BOXING

• Benitez return puts "Where's Roberto?" questions to rest

  
  

  By Lyle Fitzsimmons, Contributing Boxing Editor Ocala, FL (Sports Network) - "Hey, didn't you used to be Roberto Benitez?" You'll have to forgive the aforementioned if he's out of cordial responses to such queries.

  In fact, rather than attempting new ways to answer the same old question, the Dominican-reared New Yorker-turned-Floridian tried the next best thing this week.

  He went out and fought.

  On the shelf for just a few weeks short of three years, Benitez, now a ripe old 29, emerged from exile Wednesday night in the co-feature on a five-bout card just a few miles from his old Brooklyn stomping grounds in Howard Beach, N.Y.

  He improved to 6-0 in a prolonged but interrupted professional career, defeating 20-year-old Puerto Rican prospect Luis Angel Paneto by unanimous decision in a six-round super bantamweight bout.

  Paneto was barely 16 when Benitez debuted as a pro in 2005, but had fought for pay 11 times since his elder's last in-ring appearance back on Oct. 11, 2006.

  It was an early fall night in Westchester County back then, when, while winning a unanimous decision over rugged African Vineash Rungea, Benitez sustained the injury -- a badly broken right hand -- that would shelve him for three years, two of which were spent recovering, before the other was used as preparation for just the right, errr...correct, return engagement.

  "It was in the second round. I landed a shot and I knew the hand wasn't right," Benitez said.

  "I had to finish the fight and finish the job and just take the pain and stuff, but when I got back to the locker room and took off the gloves, it was swollen and really in pain. I knew things weren't perfect." Surgery, therapy and patience replaced heavy bag, speed bag and sparring for the subsequent 24 months, leaving the decorated amateur and five-fight prospect in a prolonged holding pattern that, as he looks at it now, allowed him to mature as a man and, as he claims, improve as a fighter even without stepping between the ropes.

  "It was a blessing, every bit of it, from the time I got injured right up to now," Benitez said.

  "I learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have learned if I hadn't gotten hurt, because I wasn't on that track. I was fighting one fight and training for the next one, and that was all. But when I was away, I grew up. And I looked at the whole thing from start to finish just like a relationship. Boxing is in my blood. And a little thing like an injury wasn't going to break up this marriage.

  "I knew I was coming back. That was a definite. The only question was whether it was going to be next week, next month or six months. I had to stay on point and working toward that goal." The faulty hand finally started feeling better last December, allowing Benitez to hit the bag, set up sparring and begin the long process toward restarting a once-promising career.

  He'd spent much of the down time working as a personal trainer, consulting with local youth groups around his new hometown of Ocala, Fla. and relaxing with his daughter -- now 8 years old -- Janiyah.

  "She really inspires me," he said. "And she said to me recently that she couldn't wait until I could box again. I couldn't believe how much that meant to me.

  "As young as she is, the fact that she knows this is my profession and I know that it means something to her is amazing. It's a great motivation for me, to do this for her." Once he was fit to compete, Benitez spent his early summer at the Don King training facility in Cleveland, serving as lead sparring partner for fellow Dominican/New Yorker Elio Rojas, who traveled to Japan in July to wrest the WBC featherweight championship from incumbent Takahiro Aoh.

  The one-on-one work with such a high-caliber foe erased any lingering doubts about the hand, and prompted Benitez to give the final thumbs-up to manager/adviser Paul D'Antuono and promoter Joe DeGuardia to get his own title pursuit back in motion.

  "I've been hitting the bag and feeling good and I've picked up the intensity in sparring, which has given me a lot of confidence," he said. "The instinct for a lot of guys is to baby their hands, but I came back and was right away throwing punches hard. I knew afterward that there was no pain in my hands, so I was OK.

  "I pushed Rojas pretty hard and I feel proud of what he accomplished. He called me after the fight, which was nice, and I now know that I can spar with a guy on that level and hold my own." His team shares the optimism.

  "I know that Joe is not in the least bit worried about the injury and the time out of the ring," said Kevin Rooney Jr., media relations director for DeGuardi's company, Star Boxing. "If anything, the rest will help him. He has all the talent and ability to rule his division one day.

  "We feel in two years time Roberto will be ready to face any fighter in the world in his division. He is simply spectacular and if the injury hadn't happened he would be in the mix of names with Gamboa and Juanma." And now that the Paneto curtain-raiser has gone as planned, Benitez wouldn't mind taking a ride on the fast track to get back where he belongs.

  "I'm too proud to wind up anywhere less than where I deserve," he said. "In boxing, you can never count out real fighters, no matter how long they've been away. Some guys come back and are great. Duran, Leonard, Mayweather.

  "When you have special athletes, they sometimes can come back and never lose a beat.

  "I would love to get to a title quickly. I've worked hard. I remember all those times when I was shadowboxing and running and staying in shape even as I was healing. I was working my butt off. And now that I think about it, I've worked too hard not to come all the way back." * * * * * * * * * * This week's title-fight schedule: SATURDAY WBO flyweight title -- Site TBA Omar Andres Narvaez (champion) vs. Victor Zaleta (unranked) Narvaez (30-0-2, 19 KO): Title defense No. 17; First fight in North America Zaleta (10-1, 5 KO): First career title fight; Unbeaten in four fights (4-0, 2 KO) FitzHitz says: Narvaez in 9 TUESDAY WBA flyweight title -- Osaka, Japan Denkaosan Kaovichit (champion) vs. Daiki Kameda (No. 11 contender) Kaovichit (47-1-1, 20 KO): Second title defense; Unbeaten since 2002 (27-0-1, 11 KO) Kameda (15-1, 11 KO): Second career title fight; lost WBC title shot in 2007 FitzHitz says: Kaovichit by decision Last week's picks: 3-0 Overall picks record: 136-48 (73.9 percent) Lyle Fitzsimmons is an award-winning 20-year sports journalist, a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a frequent contributor to Stone Cold Sports on the MVN Network (stonecoldsports.com) and several sports radio talk shows throughout the U.S. E-mail him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him at twitter.com/fitzbitz.

  10/01 19:53:34 ET