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

[ykdadamaja]

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.