Rodrigo Valdez not in Hall of Fame???

Well, maybe I rate too high his wins over Briscoe.....and his performances against Monzon....
Know what ? I need to think about it again :think

 

I think Valdez is a beast to any middleweight you care to name who fights a forward, aggressive style...he either beats them or gives them hell...HOF? Yeah definitely!

 

:deal..Absolutely..it's insane to not include him.

 

what are people's thoughts on him post-monzon? I read an interesting opinion that without his foil Monzon, he basically lost his heart for fighting.

on one hand, it looks like he would have ruled the era if not for monzon
however, without monzon around would he have pushed himself to the top and fought at his best?

 

I think Monzon and Briscoe both put alot of mileage on Valdez...and he wasn't the same afterward.

 

For offensive output I can't say I've seen any middleweight who would surpass Rodrigo Valdez for his balance of power and placement. He lacked a body attack but not much else on the attack. Elsewhere, I'd describe him as fundamentally correct but not necessarily intelligent. This made for an instinctual, hardened and refined slugger who I'd pick to beat any come-forward middleweight barring one or two maybes, one being Dick Tiger and two perhaps Jake LaMotta, and I wouldn't bet on either.

 

True enough, a radical decline from Briscoe III to Corro I (where he suddenly looked ancient), but he did at least succeed Monzon as the undisputed MW Champion. 3(1)-0-0 over Bad Bennie, who Carlos was a mere 1-0-1 against ought to count for something. (Briscoe himself may well be an eventual entrant to Canastota.)

 

Valdez was one of my favorite fighters of the era, Gil Clancy would never let an older but still world competitive Emile Griffith spar with him...Valdez reminded me of a smooth and explosive Middleweight almost a larger and younger version of Jose Naples. Unfortunately for Valdez he shared an era with Monzon (who only put out what he needed fight by fight) but was a great,great fighter and Valdez was s till dangerous and competitive. IMO if Valdez was without Monzon in his era he would have dominated the division and by the Hugo Corro fight he was done and flat but Monzon took his shine.

 

I would truly like to see Briscoe get his due...

 

I'm pretty sure Burt saw the guy spar. Said he hit the heavy bag like a mother****er.

Also, didn't Valdez have some kind of STD towards the end of his career that hastened his decline, similar to Ruslan Chagaev for a more modern comparison.

 

Just researched it, he caught Hepatitis from Bobby Cassidy in 1971' at MSG

 

A bit overrated for mine but probably deserving of the HOF due to others already in lowering the bar.

 

which means that he would have achieved more if it never happened , so he deserves 2b included more than i previously thought .

 

barring the mcguigan rule, i think briscoe might be a tough sell.