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Saturday, December 26th, 1992
Washington DC Convention Center; Washington, DC
Jemal Hinton 26-2-2 (19) Maryland IBF WBC
vs.
Jesse Benavides 36-5-1 (24) Texas WBO WBA
15 Rounds for the Jr. Feather Weight World Championship
AND
5# Welcome Ncita 35-1-1 (14) South Africa
vs.
9# Daniel Zaragoza 51-3-2 (21) Mexico
A 12 round eliminator to determine the new 1# contender, guaranteed a 1993 shot at the Championship.
- After much negotiation it was determined that on the undercard, Welcome Ncita 5# would face Daniel Zaragoza 9# to establish a new 1# contender, who would be guaranteed a shot at the Jr. Feather Weight World Championship sometime in 1993.
- Odds were EVEN on who would win.
- Although only ranked 5# and 9#, the manner in which they had fought while losing during the tournament gave validity to them fighting for the right to a mandatory shot at the World Championship as the 1# contender. Ncita had lost a razor close and debatable decision to Hinton in the hostile territory of Detroit. While, Zaragoza had been dishing out a beating to Raul Perez before a horrible gash forced the fights stoppage in round 6.
- Ncita was losing on the scorecard of Ringside Expert Rocco Del Sesto after 4 rounds 39-38, when he unleashed a hook to floor Zaragoza in round 5. Zaragoza fought back, but hit the deck again in round 10. This time he was unable to beat the count.
Welcome Ncita KO10 Daniel Zaragoza (new Mandatory 1# contender)
- Previous visions of wearing the Jr. Feather World Championship around his waist may have wavered in round 2 when a horrendous looking gash was opened over the right eye of Jesse Benavides. Jim Strickland did an excellent job of stemming the flow of blood in the corner, allowing Benavides work his way back into the fight. After 6 rounds, Ringside Expert Mark Elwood had it 58-56 for Benavides.
- Jemal Hinton however continued to target the eye, and despite coming out on the short end of exchanges was able to get the blood flowing again in a torrent down the face of Benavides. With Benavides arguing that he could see, the doctor determined that the blood flowing into it made continuing far too dangerous for Benavides. Even the pro-Hinton crowd booed the decision of not allowing Benavides to fight on.
Jemal Hinton TKO7 Jesse Benavides (wins Jr. Feather Weight World Championship)
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