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Wilfred Benitez (born September 12, 1958 in New
York, New York), also known as Wilfredo Benitez,
is a Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican-American
boxing|boxer.  He is remembered best as a skilled
and aggressive fighter who won World Championships
in three separate weight divisions, and was the
youngest world champion in boxing history.


== Early history==
Benitez, a young prodigy who was managed by his
father Gregorio Benitez, was a member of one of
Puerto Rico's most famous boxing families, his
brothers Frankie Benitez|Frankie and Gregory
Benitez having also been top contenders in the
1970s. The Benitez troop was largely directed by
their mother, Clara Benitez. Young Wilfredo was
nicknamed "The Radar". He grew up going to a
neighborhood boxing gym in New York, where he
learned from watching his brothers and other
local, reknowned fighters practice their skills.

During the early stages of his professional
career, Benitez often traveled to the Virgin
Islands and New York 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 speed, combined
with punching power and surprising ring maturity
for a 15 year-old, were enough to make him a
world-ranked boxer by both the World Boxing
Association|WBA and World Boxing Council|WBC, then
boxing's only world-title recognizing
organizations.


==Professional boxing career==
Benitez won consistently over relatively unknown
fighters, and in 1976 he lured the far more
experienced, two-time world champion and now
fellow Hall of Famer Antonio Cervantes|Antonio
"Kid Pambele" Cervantes of Colombia to San Juan's
Hiram Bithorn  Stadium, to defend his World Junior
Welterweight championship. Benitez stunned the
boxing world by beating Cervantes. Wilfred 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 1976
Olympic Games|Olympic champion Sugar Ray Leonard
made him move up to the Welterweight division.
First, he and world champion Carlos Palomino, who
hailed from Mexico but lived in Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles, signed up for a title
fight, again was fought in San Juan, under the
auspices of Goya Rice and Bacardi. It was another
much-anticipated fight, and Benitez won a 15 round
decision to become world champion in a second
weight division. 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
scientific fight by both fighters, who
demonstrated their defensive skills throughout the
bout.  Benitez unsuccessfully tried overcoming a
third round knockdown, and a cut which was opened
on his forehead by a head butt in round six, and
the fight came to an end when the referee stopped
the fight with 6 seconds left in round fifteen.



After that loss, Benitez again moved up in weight,
and in May 23,1981 he became the youngest
three-time world champion in boxing history, by
knocking out World Junior Middleweight champion
Maurice Hope of Trinidad and Tobago, in twelve
rounds in Las Vegas. This one featured a knockout
punch that made sports shows highlights, a left
hook to the face after which 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 the
match against future world champ Carlos Santos of
Ceiba, Puerto Rico, was the first world
championship fight between two Puerto Rican|Puerto
Ricans in boxing history. Ironically, the fight
was fought 3,000 miles away from Puerto Rico, in
Las Vegas' Caesars Palace hotel. Benitez won a
fifteen round, unanimous decision. Next came
another Hall-of-Famer, Roberto Duran, whom Benitez
defeated in the same hotel in 1982. Soon
thereafter, at the Carnival of Champions in New
Orleans, Benitez gave up his belt to another
boxing legend, Thomas Hearns, after a fight that
featured knockdowns from both fighters, when he
lost a fifteen round unanimous decision.

==Career decline==
Benitez's career went downwards after the fight
with Hearns, as did his lifestyle. In 1984, he
tried a comeback under the hand of Yamil Chade,
but this proved unsuccessful. In 1987, with his
health declining, he went to Buenos Aires,
Argentina to fight Middleweight Carlos Herrera.
Benitez was stopped in seven rounds. But that
wasn't the worst part of the trip. His money for
the fight was stolen by the fight's promoter,
along with his documents and passport, and he was
stranded in Argentina for one year. After much
government huddling and talks, he was finally able
to fly back home to Puerto Rico in 1988. A
touching public moment in his life came when, upon
leaving the airplane that brought him back, he
handed his seven 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 away.

Two years later, Benitez moved to Tucson, Arizona,
where he tried another comeback under the tutelage
of Emanuel Steward, the famous Kronk Gym|Kronk
trainer. This also proved unsuccessful, as he won
one fight and lost one in this last comeback.  He
returned to Puerto Rico, where he is now living
with his mother Clara, on a 200 dollar a month
pension provided by the World Boxing Council|WBC.

In 2004, Benitez was diagnosed with diabetes, an
illness of insidious onset which might well have
hindered his performance long before it was
recognized.

Benitez has been a member of the International
Boxing Hall of Fame since 1996.


==See also==
*List of famous Puerto Ricans


==Further reading==
{| align="center" id="toc" cellspacing="0"
width="70%"
|- bgcolor="#ccccff"
| align="left" width="100" |
ed|Sports in Puerto
Rico|
| align="center" style="font-size: 120%;" | Sports
in Puerto Rico
|- align="center"
| colspan="6" |
Roberto Alomar | Carlos Arroyo | BSN | Wilfred
Benitez| Ivan Calderon (baseball player) | Ivan
Calderon (boxer) | Hector Camacho | Roberto
Clemente | Orlando Cepeda | Jose Cruz | Gigi
Fernandez | Wilfredo Gomez | Jorge Gonzalez |
Belinda Laracuente | Mario Morales | Jose Ortiz |
Victor Pellot | Puerto Rican National Basketball
Team | Puerto Rican Pop Culture | Edwin Rosario |
Ruben Rodriguez | Daniel Santiago | O.J. Santiago
| Sports in Puerto Rico 
|}


==External links==
*
http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=00043
8 Benitez record from boxrec.com
*
http://www.tigerboxing.com/articles/index.php?aid=
1001244834 Tigerboxing.com article on Benitez
* http://wilfredbenitez.com/ Benitez's website