I know that Gavilan fought a long time ago but he did have quite a few fights on film. He was a TV star in the early 50s. Fights against Basillio, Turner, Graham and his destruction of Chuck Davey.

Benitez was a good fighter in a great era. He had the great reflexes and vision.

Neither guy is a big puncher and both take good shots so this probably goes 15 rounds.

?

I was always sporting a soft spot for Benitez, personally --- on some level I couldn't really explain, he appealed to me. I wouldn't even count myself as a true fan, but somehow I always wanted him to win. Those dips & ducks along the ropes, with the counter-shot, boy, they were beautiful. I actually thought he drew with Hearns. The judges just don't score that stuff the way it should be, & once was.

Even so, he was just too inconsistent, in my estimation, to hang for the full fifteen with a fighter of Gavilan's quality. It's a very good fighter with flashes of true brilliance up against a genius of the ring. The safe money would be with Gavilan, who rarely dropped rounds.

Thanks for the reply. I thought this one would get more interest. Two of the best Welterweights ever to lace them up.

I think Benitez would win his share of rounds but over 15 or even 12 rounds Gavilan would throw so many punches. The Kid would have a slight speed advantage as well.

I like Gavilan on points probably no knockdowns.

Yes, volume & speed will, I think, be determining factors in the bout. Benitez, counter-puncher that he was (& I am of the opinion he was even more accomplished at this than history remembers), would not appreciate a quick fighter like Gavilan throwing with such regularity, & even though, as I said, Benitez had flashes of real brilliance, sorry to say for him, he is, speaking overall, nothing which will particularly concern or overwhelm someone who's been in with the same men as Gavilan.

The Kid would take it right to El Radar & just be too convincing in too many stretches for the judges to ignore. It's not as though Benitez has any real chance to pull out a KO punch. Benitez, IMO, was & remains under-estimated --- he'd have his successes, but he is not reasonably in Gavilan's class. Few are.

Incidentally, discussing this reminds me of just about the saddest sight I ever did see. I had a chance to meet the good man himself during a trip to the US many years ago now, &, as I recall it, he was wheeled through the room by his mother & an unidentified man to quietly shake hands with all of the attending guests, myself included. Seeing him up close was a wrenching experience, like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes bad things happen to good men.

He was always a better fighter than they --- &, in truth, perhaps he --- believed.