Better chin: Salvador Sanchez or Juan Laporte?

Both had all time great chins. I think Sanchez' durability was more a function of extraordinary conditioning, whereas LaPorte literally had concrete in his jaw.

 

Laporte. Sanchez was floored a couple times and shaken once by Nelson. Laporte had a supernatural chin.

 

Sal, in addition to comments about Nelson and Escobar, was also buckled at least once by Gomez in prime Wilfredo's worst fight. LaPorte's chin was in Hagler's stratosphere.

MMH literally had a SHW chin, the P4P best of all time among titlists during the Classic Championship Distance era. Add to his boxing career the fact that he couldn't even pronounce Antuofermo correctly ["Antuofermio" in his original American Jersey accent], then moved to Italy to become so fluent in Italian as a cinematic action hero there, that he quickly spoke English with an Italian accent is insane retention of neurological virtuosity and likely never to be surpassed. (Seeing him later pronounce Vito's name correctly after moving to Italy is priceless. His American career pronunciation drove me crazy.)

I mentioned Hagler because he had a complete career and won an extended brutal slugfest over Mugabe in the Beast's career best performance for Marv's final career win, while Sanchez was still oh so young when he died. Would he have actually walked away early enough to pursue a career in medicine, or does he continue and let his neurological integrity be compromised. (This is a large part of why I rate Marv's chin far above that of Toney. For one, Joe "johngarfield" Rein posted to me here that he was convinced Toney was using PEDs to enlarge himself after getting first hand looks at "Lights Out's" body, and James did wind up compromised. MMH was REALLY smart and ditched the notion of himself versus Michael Spinks after Jinx-Assassin I because as Marv put it, "When I train, my body goes right down below 160," and Boogaloo proved in sparring that Hagler did not have a HW's body punch resistance.)

Juan is just fine today. We just don't know how well Sal would be doing with a complete career, but in the lead up to and brief interval after Nelson before he died, Arguello-Sanchez was being discussed. Nobody in the press was discussing a Sanchez win, only a few rounds taken at best before Alexis got him (and Arguello didn't need to dent the chin to pull it off at any weight, as Ganigan proved). If Escobar could deck him twice in their draw, and if Gomez could buckle him, then Flaco is going to really challenge his chin. In terms of durability, Sal was no Arturo Leon. I truly believe Juan would've taken peak Alexis the Championship Distance at 130 as Leon did.


I don't consider Danny Lopez because Little Red's lack of hand speed and defense was the deciding factor there. Those two were exciting because of what everybody knew Danny to be capable of as long at it continued. (Lopez-Gomez would've been a true superfight, and I think Wilfredo was let down that he didn't get a shot at Danny. I don't like Gomez over Little Red though. If Danny hurt you in torqueing those broad shoulders, you were dead. He just never got to Sal, or Schoolboy either.)

 

Fixed...

Honestly, Juan took elbows, low blows and body shots from Pedroza without flinching, getting cut or swelling up. His overall toughness was at prime condition Duran level capacity.

To me, Juan fell very far short of his potential however. Because of LaPorte alone, Rocky Lockridge isn't part of this discussion, and he very well otherwise might be. I was well familiar with both and viewing the live broadcast of LaPorte-Lockridge when Juan came off the rope with that monster one punch Benitez only wished he had when against the ropes himself. (Letting El Radar off the ropes could be suicidal, as Tony Petronelli, Randy Shields and Maurice Hope discovered. You could let him clown you by attacking him there, or take your life in your hands by letting him get planted and tee off. Angelo Dundee had southpaw Tony Chiaverini go at him on NBC's revamped Friday Night Fights in August 1980, and while a bushed Tony agreed with the stoppage, he also said he was never anywhere close to going down. He was also a pretty tough guy though who at last published report was also in excellent condition.)

After Lockridge, it seemed at times to me that Juan kept looking for that lightning in a bottle again, and all his opponents knew it. He thought the world of Sal, was looking forward to a rematch when Sanchez got himself killed with his one and only vice, and he indeed became Sal's immediate successor, although Nelson became the true one. I do wonder what Juan might've done with the type of training discipline Sal, SRL or Hagler shared. In the ring, Juan wasn't the sort of go getter I wanted to see him as, nor should he have tried to be after what everybody saw him do to Lockridge.

Maybe Juan said this out of spite for Pedroza's fouling, but he was outspoken in saying Sal would've unified at FW. The case is there. Sanchez often did just enough to win, but radically stepped up for Lopez and Gomez. His nontitle ten rounder with Nicky Perez convinced Perez after Wilfredo previously repelled Nicky's title challenge in five rounds that Gomez would win that challenge. Sal was excellent at selling a bill of goods with his "subpar" performances (however much he risked the scorecards-when it mattered most, the cards didn't, and if he'd ever lost a decision to the likes of Pat Ford or Pat Cowdell, he'd have gotten his WBC title right back).

 

Sal was a teenager when he fought Escobar. If you are not going to factor that fact into this discussion, cheers.

 

Juan, just.

 

Viva LaPorte!

 

I never saw Sanchez hurt ... not sure about LaPorte but he was known as a beast ..

 

Definitely Juan LaPorte.

 

Probably La Porte but it has to be said that if he thought he wasn't going to win he would often go into a shell and was happy to lose a decision.

Although that wasn't always the case he gave a prime JCC a good go.

 

I've got too much going on to attempt this now, but later, I may try to pinpoint the moment for you when Gomez buckled Sal's knees, something nobody ever came close to doing to LaPorte or MMH. (From what I recall, it came at a moment when Wilfredo was really getting battered and was attempting to rally forward. I also believe it was a right which buckled Sanchez. Because of the situation, where Sal was at his very best and Gomez his battered worst, this instance is all important in comparing Sal to Juan.)

 

Agreed. It all comes down to that moment Gomez buckled Sanchez for me. (Sal didn't feel good during his finale with Nelson, and that was the main story between the aftermath of that bout and his death, so I don't really factor that either, although I haven't watched it in decades.)