When Benny Urquidez enters a ring, the auditorium erupts with excitement in anticipation of the slugfest that is sure to follow. From outside the ring, the woman leading the ovation is his wife 49 years, Sara.
“I am Benny’s biggest fan, and I support everything he does, but it’s so hard to watch someone you love get into a ring and see him fighting and trading punches with his opponents,” said Sara. “Because we’re so close; I felt like every time that Benny got hit, I was getting hit too.”
Sara has spent decades sharing Benny’s battles from outside the ring. She and the “jet” said their “I do’s” in 1974, a few months after graduating high school. The newlyweds honeymooned in Hawaii for Tommy Lee’s World Series of the Martial Arts, where Benny defeated Dana Goodson, winning $5000 first place prize money. And so it began, a lifetime of seemingly endless rounds; Sara still flinches and winches with every punch, but after watching Benny win fight-after-fight, she was less fearful of her superstar husband getting hurt.
“At first I was afraid of Benny being in the ring,” Sara said, “Then year-after-year, he kept fighting and winning without ever getting seriously hurt. Benny was like Superman. I started thinking that he was invincible, but with the realization that he could face a fighter with a fist-full of kryptonite – that fear is always there.”
The Legend’s Final Challenge
Sara’s worst fears came to life on December 4, 1993 when Benny, age 41, would go toe-to-toe with the undefeated 25-year old, Yoshihisa Tagami in a sold-out-standing –room-only venue at in Vegas ay the Mirage Hotel.
“Of all of Benny’s fights, that was one of the hardest for me to watch,” Sara said. “I was confident going into the fight, his sister, Lilly kept saying, ‘Don’t worry, Benny’s got this.’ But I was feeling more nervous about this fight than any other fight before. I had confidence that Benny was going to win, but I knew that Tagami was going to give it all he had because he really wanted to take the title away from my husband. He was truly a worthy opponent.”
“The contest between the two warriors was one for the books. The excited crowd shouted from the rafters with very punch and kick thrown, it was so loud it was nerve-racking, like being on a roller coaster. Fans stood like they do in a baseball game, creating a wave that started in the rafters and spread throughout the arena, all cheering, ‘Benny! ‘Benny! ‘Benny’.
The entire Urquidez family was in attendance to witness what was sure to become a moment in martial arts history, as the 5-time World Champion would slug it out, for what would be either a career ending 51 victories, or his first and last defeat.
“Benny fought with such intensity, unlike anything I’d ever seen before,” said Sara. “Lilly ran to ringside yelling and screaming; the officials had to tell her to go back to her seat, but she kept running up to the ring when he wasn’t watching. The things that happened that night were unreal.”
The ovation from the Jet’s fans was deafening as he traded blow-after-blow with Tagami. The crowds weren’t the only ones affected by the seemingly endless barrage of punches.
“My mother fainted and they had to take her out to the ambulance,” said Sara. “My 17 year-old daughter, Monique, got so freaked out at seeing the intensity of the fight that she was actually traumatized. Panicked stricken, Monique started running aimlessly through the Mirage hotel then to the Treasure Island hotel. There was a police barricade because of a robbery that had just happened and she just ran through it and kept on running. Finally her cousin caught up to her and pounced on her. She was in a total state of shock and had to be treated by Paramedics. When she saw her father take cone good punch, it was just too much for her to handle because she had never seen her dad chit like that before.”
Hollywood couldn’t write a script like this. On top of the non-stop slug feast happening in the ring, and the absolute pandemonium outside the ring, it was Sara’s Birthday.
“That twelfth round seemed like 12-hours,” said Sara. “It just went on and on and on. It ended with Benny winning by a decision. That one night could be a movie. After the fight Tagami had to be carried out by two of his students. His legs were so beat up that he couldn’t walk. Benny had some bruising on his face and he was sore, but that didn’t stop him from taking me dancing that night to celebrate my birthday.”
Sara Eagle Woman
Sara says she was born with the ability to communicate with the spirit world. Sara is a 4th generation medicine woman and Healer as was her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. They all were healers and visionaries.
“These gifts of insight, premonitions, and the ability to heal, were passed on to me,” said Sara. “Benny and I have a very dear friend, Willy Big Bull, a medicine man from the Blackfoot Nation in Canada. When I was 30 he called and asked me and Benny’s sister Lily to come to the reservation in Calvary, to meet Elsa, who is a Blackfoot medicine woman He said she is going to give you both your spiritual names.”
Surrounded by the tribe’s elders, the ceremony was conducted using traditional rituals; Sara was fully dressed according to custom and only Blackfoot was spoken as Sara was awarded the coveted eagle feather.
“In the martial arts you get a black belt, when you receive an Eagle Feather that is a very big deal because it stands for your duty and responsibility to yourself and the tribe. My Spirit name, Eagle Woman, which means, “THE Protector AND MESSENGER OF GREAT SPIRIT SHE WHO IS the one who is responsible for the well being of the family AND ALL THOSE WHO ENTER HER PATHWAY.” I would stand in harm’s way for him. I feel like Benny and I are two sides of the same coin with a double- headed eagle, which is the symbol of “Ukidokan.”
Sara’s Black Belt
“Benny tried to teach me but I got so frustrated with him because he was very stern with me,” said Sara. “Benny’s brother Ruben walked over and said, ‘Brother, let me teach her, you’re losing patience with her. So actually Ruben was my sensei and then Lilly taught me kickboxing. Lilly was the best teacher. In fact, Lilly was going to train me to fight in the ring but Benny said no to that. So I never had a fight, but Lilly and I did do several Exhibition fights in the ring. I did earn my black belt in1993 under Ruben.
I came into this family at the age of 15, and Benny would say, ‘You have to be a runner to keep up with me and my family.’ Toc this day, well over 49 years, we are still running together side-by-side.”
Terry Wilson is a writer and Emmy Award winning TV personality. He mat be contacted at tleewilson@gmail.com
