Salvador Sanchez Overrated?

People are only overrated when people think they're perfect. All the Sanchez praise is warranted. His career is everything we ask for to see today.

 

He was both ridiculously talented and poised for his age. He would have been on Leonard Hearns level had he lived, if not SRR or Armstrong level.

 

The big questions were ahead for Sanchez. He'd already done enough to be an ATG but he also had a parallel champ who plenty, both in the day and now actually favored over him. As pointed out he was a noticeably different fighter against non aggressive styles.

The Nelson win is notable in hindsight and Zoomah performed admirably but lets not even begin to pretend he beat anything close to Azumah at his greatest which often gets bandied about.

Not only was it Nelson's 14th pro fight but lets look at the records of who he had actually beaten -

Debut
Debut
2-4-0
Debut
2-3-1
1-2-0
4-2-2
6-2-1
6-13-1
35-14-6
2-0-0
25-1-0
Debut (the fight before Sanchez, a decent jump in level yes)

It speaks for itself. Even Roberts was KO'd by a guy with 5 fights right before he fought Nelson. There's not much to be learned from that batch and Nelson was beyond green even if he could wing them a bit and had a ton of heart. We don't need to build Nelson up to justify Sanchez as being a great as he'd proven that. Nelson was still improving when he knocked out Gomez and he only got better.

Bouts vs Pedroza and Arguello would have shown exactly where Sal lay. Politics would have stopped the Pedroza fight but he was actively seeking Arguello. I'm trying to remember the signing timeline but there's a reasonable chance Arguello might have slipped him in prior to Pryor so to speak.

 

Arguello Sanchez indeed would have been supremely interesting.

 

Absolutely mate. Great matchup.

 

He's overrated by a lot of casuals, obviously. Most popular fighters are.

My problem isn't so much that but the majority held notion that we never saw him in his prime and that he would've dominated for many more years. I disagree. He had a hell of a career and a wealth of championship level experience as it was, and I think he was clearly in his prime by the time of his tragic passing.

Obviously it's up to debate on how much longer his reign would've lasted or how he'd have fared moving up in weight. His toughest tests against the likes of Pedroza and Arguello were still on the horizon, though. It's not like he was immune to taking punishment in grueling bouts, so I question how well he'd have taken the lumps in those proposed bouts (even if he won) and moved forward performing at the same level.

If he even took them. He could've just retired and became a doctor per his wishes, after all.

 

How is he rated?

I've always firmly had him as one of the great featherweight of all time. I don't have him over Saddler or Pep. He's gotta be at least in the top 6-8 126lbers. He accomplished alot for anyone especially who died at 23.
If your gonna tell me he struggled in some fights so therefore he is overrated I'd consider that nonsense. What fighter who consistently faced strong opposition never got run close? Not many.
Nelson was a great fighter who though inexperienced had the advantage that nite, the element of surprise. It was another title defense for Sanchez, for a young Nelson it was his moment because there was no guarantee he would get another shot. One man was sky-high emotionally, the other a great champion in yet another defense.
In a rematch Salvador Sanchez would have also been more prepared for what Azumah was gonna bring. Nelson ofcourse would learn and adjust but let me tell you he paid to learn.

Salvador Sanchez not overrated imo.

 

Who do you two see winning?

 

Arguello. I think he ended up very very comfortable at 135 and you could argue he grew into it where as Sal was perfectly suited at feather. I think that the size advantage here would help as both are hugely skilled and there's no huge stylistic advantage at play IMO. I think Sals faster hands would be mostly offset by Arguello's solid height and reach advantage. Arguello is a BRUTAL puncher at 135 and works that body consistently. It's not like taking it from Lopez and Gomez because as hard as they hit they are not hitting like a 135 pound Arguello. I think this power comes into play and both stifles Sanchez a little making him pick his spots and it would slow him down later even as incredibly fit as he is - he'd also be carrying those extra pounds.

It would have been over 15 and even tho both are long range specialists Arguello's size, power and body attack has got to count for something in this particular matchup. If only we saw it.

That's my take. How do you see it BB?

What about @McGrain @George Crowcroft @roughdiamond and @Tin_Ribs

 

This was deserved.

 

I think a case can be made that he was,there is a bit of the James Dean syndrome about him imo.Gomez was coming up in weight, Nelson was still green ,Laporte,slightly pre prime, and a split dec over Pat Cowdell isnt exactly earth shattering,especially since a more mature Nelson demolished Cowdell effortlessly .
Unlike his rival Pedroza who took his title on tour Sanchez pretty much stayed close to familiar territory.
I've never been convinced that Sanchez was better than Pedroza who tends to be rather overlooked these days.
Sanchez's wonderful sang froid made his fights look deceptively routine at times,but a closer look at them does not bear this out.
Would he have beaten Luis Rodriguez? Alexis Arguello? Quien Sabe

Great fighter ,but a little overated imo.

 

Look , he was clearly a great fighter .. the only debate I can think of is high high he rates .. the division has had amazing fighters and to place him at the very top is a matter of discussion ...

 

The Nelson fight was a terrific fight for the most part ... Azumah was fantastic when you consider his lack of experience ..

 

I said in another thread i always thought Arguello loses to Sanchez.

Arguello was a bit slow regarding footwork, despite being a great fighter.

Vilomar Fernandez outboxed Arguello, so did Jose Luis Ramirez.

 

Word perfect ( as usual ) and on point as I see SS as a fighter, also he sort of fought like a featherweight Monzon in my eyes, tall, rangy, stoic,
not a KO artist in the true sense, but reigned heavy, thudding punches down on opponent's, they also seemed to share the same belief, that they were unbeatable, and would eventually get the job done, share the prevailing thought's that he is a ATG at FW, and would place him after, Pep, Saddler, so around 3/4 , for what its worth I believe he would have gone on to greater glory by going up in weight. stay safe.