly getting himself into position to land the left cross, & after seeing his balance, I could see why. His back foot is in the air most of the time. Bad teaching.

Extremely loud crowd

Bro I never understood how they were booing for both of there introductions. They just came to watch 2 guys they don't like hurt eachother I guess 😭

I never heard Wilfredo speak English before. Maurice went home after the ko getting married that night!

Benitez' punches were too much for Hope. After the 7th round, you could see Hope's legs looked wobbly. He kept his left hand down too often, and he paid the price.

Some people say that Bazooka Gomez was better.

21:23 23:27 32:17 40:15

Greatest Fighter from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 of all time!

In

Two hopes Maurice and No

Benitez couldnt crack an egg. Lost to all the great fighters he fought