Most skilled fighter: Jose Napoles, Salvador Sanchez, or Mike McCallum

I don’t think the guy who got bounced by Curry should be mentioned alongside Napoles.

 

Napoles

 

I don't think the guy who lost to Billy Backus, should be mentioned alongside McCallum sorry I had to do it.

 

I think he was talking about Bruce dropping Benitez.

 

Haven't watched enough Napoles, but McCallum ahead of Sanchez in terms of pure fundamentals imo. Sanchez was a ****ing monster, though.

 

Backus was a home town stoppage and the rematch made that clear.

 

Context is important.

 

I actually had McCallum up 3-1 in the Curry fight last time I see it, apart from the big right hand in the 2nd round from Curry. It was a highly competitive fight IMO until KO, even the commentators had McCallum 3-1 up the same as me. The only one who really outboxed McCallum in his prime was Kalambay.

 

I don't remember it being hometown stoppage, I thought it was stopped on a legitimate cut ? Backus was also giving Napoles all he could handle in a 3 round war reminiscent of Hagler/Hearns regardless of the cut.

If you wana talk about hometown officiating, look no further than Napoles vs Muniz 1. Which is one of the worst robberies of all time, and Napoles benefitted from that greatly.

I know @scartissue feels strongly about that fight aswell.

 

It’s been sometime. I might be thinking of another fight? Sorry. I’ll need to rewatch it to comment, I remember the fight being relatively even but it wasn’t a war was it? Mm. I just remember the stoppage being a dubious one and the rematch clearing it all up, TC Morgan also cut Napoles? I don’t know.

 

The 3rd round of Napoles vs Backus 1 was probably one of the most brutal even rounds I've ever seen, infact it's the best 3rd round I've ever seen. Which makes it all the more disappointing that Napoles was stopped on a cut in the next round, because the fight would of been a barnburner the way it was shaping up.

 

I’ll rewatch the fight.