Thread: Why did Michael Bentt get to fight The Duke for the world title?

I guess he was supposed to be a "sure thing" to set up his major payday vs Lennox Lewis, much like Buster Douglas was supposed to be the "sure thing" for Tyson to move into a superfight with Holyfield.

I've heard Bentt went onto big things in show buisness after his boxing career. Good for him. One of the great upsets in boxing, and one of the funniest moments when his fat cornerman jumped up to celebrate and exposed his ass.

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Why the hell did Michael Bentt get this fight?

1. He only had 11 fights. (Not that bad considering Rigondeaux but Morrison was a 40 fight veteran)
2. He was knocked out in the first round of his first fight.
3. Of the 11 fights he had before he fought Morrison only 2 had winning records, Jerry Jones (5-1-0) who knocked him out and Mark Wills who was (14-10-1).
4. Morrison was on a 10 fight win streak (9 KOs), seems like a step backwards.


I was 8 so I don't know a great deal about him but did he really deserve to fight for a world title? Was he that good?

I have no problem with him winning it, that happens, but I question how much he deserved to be in the fight to begin with.

It's ashame that he had to retire after his next fight, because if he was that good we missed out.

Fights like these happen all the time. Just that THIS time it was for a minor-recognized WBO belt (at the time), which made it easier to pull off. That AND the fact that Bentt won. With these kinds of throw-away fights, especially with a new titlist who wants to hold on to the title for more than 6 months, typically go the champ's way and the victories are pretty much slam dunk victories.

Can't call foul now that Bentt won. lololol... because if he had lost, no one would have blinked an eye.

The only other way you can call a foul was IF Bentt got seriously hurt- which he did, unfortunately, when he fought Herbie Hide a few months later and lost the WBO title. He never fought again after that.

But, looking back at that fight, Morrison hit Bentt and Bentt was fighting off of the ropes. Morrison got greedy, tried to open up and got caught. You could have legitimately called the fight after the first knock down, because Morrison was out cold like fridge in Alaska with the electricity off.

To Bentt's credit: He had a STELLAR amateur career. He was well above some of the guys in the division who had 30 plus fights at that time.

You see? This is what most analysts miss when it comes down to analyzing fights before hand- they miss the amateur pedigree, even though it means very little if the career wasn't against top quality amateurs- which leads to my next point, and more important of all, is the GYM WORK and quality of opposition in the amateurs and in the gym.

Guys are in the gym and sparring 30 rounds a week, at least, are semi-pro's before they turn pro.

Guys at Kronk or Wildcard have a very different training experience than guys from "Jessy's" down in Alabama. You see?

So, you have to be mindful of all of that. That's why some guys, even with minimum talent, can be a gym-rat and never go to any international competitions, rack up a 25 fight win record and be a champion within a few short years- sorta like how Oliver McCall beat Lewis the fist time out, and how Hasim Rahman was under-estimated when he fought Lewis for the first time.

Both McCall and Rahman were gym rats. Club fighters who put it out there in the gym against anyone who wanted to fight- amateurs, pro's, semi-pro's, etc...

To me, if I have a rock solid chin, with moderate punching ability and good stamina, I would take the rigors of being in the vicinity of sparring with the likes of top-pro's like Mayweather, Garcia, Broner, Paquiao, Marquez, etc.... on a daily basis at the Wildcard, Kronk or Mayweather gym, than to just have an amateur background of over 150 fights, been to the World Championships or the Olympics and other international amateur events and let that stand for itself.

The thing, going back to Bentt, he had BOTH... quality pro-training in the right environment and the amateur pedigree.

History says Bentt won the fight , only to lose it in his next fight to a man who went on to become the GREATEST HW of all time. ( that was a quote from Hides promoter Barry Hearn , after the win ).

A bit off the mark there Barry

Morrison was so chinny, I'm pretty sure he practised going to his knees whenever he was buzzed, and ironically the Bentt fight was stopped because of the three knockdown rule.

Hide bashed up Bentt outside the ring as well as in it

Hide was a great power puncher, but seemed undersized when in there with real elite HW big men like Bowe

Many fighters use to take stay-busy fights between serious opponents. Tune-up fights.
Many top guys fought on regular network tv, no ppv. The fans got to see their favorite fighters showcasing their skills, and the fighter got to make a little extra cash with lower-ranked opponents between serious opponents.

There was no problem with it. It's just sometimes the mismatch resulted in an upset.
During Chavez' reign, he engaged in non-Title fights between Title defenses. Lower-ranked fighters who did not warrant a Title-shot got a payday out of it, and the chance of maybe pulling an upset.

Originally Posted by Fenster

Hide bashed up Bentt outside the ring as well as in it

Oh yeah? I hadn't heard about that one. Or at least I don't remember it right now.

Took place at a club or something? Alcohol involved?

Originally Posted by bradlee180

Originally Posted by Fenster

Hide bashed up Bentt outside the ring as well as in it

Oh yeah? I hadn't heard about that one. Or at least I don't remember it right now.

Took place at a club or something? Alcohol involved?

It happened outside of a Hotel in London. Bentt hit Hide in the head and Hide responded.

Bent got beat up by Hide during the pre-fight build up conference and I knew he would lose the fight too. Bent beat a careless Tommy and then lost it to a hungry fighter but Bent was damaged goods by then.

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Why the hell did Michael Bentt get this fight?

1. He only had 11 fights. (Not that bad considering Rigondeaux but Morrison was a 40 fight veteran)
2. He was knocked out in the first round of his first fight.
3. Of the 11 fights he had before he fought Morrison only 2 had winning records, Jerry Jones (5-1-0) who knocked him out and Mark Wills who was (14-10-1).
4. Morrison was on a 10 fight win streak (9 KOs), seems like a step backwards.


I was 8 so I don't know a great deal about him but did he really deserve to fight for a world title? Was he that good?

I have no problem with him winning it, that happens, but I question how much he deserved to be in the fight to begin with.

It's ashame that he had to retire after his next fight, because if he was that good we missed out.

Morrison/Bentt was brought in late-ish if I remember correctly to support the Toney bout, which was not selling.

Bentt was known, had a WBO ranking, but was considered a safe option, purely on his defeat, rather than his previous excellent amateur credentials.

Although I am being smart after the event, as watching it on SKY, I too thought Morrison was fighting a bum, and was only watching the bill as it was a chance to see Toney in his pomp in his battle with Whitaker over who was the best fighter in the world pound for pound.

Originally Posted by Britkid

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Why the hell did Michael Bentt get this fight?

1. He only had 11 fights. (Not that bad considering Rigondeaux but Morrison was a 40 fight veteran)
2. He was knocked out in the first round of his first fight.
3. Of the 11 fights he had before he fought Morrison only 2 had winning records, Jerry Jones (5-1-0) who knocked him out and Mark Wills who was (14-10-1).
4. Morrison was on a 10 fight win streak (9 KOs), seems like a step backwards.


I was 8 so I don't know a great deal about him but did he really deserve to fight for a world title? Was he that good?

I have no problem with him winning it, that happens, but I question how much he deserved to be in the fight to begin with.

It's ashame that he had to retire after his next fight, because if he was that good we missed out.

Morrison/Bentt was brought in late-ish if I remember correctly to support the Toney bout, which was not selling.

Bentt was known, had a WBO ranking, but was considered a safe option, purely on his defeat, rather than his previous excellent amateur credentials.

Although I am being smart after the event, as watching it on SKY, I too thought Morrison was fighting a bum, and was only watching the bill as it was a chance to see Toney in his pomp in his battle with Whitaker over who was the best fighter in the world pound for pound.

I watched it live too but who was Honey fighting on the card?

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by Britkid

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Why the hell did Michael Bentt get this fight?

1. He only had 11 fights. (Not that bad considering Rigondeaux but Morrison was a 40 fight veteran)
2. He was knocked out in the first round of his first fight.
3. Of the 11 fights he had before he fought Morrison only 2 had winning records, Jerry Jones (5-1-0) who knocked him out and Mark Wills who was (14-10-1).
4. Morrison was on a 10 fight win streak (9 KOs), seems like a step backwards.


I was 8 so I don't know a great deal about him but did he really deserve to fight for a world title? Was he that good?

I have no problem with him winning it, that happens, but I question how much he deserved to be in the fight to begin with.

It's ashame that he had to retire after his next fight, because if he was that good we missed out.

Morrison/Bentt was brought in late-ish if I remember correctly to support the Toney bout, which was not selling.

Bentt was known, had a WBO ranking, but was considered a safe option, purely on his defeat, rather than his previous excellent amateur credentials.

Although I am being smart after the event, as watching it on SKY, I too thought Morrison was fighting a bum, and was only watching the bill as it was a chance to see Toney in his pomp in his battle with Whitaker over who was the best fighter in the world pound for pound.

I watched it live too but who was Honey fighting on the card?

Thornton I believe.. (it was I just checked). It was not a thriller. A shame really as Toney really turned it on in due course, notably against Charles Williams

Originally Posted by Britkid

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Why the hell did Michael Bentt get this fight?

1. He only had 11 fights. (Not that bad considering Rigondeaux but Morrison was a 40 fight veteran)
2. He was knocked out in the first round of his first fight.
3. Of the 11 fights he had before he fought Morrison only 2 had winning records, Jerry Jones (5-1-0) who knocked him out and Mark Wills who was (14-10-1).
4. Morrison was on a 10 fight win streak (9 KOs), seems like a step backwards.


I was 8 so I don't know a great deal about him but did he really deserve to fight for a world title? Was he that good?

I have no problem with him winning it, that happens, but I question how much he deserved to be in the fight to begin with.

It's ashame that he had to retire after his next fight, because if he was that good we missed out.

Morrison/Bentt was brought in late-ish if I remember correctly to support the Toney bout, which was not selling.

Bentt was known, had a WBO ranking, but was considered a safe option, purely on his defeat, rather than his previous excellent amateur credentials.

Although I am being smart after the event, as watching it on SKY, I too thought Morrison was fighting a bum, and was only watching the bill as it was a chance to see Toney in his pomp in his battle with Whitaker over who was the best fighter in the world pound for pound.

Pretty sure that was documented in Dark Trade? Toney is royally pissed off at the purse Morrison is getting, so at the press conference offers to fight Morrison instead, naturally calling him a bum and threatening to kill him.

That may have sounded crazy at the time but who would have thought he would have beaten Holyfield at heavyweight?

Loved the book Dark Trade.