THE WAR ZONE: Revisiting Classics (Vol. 1 - Naseem Hamed vs. Augie Sanchez)

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Augie Sanchez is a bit of a forgotten man of the 90's feather picture. He never quite notched a 'signature' victory in the pros (his closest likely being Maromero) but he certainly had the pedigree. He was a capital amateur, handing Floyd Mayweather Jr. what stands to date as his most recent legitimate defeat. Mayweather would twice avenge himself to deny Sanchez an Olympic berth. Augustine opted not to wait for Sydney in 2000 and instead embarked on a stint in the paid ranks that would see him dubbed "Kid Vegas" - a perennial undercard fixture at hotel and casino shows. In that span he met 27 opponents and plowed through 26, with 23 knocked out. The single 'loss' was of the sketchy variety, wherein he was reportedly given a quick and unpopular count after getting caught and flashed down with a sneak hail-Mary pass having just more authoritatively dropped his outmatched foe and rushing in upon sensing he was ready to go. Of those he officially vanquished for profit, the best was undoubtedly old Clown-Shoes Paez. Kid Vegas weathered the jocular veteran's awkward swarming counter-punching style with aplomb, breaking him down with his power & placement until finally knocking him out in dominant fashion leaving the hard-nosed carny flat on his back asleep. On the strength of this and other impressive showings, the standout amateur boxer finally got his shot at the big time in the pros: a crack at the colorful WBO champion and TV cash-cow Prince Naz.

It only lasted eleven minutes and change, but this was a life and death battle in which both exhibited their class. Ultimately the superior athlete with the sturdier chin (or rather, more ample recuperative abilities) triumphed. Augustine Sanchez was hardly awed by Hamed's reputation, fearlessly attacking the supremely confident southpaw in straightaway lines and deftly picking off his right jabs while gaining yardage. By the 2nd he was disrupting Hamed's rhythm and pushing him back, landing big left hooks, and halfway through decked him with a double-clutch straight right on the button that also bloodied his nose. Alas, it was a horrible no-call by Mike Ortega - as was the subsequent unofficial KD in the closing seconds as Sanchez whipped Hamed's neck with a massive left hook that caused his glove to brush the canvas. Naz to his credit would show his resiliency and raw power in not only surviving the difficult round and the early onslaught of Sanchez in the next, but left-crossing and roughhousing his way back into the contest with fluid in-and-out movement and pot shot jabs setting everything up before sending the Kid out via stretcher with a vicious three-piece late in the 4th.

Sanchez would mount a comeback barely four months later, knocking out faded ex-champ Luis Espinoza and later journeyman Daniel Jimenez in a pointless rematch - but that winter he was again dismissed via stretcher in a KO1 loss to John Johnson that left him unable to secure a license and forcibly retired from the sport. He was truly never the same after that short, brutal night with Hamed. Of course, with the benefit and wisdom of hindsight, knowing what soon would come to pass, one could argue neither was Hamed. :think

In conclusion...some may glance at Boxrec, see "KO4" and with perhaps an extra mouse click determine that Sanchez had a padded record and consider it an open-and-shut case of a mismatch, and dismiss this as being a soft touch in the final defense of the Prince's reign. They would be wrong on both counts.

 

atsch Freaking Lederman. 30-27 to Hamed? Arguably the other way around, or worst case 29-28 Sanchez. Had the KO not come, it would have been very interesting to see the judges' cards (two New England natives and one Puerto Rican) with Hamed getting docked a point in the 4th.

Does anybody know what they were entering the fourth, incidentally?

 

...and yes, I'll be doing a whole series of these spotlighting unsung brawls for the ages.

 

Agreed 100%. Barrera vs. Hamed might not have been what it was if not directly preceded by Hamed vs. Sanchez - and that is said as perhaps the biggest MAB fanatic outside of Mexico. (although there is a former poster here from the UK who might take umbrage at that - so let's just leave it at I'm the Baby Faced Assassin's #1 mark north of the border on this side of the Atlantic... :yep)

While it may be tempting wanting to preserve all credit for your heroes, doing so is disingenuous and only insults their real non-embellished accomplishments. It basically cost his own career, but Augie might deserve a 'hockey assist' in helping Barrera end the Prince's. :deal

 

In both hands. :toney

That he did. He was 1-2 against PBF, losing the rematch and rubber but competitive each time.

If you exclude the Mayweather vs. Todorov robbery - which everyone should -then Mayweather vs. Sanchez I stands as the last official besting of Floyd in over 50 straight combined pro/am bouts.

Of course, there is a reasonable argument for both Jose Luis Castillo and Lorenzo Aragon having deserved the nod against him but those were both close and forgivable decisions. Mayweather vs. Todorov wasn't.

Jabs, hooks, the works. :thumbsup

 

An enduring image telling an incomplete story.

 

When? Around the same time he beat Sanchez? Turn of the decade/century/millennium? :think

So the Morales that fought Kelley, and the Marquez rebuilding himself after the wake-up call against Norwood? (stopping eleven of his next twelve)

Nah. There's a reason nobody talks of a "big four" era at feather around then.

He is on the outside looking in, much like Benitez with the 4 Kings of the 80's.

 

Hamed's style against either accurate counter-punchers (like Marquez, and even in a lesser distillation in Kid Vegas) or willing traders with the bundle of tangibles and intangibles: good chin, good power, good instincts and good combinations (Morales, Barrera) is doomed to fail.

 

Thank you for even looking at it. :!: Often I wonder about my sanity putting in time only to have these usually drop into Bolivian without ever reaching a 2nd page. "Repeating the same behavior and expecting different results..."and whatnot. :nut