More skilled: Salvador Sanchez or Vasyl Lomachenko?

Lomachenko is more skilled but Sanchez was a considerably better fighter and was better at putting it all together when he needed to. Lomachenko lost because of his attitude and strategical errors, but he didn't lose because of a lack of skills. Sanchez was a stone-cold killer and immensely composed by contrast. I do think Lomachenko is more skilled in terms of how varied his footwork is, his ability to use feints and slips as part of his offence, and his aptitude for cutting off the ring. All the little tricks he has like guard pulls, the way he frames with pivots, and how well he punches off-rhythm are very impressive skills. But with that said, although I think Lomachenko is more skilled, Sanchez is better at using the skills he does have at the right time. What technical tricks Sanchez might not have comparatively, he more than makes up for in his skill for understanding the flow of a fight, his skill at reading opponents and adapting to what they're doing, as well as his skill at staying unflappable under-fire. They're more elemental to his attitude, whereas Lomachenko's skills are frills on an eccentric and highly layered style.

 

I feel like you're dealing less with skill and more so with each fighter's judgement and ring IQ, instead of the actual range of skills each man displayed in their boxing.

 

A lot of Lomachenkos great footwork was a result of him being a southpaw.
He did not actually invent pulling down the other guy's guard to hit him. That trick is as old as fighting.
I'm not really sure what 'frames' means. That is an internet term that I have never heard in a gym in over 50 years.

 

Loma fans have evolved from typing hyperboles to just straight up bs.

 

There are very few boxers with more skills than Loma. That’s why, to me, he is the obvious answer. That being said, being more skilled does not make him a better fighter. Sanchez was the better fighter by quite a bit.

 

Lomachenko upped weight divisions as he grew and matured. He settled at a weight where he was most comfortable.

He was not a bantamweight fighting at lightweight, lol. He never made 118 in his entire professional career. He moved up from 130 to 135 in 2018 and fought there until the end of his career six years later.

If he could so easily make lighter weights … why didn’t he? Why did he fight Rigo at 130 when Rigo had been fighting a 122 … and after that fight moved right back down to his division? Why be a weight bully and make Rigo move up two divisions if Loma could have gone down to 122 instead? Hmm.

To pretend Loma was scaling 134 1/2 and that his opponents were weighing in above 135 is outright fiction.

 

Natural bantamweight... Lord give me strength!

 

I didn't see Sanchez giving away early rounds in order to work opponents out. Wilfredo Gomez would attest.

 

Surely ring IQ and judgement are skills tho? Wouldn't you consider Mayweather's ability to adapt a skill?

 

But i think having ring IQ and judgment is a skill in itself though.

There's been plenty of flashy fighters who look like a million dollars.

But out thinking your opponent and making adjustments mid fight in a tough fight is a skill you can't really teach.

And that's what separate the good fighters and the great fighters.

And whilst as I said Lomachenko looks more appealing in regards to the eye test.

That doesn't mean he's actually more skillful in regards to being effective at the very highest level.

Don't get me wrong as I said I'm a fan of Lomachenko but for me he fell a bit short of what I initially thought he could do.

 

It depends what you mean by 'skilled'.

If you're talking of a very rigid definition of 'skilled', relating to punch mechanics and aesthetic showing of fundamental technique within a style, like in an instructional, then Loma is your man. Probably one of the best showcases ever, actually. All his basic punches and movements were highly refined, and in isolated incidences against certain opponents he was basically picture perfect. Fighters like Harold Johnson, Ricardo Lopez, Winky Wright, Yuri Arbachakov and Dmitry Bivol also fit this category (I'm sure you can think of others here).

However, I personally define 'skilled' as not just the showing of fundamentals but how a fighter is able to impose his will, energy, physical attributes and sense of momentum on another fighter without having the same thing done back to him. If you can do this to a number of different types of fighters then that makes you highly skilled, in my view. It doesn't matter how much more refined you are if a pressure fighter can dog you and beat the **** out of you, for example. For me there aren't many that outclass Sal in this regard. On top form he always found a way to impose his superior strategy, stamina and mental energy. Fighters would always end up fighting HIS fight in the end, even against horrendous stylistic match ups like Pat Ford. Loma has shown against fighters like Lopez that he can be drawn into the other man's momentum and become mentally pacified. I can't think of a single instance of this happening to Sal on film, even when he struggled in the begining of a bout.

There is also one major area where Sanchez is superior that makes me pick him here. Loma, like most boxers of Eastern bloc schooling, can't seem to punch whilst the other guy is punching, which seems to be a limitation of 'soviet schooling'. They have to take it in turns exchanging with the opponent, and usually switch from straight offense to straight defense (both at a high level, mind) instead of combining them (only exceptions I've seen are Pirog and ultra aggressive fighters like Nazarov). This leads to a major pitfall - with proper strategy soviet style offense can be almost completely negated and shut down (see Loma- Lopez, Canelo - GGG, Arbachakov - Sasakul 2 and even Fury - Klitschko). This is also why you see soviet style fighters box differently against higher level fighters - when someone is good enough to throw back they will revert to safety first fundamentals until they can find a way to enforce their 'on top' uninterrupted offense (see GGG and Loma himself as a an example of this).

Sanchez meanwhile is probably one of the best at punching with opponents ever seen on film. He manages to channel the natural inclinations of his early brawler style into a smooth, counter - combo based style with the movement of a pure out-boxer. In my opinion punching with others and shutting them down is one of the most important things a fighter can do so this gives Sal the decisive edge imo.

To top it off, both men seemed to show and enforce their physical attributes well against his opposition in their best weight classes. Loma did have the disadvantage of being smaller compared to 135s, though, which is where he he gets most props from me for winning his bouts. In their best weight though I give the advantage to Sanchez again, as I simply cannot see him being pressured or bullied by a Salido level fighter ever. Sanchez also managed to still beat a physical and stylistic nightmare in his championship career, whereas Loma has never proven he could effectively deal with a high level brawler/spoiler after Salido.

TLDR: stylewise - Loma, Overall - Sanchez

 

Great post son, very well observed. It's right that Lomachenko was from the your turn my turn school of fighting however refined he was within his own parameters. Not a counter puncher or slow retreat fighter other than in a fairly basic sense, and like all fighters of that ilk, never truly able to control the distance and pace of a fight against a fighter who can force the issue with some finesse and generalship.

 

Awesome post mate, glad to see you on every now and again. How'd you think Loma would do against Muratalla?

 

Thanks tin. I'd personally characterise Loma as a pretty pure volume puncher with excellent schooling and defense. His dimensions and style never suited being on the back foot as you say here. Personally I think, all time, Loma is hell for any pure boxer or feather fist from 126 - 130, however he would struggle with some other ATGs styles due to my reasons above

 

Thanks mate. Same to you with your posts as well. I haven't watched enough of Mura to comment too deeply. Though from what I'm seeing he definitely has the stylistic and physical attributes to bother Loma quite a bit imo.