Benton could hit, but was known for his incredible defensive boxing. Notorious for his ability to adapt to and time his opponents offence so that it rarely landed clean, he was a brilliant combination puncher with a hurtful left hook and a sharp right hand, who could break his man down or dominate with his jab and counter punching. He learned on the job, and by sparring in the renowned Philadelphia gyms that could break a man in half upon entering the door of any one of a dozen sweaty holes that housed ace warriors of all shapes and sizes. It moulded him into a man who could make or break anothers career, a “Policeman‟ whose biggest opportunities came when facing other black fighters who showed promise. Benton received little in the way of opportunity when he beat them. He was so good that only two white contenders were matched with him in his ring life.
Benton’s active career, between 1949-1970, also spanned some of the deepest and most competitive Middleweight era’s in history, which added to his struggles to break out of the pack. Some of the greatest 160 lb. fighters held the undisputed title during Benton’s best fighting years: “Sugar‟ Ray Robinson, Dick Tiger, Nino Benvenuti, Joey Giardello and Emile Griffith . Despite beating many fighters in The Ring’s top ten rankings, Benton was not regularly in the top ten himself going into a new year, bar their end of year rankings for 1962. Great Welterweights such as Carmen Basilio, Kid Gavilan, Emile Griffith and Luis Manuel Rodriguez also infiltrated the top end of the division, lessening Benton’s chances at the top even further.
With no junior or super middleweight classes throughout most of this time (154lbs was inducted into the title canon in 1962) this followed the trend of fighters who didn’t mind spotting their opponents some weight either north or south of the divisional border. The title was never fractured during Benton‟s window of opportunity, and despite this, the division was so competitive it changed hands no less than 19 times, bookended by Champions of the highest calibre, Ray Robinson and Carlos Monzon. The contenders that staked their claim for supremacy read like a “Whos Who” of brilliant middleweights, and some got their hands on the belt, and some got a shot. Many languished in the who needs ‘em club and fought each other.
George Benton was rarely even in this club.
Whilst the likes of Charley Burley, Cocoa Kid, Holman Williams, Lloyd Marshall, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore were no longer terrorising fighters around this weight, there was still a legitimate “Murderers Row” of talent operating during different stages of Benton’s middleweight pursuit. There were boxers, devastating punchers, sluggers, swarmers, wiley veterans, spoilers, astute counter punchers and defensive specialists during Benton’s time. Some, like Benton, were great at one or more things. Most were good at everything. The likes of Holly Mims, Charley Josephs, Carl “Bobo‟ Olsen, Ralph “Tiger‟ Jones, Randy Turpin, Gil Turner, Gene and Don Fullmer, Eduardo Lausse, Del Flanegan, Freddie Little, Joey Giambra, Florentino Fernandez, Laurent Dauthuille Henry Hank, “Spider‟ Webb, Rory Calhoun, Paul Pender, Terry Downes, Yama Bahama, Rubin “Hurricane‟ Carter, Denny Moyer, Neal Rivers, Joey Archer, Dave Sands, Bennie Briscoe, Laszlo Papp, Gomeo Brennan, Rocky Castellani, Milo Savage, and many more battled it out to try and get in a position to make money and earn acclaim. More often than not, Georgie Benton was struggling to gain employment, let alone break through ranks as dense as these.
Seeking a way to transfer his hoodlum energy into a positive means of making money, Benton took up boxing at age 13 and by 16 was a pro, lying about his age. He defeated a good mix of trial horses like Lester Felton and Bobby Lee, and talented contenders such as Holly Mims and Charley Josephs in his first few years in the paid ranks, impressive wins over men that would be seen amongst the cream of the crop in the coming years.
Josephs, who would go on to feature in The Ring‟s ratings for two years, was beaten well in his first two meetings with Benton. The Ring magazine of March 1953 said Benton “the decision rather easily and (scored) two knockdowns in the process.” In their second meeting in 1958, Benton landed the cleaner punches and won a unanimous decision, although Joseph turned the trick in their third meeting a few months later.
In 1959, Benton took on Bobby Boyd, who just a few months earlier was ranked number seven in the World. In a risky fight, Boyd had faced number three ranked Ellsworth “Spider‟ Webb, a mainstay of the upper echelon and a tough, hard punching contender. In an incredible shootout lasting less than a round, Boyd staggered Webb, only to be brutally stopped himself
Benton was unranked going into his fight with Boyd, but showed his quality against a top contender who was looking to bounce back and further his claim for a high ranking. Whilst only a few rounds of footage from the fight are available, reports from the time indicate Benton won well in an upset. He was “convincing in shellacking the 10th-ranked middleweight from Chicago with a headhunting attack‟ and that was amply demonstrated in the 10th round, where Benton hurt his man.
In the footage, Benton shows his ability to slip and counter from close range, often continuing his assault as the quality Boyd tries to fight back. Benton has his man hurt a few times, and looks a competitor of the highest calibre, a slick counter puncher in the mould of “Sweet Pea‟ Whittaker and even showing flashes of what makes Floyd Mayweather such a lauded competitor: Catching, parrying, and deflecting shots with his gloves and shoulders, and landing accurate sharp counters. His head and upper body movement is a sight to behold.
Benton was also very strong and an adept inside fighter. His next bout would see this aspect of his game given a strong workout. He was about to take on a man he had beaten before, the brilliant Holly Mims. Mims could box, he could hit, and he was a crafty and experienced fighter who had given Ray Robinson great difficulty, and who could be relied to trade upon his rock hard chin in his opponents back yard.
Benton had beaten Mims via eight round decision seven years earlier, when Benton was far less experienced. In the years that had followed, Mims had gained more experience than Benton, because he had less trouble getting fights. Mims had plenty of opportunities to wear the “handcuffs”, which explains his low K.O. percentage (he was not supposed to knock out white guys, and was regularly unchained to do his worst against the black contenders of the day to stop them progressing, and would continue to be used as such for many years).
It spoke volumes that a fighter as talented as Mims was not deemed as much a risk to book as Benton. It was fine for these talented fighters to be near the top, but never at the top.
A UPI article leading into the fight describes Benton as “about as popular as the tax collector‟ and that Benton may have already been a pro ”for a decade but, he has trouble finding men willing to enter the ring with him.‟ His number of fights was lambasted as well: “He has fought only 41 times during the decade‟, and whilst Mims had 57 fights in the same time span and was ranked seventh by The Ring, Benton wasn’t ranked because he “wasn’t fighting regularly‟. However, that was one year that it wasn’t a fair criticism: Benton had fought five times in the 12 months leading into this fight, and had gone 3-2. Mims had only fought twice, and had lost a decision to Bobby Boyd, the man Benton had beaten easily just a few months before! Mims was a slight favourite due to Benton’s “reputation being higher than his ranking‟, and it was thought the winner might have an outside chance at getting a shot at the World title.
Benton’s manager, Herman Diamond, hoped a decisive win for Benton might give him a higher ranking and get him more fights. It was not to be.
A competitive bout, with Mims a clear winner, one headline reading, “Mims bottles up Benton’s attack, wins with ease‟. Mims used short right uppercuts to help take a unaminous decision, and was said to have smothered Benton in a hard bout, not giving Benton much room to punch. Mims was a wily and diversely skilled fighter and Benton found it hard to figure him out for most of the bout.
Using his familiar inside tactics, veteran middleweight Holly Mims, 155 3/4, carved out a unanimous decision over George Benton, 159 1/2, Wednesday night in a nationally televised 10 round fight. Mims outclassed his younger opponent with a close-in aggressive body attack and good combinations. He staggered Benton with a left-right flurry midway through the 7th round and pressed his foe throughout. Mims forced Benton to fight his style throughout the contest. Only in the 10th did Benton succeed in scoring with stiff punches from long range.” -United Press International
But the AP release said that whilst “Mims Clobbers George Benton‟ he also “Still Fears ‘im‟ with his manager Nick Trotta feeling this performance would be detrimental to Mims’ standing, and quipped cynically, “”I was afraid of this guy Benton. He was the most feared middleweight around. I suppose now that we‟ve beaten him we won‟t get any other fights for 10 months.”
Benton and Mims would then both take on fifth ranked Henry Hank, another stupendously tough competitor, who fought the cream of the crop at both Middle and Light Heavyweight, and was only stopped once by the great puncher Bob Foster. A classic counter puncher both inside and out who blended offence and defence seamlessly and could scrap it out as well, he had some degree of inconsistency but mixed at the very highest level for years. Hank beat Mims by 12 round decision, and then beat Benton via ten round decision, doing good work in the fourth and seventh rounds, and maintaining his attack into the 10th, where he had defensive specialist Benton holding onto the ropes!
Benton bounced back with a close decision win over future junior middleweight champion, the thunderous punching Freddie Little, who was not yet at his peak, but was still a dangerous fighter. Film of the devastating 2nd round K.O Little scored defending his unified 154lb championship in 1969 against Hisao Minami gives an indication of what Benton would’ve been up against.
Little punched hard, and was being brought up like a prospect, beating trial horse Charley Cotton and knocking out Australian middleweight champion Clive Stewart. Benton, a 2-1 underdog, won a tight one with cards of 5-5, 5-3-2 and 5-4-1, coming on strong late with combinations, bloodying Little‟s nose. To Little’s credit, he had Benton cut badly over the eye in the 10th and final round (UPI) Little would bounce back after his loss to Benton with a win over Charley Josephs.
Benton then travelled to Scotland, losing a decision to the toughly matched and talented hometown fighter John McCormack. Benton would retire after this bout and work in a factory, not seeing action for another year.
But times were tough, and Benton could get more money boxing as well as working his day job. He came back to the fight game, and came back with a vengeance, the year off seemingly revitalising him and seeing him enjoy a purple patch. He would go 9-0(7) over 3 years, including a brilliant win over future champion Joey Giardello. Giardello, a fellow Phili‟ fighter, also came up the hard way and was known for his gameness, but being white and fan friendly, had a lot of opportunities to overcome his inconsistency before finally reaching the pinnacle of his division. Here are highlights of a hard-fought victory over top contender Rory Calhoun.
Benton’s run had seen him rank 10th, whilst Giardello was ranked fourth (and was actually promoted to number two by the NBA a few hours before the bout). This did little to dissuade Benton, who promised a K.O going into the fight: “He won’t be able to avoid my hooks, jabs jars and jolts‟.
Benton Whips Giardello: 10th ranked George Benton, hammering away with short left chops and long looping left hooks, scored a unanimous decision over No.2-ranked middleweight contender Joe Gardello…In the 6th Benton backed Giardello into a corner and had him sagging on the ropes with a series of punches. At one point Giardello fell outside of the ring but it was not scored a knockdown — Associated Press
George Benton has emerged from oblivion after years of frustration with a victory over no.2-ranked Joey Giardello. Now he wants a shot at the title….Meanwhile Benton, despite earning $9,611-his largest purse ever-isn‟t quitting the job he‟s been working in manufacturing plant at Fairless Hills, Pa…. Benton, a masterful boxer, kept the pressure on his opponent with a left jab, left hooks and combinations. — Charleston Daily Mail
Benton, forcing the fight all the way, completely outclassed Giardello in the opening three rounds. He had Giardello bewildered with jabs and right and left crosses and opened a cut over the favorite’s right eye in the 3rd round. But Giardello wouldn’t quit. He took the offensive in the 4th through the 7th rounds, delivering a bruising body attack that forced Benton to miss with his potent jabs. The bout was headed for a photo finish when Benton exploded in the final two rounds — United Press International
Omnipresent and influential trainer, manager and promoter Lou Duva was on hand to make sure it was Giardello, and not Benton who got a shot at middleweight champion Dick Tiger (which he won) and to ensure Benton never got a crack at the title, against a man he had already “whipped‟ and had no intention of facing him again.
Yeah, I screwed George out of his shot. He didn’t even know about it till I told him many years later. — Lou Duva
An article in The L.A Times painted Benton (now ranked third by The Ring) as a brilliant operator and criticised Giardello’s avoidance of Benton after their first encounter.
Georgie Benton may be the best box-fighter in the world today. The cliché is to say pound-for-pound, but when Georgie and Sonny Liston sparred in a Philadelphia gym a few years ago…”Liston couldn’t hit him with a bullet” Georgie slipped so far out of Liston’s ponderous reach and blows that sometimes the punches and the target weren’t even in the same time zone. He whipped Joey Giardello in 1962, but when Benton’s handlers came looking for a shot, Joey demanded, “Who‟d he ever lick?‟ — L.A Times
In 1963, Benton faced off with the infamous puncher Rubin “Hurricane‟ Carter. Carter was coming off a cut stoppage loss, but had beaten Holly Mims, Gomeo Brennan and devastated fellow massive puncher Florentino Fernandez in the first round. Carter often gets underrated nowadays due to him being grossly misrepresented in the media (in depictions in both song, Bob Dylan‟s “The Hurricane‟, and on screen in the motion picture of the same name) but he was a rugged, strong puncher who was not entirely unskilled, as he demonstrated in his fight with Benton. After this ten rounder he would go on to starch all-time pound-for-pound great Emile Griffith inside a round. These displays of brutality were of the highest order, but would not happen to Georgie Benton.
Benton lost a split decision in what at the time was a minor upset. Dick Tiger, then Middleweight champion, was on hand to watch the contest. It was a bout that could have gone either way, with brilliant work done by both on the inside and both gaining the others respects with their punches. Benton displayed his dynamic footwork and positioning early on in the bout, fired off fluent combinations, and dug well on the inside when that failed to nullify Carter.
With the loss, Carter was in and Benton was out, and it would be “Hurricane‟ who got the shot at the new champion, Joey Giardello. Benton was once again dismissed as a threat to the top guys, who wanted nothing to do with him. His time at the top had never begun, but his time chasing the pot at the end of the rainbow was over.
Benton’s next two fights were wins, a 10 round decision over Allen Thomas, where Benton had his man figured out after two rounds and went on to boss the fight, hurting Thomas whenever he cared to, and hard-punching John Henry Smith, where he scored a second round knockout. Both fights were filmed and survived until today, and display Benton’s talents in punching and ring generalship.
He would then split two fights with Johnny Morris for the Pennsylvania State title. Morris was a “stylish‟ boxer who overcame the favourite by utilising a stiff jab and a set of limber legs‟. In their return, Benton overcame his younger foe and some miscalculated scorecards to take the decision, hurting Morris in numerous rounds to take the 12 round decision and the State championship.
Benton then picked up with, in hindsight, a very impressive 10 round decision win over Jimmy Ellis. He “landed the only heavy punches of the slow-moving fight in the ninth round, when he stunned Ellis with 3 lefts to the head‟. Whilst Ellis was finding his feet as a middleweight contender, he wouldn’t lose for 12 bouts, five years and one Joe Frazier after this, finding victories over Floyd Patterson (Floyd was robbed), Jerry Quarry, Leotis Martin and Oscar Bonavena (dropping the iron-chinned Bonavena, a feat Joe Frazier couldn’t pull off) to take half of the Heavyweight crown in Muhammad Ali’s absence.
But Benton was nearing the end of his 21 year career. Still never dropped, he suffered the first technical knockout loss of his career, against one of the greatest fighters of all time, the Cuban pound-for-pound great, Luis Manuel Rodriguez.
Referee Pete Tomasco halted the fight because Benton was bleeding badly from a deep cut over his left eye. The 151 lb. Rodriguez opened the cut in the fifth with his left jabs. Ringside observers said it appeared both fighters had boxed evenly through the first eight rounds.
He suffered another TKO loss, this one to all-time-great middleweight puncher Bennie Briscoe, who would be one of the top middleweight contenders of the following era. Briscoe “came on strong at the end to wear down his opponent‟, according to the Associated Press. On Doctors advice, the bout was stopped before the 10th round could begin. He had still never been off his feet.
Benton then went 8-1 against lesser opposition, but regardless of his chances to turn things round and crack the big time after 21 years in a hard business, he was shot in the back by someone who’d been smacked around by Benton’s brother earlier in the day for making advances on their sister. Benton valiantly head butted his attacker until he dropped his weapon.
This saved his life, but with a bullet lodged in his spine he couldn’t save his boxing career.
Benton was in and out of the hospital for two years. The discharge from his bowels infected his spine, and it was as if his body were being consumed in flames. He wore a body cast and went from 165 pounds to 105. — Sports Illustrated
However, his knowledge of The Sweet Science would set him in good stead even though his physical state was depleted. His services would come to be in demand in the 70s. He trained under Eddie Futch to hone his craft as a teacher. Benton was revered (and feared) as a fighter in his physical prime, but his mental facets hadn’t degraded despite two decades of tough competition, a testament to his defensive ability. He was about to expose the next generation of fighters to his massive boxing brain.
Joe Frazier would visit and ask Benton to help him develop his right hand. And in a strange twist of fate, Lou Duva, the man who had screwed Benton years before for a shot at the middleweight title, sought him out to train some of his greener fighters in the art of defence.
Early successes included coaching Leon Spinks to his upset victory over Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight championship, but with the party life the Olympic and pro‟ champ‟ Spinks was living he turned up unfocused for the rematch, and Benton, dismayed at his young charge for listening to the hangers-on he had accumulated rather than him, walked out mid-fight.
Benton would have his greatest successes as a teacher in the 80s, working with three brilliant Olympians: Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, and Pernell Whittaker, who seemed the perfect fighter to be moulded by the defensive master Benton.
He teaches them jabs and feints and pivots and parries, all those little tricks nobody bothers to learn anymore. Twist your head. Scatter your jabs. Step on his toes. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don’t and break his heart. But, hey, baby, as he would say, heartbreak is part of boxing-the one guarantee-and if the kids stay with him long enough, he will teach them something about that, too, something about surviving in a business that turns people into predators, that traffics in false friends, that encourages poor men to kill you with gloves while rich men kill you with paper and pencils — Sports Illustrated
He got Holyfield, who had hit a brick wall in his fight with the veteran great Larry Holmes to make an adjustment that saw him ease off the pedal, and gave arguably his most renowned sound bite when asked why Holyfield stopped going all-out on the offensive in that fight: “Like my trainer used to say: ‘Win this one. Look good in the next one,’ Benton said.
In 1989 and 1990, Benton was named “Trainer of the Year” by the Boxing Writers Association of America and in 2001 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He died of pneumonia in 2011.
(by Kyle McLachlan)
