"He never got his shot. He was the No. 1 contender, but he never fought for the title. Of course, there were reasons. Benton was too cute, too slick, too tough. He wasn't connected, and connections were important. He wasn't white, and at that time white skin was important. He fought only two white men his whole career, and when he got older, he functioned, he says, as "a policeman," busting up promising black fighters on the way up, making sure they didn't get too close to the top." I guess Dick Tiger and Emile Griffith, or Sugar Ray and The Hawk before them......never got that particular memo.
On a sidenote, has there ever been a successful boxing trainer who had grown 'too old'? In team sports there are coaches who remain at the top to their sixties, but even more guys who drop from the absolute top when the time goes by (like Arsene Wegner). Has there ever been such case in boxing?
Hard to say. Gil Clancy..........said he "forgot" to tell Oscar to go out and win the 12th round vs Trinidad. I think Oscar forgot too.
