Ok lets hear it. Benny the jet Urquidez in the ring against Bill superfoot Wallace (20 years ago of course). Two of the best competitive fighters of their time but who would win?
Ah oldschool match up. Even though Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez has said some really stupid stuff over the years in regards to Muay Thai he was an exceptional fighter. Aggressive, fast and persistent. So no matter who you are... he's going to be a handful. I'll have to go with Benny... because I don't really know much if anything about Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace. I'd be curious to see their comparative stats... reach, height, weight etc.
Superfoot was a heavyweight wasnt he? anyway Benny would take anyone on so it would have been a good to see. Id chin en both though. ...
Superfoot was a middle weight. He was also a left foot only fighter, mostly. Lightning fast and acurate lead foot but couldn't use his other leg at all due to a judo accident and his hands were mediocre at best. Benny was a better all around fighter but a lot of guys got KTFO just trying to get past Bills "Superfoot". More than Likely Benny would have won.
Before I share my opinion, I'll shed some light on both fighters' histories: Benny Urquidez Rated at: Lightweight, Super Lightweight, Welterweight Height: 5 ft 7 in Total fights: 58 Wins: 58 Wins by KO: 49 Losses: 0 Draws: 0 No contests: 3 Benny Urquidez moved over to full-contact from point fighting in 1974. This was the year the sport was created in the US. Benny regularly fought in bouts where the rules weren't well-known and often against different styles. Benny fought from 1974 to 1993, during which time he amassed a record of 58-0-0 (win-loss-draw) with 49 knockouts and three controversial no-contests. Black Belt magazine voted Benny "Fighter of the Year" in 1978. Some of the opponents Benny has bashed over the years include Katsuyuki Suzuki and Kunimatsu Okau. He has obtained black belts in nine styles: Judo, Kenpo, Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Lima Lama, White Crane Kung Fu, Ju Jitsu, Aikido and Shorin Ryu. He is also the founder of Ukidokan Karate. Benny fought in three fights which were eventually ruled as no-contest. The first was held in Los Angeles in 1977, which was a 9 round no contest under WKA rules (low kick) against Thai Boxer Narongnoi Kiatbandit. The second (and probably most controversial) fight was against another Thai, Prayoud Sittiboonlert in 1978, which was held in Tokyo. Japanese and Thai officials state this was a bout and a loss for Benny, who had difficulty with the Thai's aggressive knee and clinch strategy. Benny and the WKA said it was a no contest, that there was no weigh-in (Sittiboonlert was later confirmed as being almost 17 pounds heavier), and that larger than usual gloves were used. Officially, the fight was ruled as a six-round no-contest. Finally, Benny fought a 7 round no-contest (again under WKA rules) against Billy Jackson in Palm Beach (FL). The no-contest status of these fights has been confirmed in print by Paul Maslak, who was chief administrator of the Star ranking system. However, recently new research has show info which casts a shadown on Benny's "undefeated" status. In the November '84 issue of Official Karate magazine, on page 45, Masalak in his Star System Ratings (for March '84) lists Benny as the Star System World Super-Lightweight Champion with a record of 56 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw, with 47 wins by KO, and 14 wins by kick-knockout. Almost a year later in the September '85 issue of Offical Karare, on page 44, Benny's record is still listed as 56-1-1. Bill Wallace Rated at: Middleweight Height: 5 ft 10 in Total fights: 23 Wins: 23 Wins by KO: 11 Losses: 0 Draws: 0 No contests: 0 Bill Wallace won 23 consecutive fights (title defences) between 1974 and 1980, after winning the PKA World Middleweight title by knocking out Germany's Bernd Grothe with a hook kick to the head. He retired in June '80 as the undisputed and undefeated champion. There is not a single blemish on his record. He was notorious for his fast left leg kicks, which was once clocked in excess of 60 mph, and which he could use to hit his opponents with two or three kicks in rapid succession. Of his 23 fights as a professional, 11 were scored as a kick-knockout. Bill had a relatively short career compared to other fighters of his time. He fought for only six years, citing "boredom" as his reason for retiring at the age of 35. Before he entered full contact as a professional, he was one of the most successful point fighters in history. He won over 250 titles in his point fighting career, including the US Championships (3 times), the USKA Grand Nationals (3 times) and the Top Ten Nationals (2 times). Bill was such a dominant figure in martial arts that Black Belt magazine inducted him into its hall of fame three times in seven years - twice as "Competitor of the Year" and once as "Man of the Year". In my opinion, Bill would have won. His kicking ability was too much for greats such as Joe Lewis and Don Wilson to handle, and these were in exhibition bouts more than ten years after Bill had retired. Joe and Don were both heavier than Benny, and Bill picked them to pieces. Bill would have been able to handle Benny because, 1) Bill was heavier anyway, 2) Bill was used to fighting heavier fighters, and 3) Bill was faster than Benny, despite Benny being in a lighter weight category. Benny has shown in his career that he often struggled against heavier, stronger fighters (take the fight against Sittboonlert, for example, which was ruled as a loss by Japanese and Thai officials, and which Benny really struggled with). Combine that weight and strength with Bill's speed, and I really think Benny would have struggled. Then again, that is not to say that just because Benny struggled with Sittboonlert he would have struggled against Bill, just an observation of mine, that's all. I also think, from my personal experience, Bill would have won. He had power, range, speed, flexibility, above and beyond that which Benny possessed. I've trained in Bill Wallace's system for a number of years, and had conversations with him about how he would apply it to fighters from other styles, so I know how it works. I trained with Benny personally a few years back, so I know how his style works too. In my opinion, through my observations of their earlier fight footage, by reading the facts of their careers and their life stories, from training in their styles personally, I think Bill would have won. But this doesn't in any way detract from the respect I have for Benny, and the fact that he was a phenomenal fighter (with a longer fight record than Bill) and will always be a legend in my eyes. Both fighters will.
We allowing leg kicks in this match? Benny would destroy Superfoot, no question. Not taking anything away from Bill, but the matches Benny was in, were in a different league from Bill's most credible opponent. Don't go down the route of exhibition matches either. To suggest that Bill Wallace 'picked apart' Joe Lewis is laughable.
Even if leg kicks were allowed, I still think Bill would have won. Just because Bill didn't compete in a low-kick rule set, doesn't me he can't fight in a low-kick rule set. Bill's patented style (the Superfoot System) has a whole category of techniques and strategies for competing in low-kick fights. Much like Bill's opponents were different to Benny's, Bill himself was far superior (in my opinion) to many of Benny's opponents. Bill has sparred (not competitively, albeit) Thai boxers in the past and he said they couldn't handle his hook kick (which would shoot around their high guard). Watch the Bill Wallace v. Joe Lewis exhibition bout - even though it was ruled a draw, Bill's foot was wrapped around Joe's head like a birthday present. Here's the footage of that bout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-bjRT3NQUI www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYHu_4AH0ZE www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFlEJn1pxSU Watch the bout and judge for yourself. I honestly think Bill won (though I am probably the biggest Superfoot fanboy alive ), even though Joe did rough him up a fair bit. As a side note, Benny and Bill regularly sparred each other when Bill would train fighters at the Jet Center back in the early 90's. Benny himself admitted that Bill would often have fun playing with his [Benny's] head. Although Benny ain't in this next vid, it's footage of Bill teaching at the Jet Gym: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tTG6VZJAwA8 I've got some footage in my archives somewhere of Benny and Bill doing a seminar together in the late 80s, I'll try to dig it out and post it on here.
If it was Full Contact Kickboxing (above the waist) rules, then I give it to Bill Wallace by decision. If it was under Low Kick rules, then Benny wins all the way, and Bill's got a leg kicked off.
What about the other leg Seriously though he couldn't kick with his other leg due to injury, I have my doubts about how long that leg would last if low kicks were allowed, especially against a fighter like Benny.
Doesn't matter what the ruleset or weight difference was. Benny would destroy Bill Wallace, regardless of weight class. That's not to take anything away from Bill, as I'm a fan, but let's keep it real peeps.
I know them both and I've trained with them both, Bill would probably had an edge under the full contact ruleset that he normally fought under by controlling the set point. If leg kicks were allowed, Bill's Knee would be a serious liability against Benny and even with Bill's mobility, it would just be a matter of time. As far as Joe Lewis is concerned, Bill has admitted in print (iirc in his column in BLACK BELT) that Joe was taking it easy on him due to the size and weight difference and that Joe would have destroyed him if he had went all out on him.
I saw the "fight" between Lewis and Wallace live - the one at Lake Tahoe back in 1990. It was a pure exhibition all the way. You can't say that one of them actually won the fight because they weren't going all out. Had they really duked it out, IMO Lewis would have KO'd Wallace - he was around 40 lbs heavier and was known for his heavy hands. As far as against Urquidez - IMO, Urquidez would have beaten Wallace without much problem. Wallace's only chance would have been under full contact rules. He was deadly with that left kick to the head.
