I would deffo go with Sanchez despite the shortness of his career though an argument can be made for chavez
I think it depends on how you look at it. Chavez's resume was deeper, but IMO Sanchez's had the better "high points."
He also beat better versions of Castillo and LaPorte IMO, two fighters frequently listed among Chavez's top five or six wins.
I don't really like getting into the common opponents argument though. Styles make fights and all that. I'm sure Chavez would've put Cowdell and Ford in the trunk. To beat 3 HOFers before he was 23 puts Sanchez in the box seat.
Nelson.......................Taylor Gomez.......................Rosario Lopez x 2...................Mayweather x 2 Laporte......................Ramirez Castillo......................Lockridge Ford..........................Martinez Cowdell......................Camacho Up to that point, I'd say they are very close But then Sal just has Perez and Castanon, whilst Chavez has Laporte, Haugen, Randall (dubious), Lopez, Smith, Alli, Fuentes and a few others as well. On the strength of quantity, you'd have to give the edge to Chavez, but Sal's resume surprisingly holds up really well.
I prefer the Laporte that fought Chavez.He was a bit raw against Sal, though he did fight well.He looked to have a better understanding of his skillset against Julio.
Laporte probably turned in his best performance ever against Julio (somewhat assy Ko of Lockridge aside), but the Sanchez fight was one of his better performances as well. I'd rate both as quality wins for Sanchez and Chavez. Both were pretty tight affairs too imo, though the Sanchez one rarely gets that sort of rep.