The three best performances by teen prodigies

In history, there's been three performances by teenagers taking the title that really stand-out, and here's all three. The first is famous and known to all hardcore fans - Benitez at 17 outboxing Cervantes:



Here's the other two. Fighing Harada, at 19, putting an absolute thrashing on one of the greatest flyweights of all time Pone Kingpetch.



And finally, Lionel Rose (who should be in the goddamn HOF) putting on an absolute boxing masterclass against Harada at only 19.

 

Ridiculous performances. I don't know which was the best although Benitez had no right being that good at that young and beating an absolutely top tier champ like that.

Harada's was the most dominant. Rose maybe somewhere in between?

 

I guess Rose's performance probably comes in third, only because it's somewhat tainted due to the fact that Harada was weight drained by then.

Harada and Benitez can be argued for the top spot. On one hand, Harada's performance was more dominant. But on the other hand, if you wanna make a pro-Benitez argument, Kid Pambele was greater than Kingpetch, and Will was younger than Harada.

 

I don't know if there's any flyweights who beat that version of Harada. He had power at 112, which is frightening.

 

I think Midget Wolgast's performance vs Black Bill also deserves mentionimg. He was 19 and beat q highly rated fighter with a very impressive résumé; winning a share of the flyweight crown.

 

I've heard about that, but I was mainly trying to post filmed performances.

Adding to the list... I'm pretty sure Pipino Cuevas was 19 when he destroyed Angel Espada to win the welterweight crown.

 

Has to be Benitez for me, beat an excellent fighter and broke a record that still stands to this day. The fact he had his school friends in the audience cheering him on is mental to me.

 

Another superb thread. Cheers all

 

Nipper Pat Daly beat a top 10 world ranked European champion at 15 years old. He is the most extreme prodigy I have ever heard of in Boxing. No footage unfortunately.

Tony Canzoneri scored a dubious draw with World Bantam champ Bud Taylor at 18 years old. Canzoneri then won the Featherweight championship of the World from the top class Benny Bass at 19.

 

Cotto against Abdullaev in the amateurs. Nice try, but nobody beats a prime Abdullaev.

 

Lol. I remember those days. Not gonna lie, I was pretty excited about Abdull after he destroyed Philip Holiday. He looked he was going to become what Golovkin became.