Gomez would eat Chandler up. Maybe for 5-6 rounds it’s a tight fight maybe not but anything after it’s all Gomez.
East Philly is different from Camden, and everyone calls it Camden. I used to live close to Camden for a few years, it's like a city that's a similar to Newark - both cities are technically Jersey, but Newark is closely affiliated with NYC because it's so close, and Camden, likewise, has strong ties to Philly. As for Chandler vs Qawi, I think P4P Qawi would eat Chandler for lunch.
I was actually kidding about h2h. And there really is NO East Philly. Some might call the area east of broad street east Philly but it is to small (14 blocks or so till you hit the Delaware River) to truly be called East Philly. Some of us affectionately call Camden East Philly but it is not a well known or frequently used phrase. But for my purposes the only thing separating Camden and Philly is the space of the Delaware River.
I think Chandler gets underdone in here nowadays. He beat a host of decent fighters and defended his title what, 9 times. It's a pity the politics of the time made it hard for him and Pintor to get it on. Wilfredo's own division was actually considered very weak which is always accentuated when we have a strong champion at the helm. Gomez is a standout pick over him but he's a damn good fighter.
Chandler would fare better than most BWs moving up to challenge Gomez, but I think Jofre is the only one who might have won.
Olivares also, but I guess I just said Jofre because while I can see Olivares beating Gomez, I can imagine Olivares only taking one out of three in a series with Gomez. He lacked Gomez's consistency. Gomez's 17 successful defenses really is remarkable...even if some of it is sub-par competition, being able to stay focused that many times in a row in a sport where one mistake can change everything is extremely impressive.
Olivares at his very best would have a chance of beating Gomez, but I just feel like Gomez at his peak was better than Olivares. I know that might sound unpopular, as prime Olivares is often revered as a boxing God. The Olivares that destroyed Rose was a force of nature. But the Gomez that destroyed Zarate was even more a force of nature.
I agree with this conpletely. Making frequent defenses of a title over a long time period as Gomez did, irrespective of the opposition's quality, is a heck of an achievement. Then you throw in high quality wins over Zarate and Pintor and you have a remarkable fighter.