Featherweight Survey (POLL CLOSED)

1. Willie Pep
2. Henry Armstrong
3. Jim Driscoll
4. Terry McGovern
5. Vicente Saldivar
6. Salvador Sanchez
7. Sandy Saddler
8. Kid Chocolate
9. Alexis Arguello
10. Ernesto Marcel

 

:desk...:wall...:crying...:drink......:tomb...:firedevi:

 

1. Sanchez
2. Willie Pep
3. Pacquaio
4. Henry Armstrong
5. Pedroza
6. Barrera
7. Kid Chocolate
8. Alexis Arguello
9. Saldivar
10. Hamed

 

1. Abe Attell - He owned the belt for 9 years with a massive number of defences, a dominance which was not surpassed by anyone. He also defeated an older but still dangerous George Dixon, who is arguably his biggest competition for the number one spot

2. Sandy Saddler - Was the king from 1948 to 1957, with only the all time great Willie Pep interupting the reign early on. Saddler seemed to better Pep in their series, since Pep wins were on points and Saddlers by stoppage. Two all time great figthers.

3. Willie Pep - He and Saddler have to rate near each other. He was a great champion, and between 1942 and 1950, it was only the fact that he caught another atg in Saddler at the top of his game, that managed to take the title from him.

4. George Dixon - Ruled the game for 10 years, with only a very brief period where he lost and regained the title, an achievement which was a truly great effort in a division which has traditionally struggled to get long reigning champions.

5 Henry Armstrong - He didnt hold the title for all that long, but we all know just how good he was, due to him vacating the weight and succeeding at the higher weights.

6. Vincent Saldivor - When he retired, he had never been kod or beaten on points by another featherweight and he had reigned as champion for 4 years with a good number of title defences. He then came out of retirement and again regained the world championship, before eventually age caught up with him and he started to lose to a few of the very best around, including Eder Joffre. His record doesnt seem to have the names that others have, but he was a dominant champ with a good reign. I may even put him higher with a bit more investigation.

7. Manny Pacquia - it is getting hard to split fighters now, but he did win the title and was never beaten at the weight. Much of his reputation was at other weights, but he would have been a tough fight for any featherweight.

8. Battling Battalino - He held the title for about 4 years, before relinquishing it. He doesnt get that many accolades, but i try to rate on what fighters did, not what people percieved they could do. He ruled for longer than most other champs, and i think that counts for a lot.

9. Davey MOore - As above, he was simply a good champion for a long 4 year period of time. He retired when he was beaten, and he didnt beat any massive names, but as with the fighter above, in a division where very few managed lengthy reigns, due to either leaving the division or fighting other greats, i think that he needs some credit.

10. Young Corbett II - I am not sure with this last spot as an Australian I would like to see Young Griffo or Jeff Fenech, but both seem to get more praise than what their actual title dominance and record suggests they should. Terry McGovern is another who i would love to put in there, particularly with his dominant period over world champions, but i think i am going with Young Corbett, for the simple fact that he beat McGovern and i think that too many people like to discard the actual result of fights. His record was not too shabby either he also beat all time great George Dixon and defended the title about 5 times before relinquishing it.


This list, is very open to change and i expect it to change before the end of the thread based on the contributions of some other posters. Already, i am thinking that Young Corbett needs to be quite a bit higher.

 

Why is rating Attell over Driscoll problematic? Didnt they have one fight for one No Decision? Did Driscoll dominate him? Driscoll was obviously something special, but what was the reasons taht he never got a world title?

Also, a general question for everybody, why does Pep seem to almost universally be rated higher than Saddler. Saddler beat him in their series and matched him for dominance over the division, didnt he?

 

Edit: Just read your post on Driscoll above. It was a no decision but the conditions were very controversial, Driscoll beat Attell handily according to newspaper accounts and thought he deserved a genuine crack at the title which Attell denied him.

 

1)Willie Pep
2)Henry Armstrong
3)Sandy Saddler
4)Salvador Sanchez
5)Jim Driscoll
6)Abe Attell
7)Terry McGovern
8)George Dixon
9)Alexis Arguello
10)Vicente Saldivar

 

Thanks Rumsfeld for keeping this going and all your hard work (never thought I would type these words, after Iraq..).

The Featherweights are an incredibly talented group of fighters; my all-time list goes:

10: Terry McGovern
9: Jim Driscoll
8: Salvador Sanchez
7: Azumah Nelson
6: George Dixon
5: Henry Armstrong
4; Eusebio Pedroza
3: Abe Attell
2: Willie Pep
1: Sandy Saddler

And although it does not count, I felt the rest deserve at least a mention:

Honorary mentions: Young Griffo, Johnny Kilbane, Joey Archibald, Bat Battalino, Hogan 'Kid' Bassey, Davey Moore, Sugar Ramos, Vicente Saldivar, Eder Jofre, Antonio Esparragoza, Naseem Hamed, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

Mentions: Ben Jordan, Young Corbett II, Johnny Dundee, Kid Kaplan, Tony Canzoneri, Kid Chocolate, Baby Arizmendi, Chalky Wright, Howard Winstone, Alexis Arguello, Danny Lopez, Juan LaPorte, Jeff Fenech, Marcos Villasana, Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Eloy Rojas, Manuel Medina, Wilfred Vazquez, Erik Morales, and Chris John

 

1 henry armstrong
2 willie pep
3sandy saddler
4kid choclate
5abe attel
6salvador sanchez
7terry mc govern
8 alixis arguello
9jim driscoll
10johnny dundee

 

1. El Salvador Sanchez
2. Henry Armstrong
3. Willie Pep
4. Sandy Saddler
4. Saldivar
5. Alexis Arguello
6. Kid Chocolate
7. Azumah Nelson
8. Marco Barrera
9. Battling Battalino
10. Pedroza

 

1. Willie Pep
2. Sandy Saddler
3. Henry Armstrong
4. George Dixon
5. Abe Attell
6. Salvador Sanchez
7. Jim Driscoll
8. Kid Chocolate
9. Vincente Saldivar
10. Terry McGovern

A tougher list then the previous ones, wanted to include Young Corbett II and Battling Battalino but couldn't think of who to leave out.

 

I'll have to think long and hard about this one.

 

Between the holidays and the featherweight survey, the stress will be the death of me. Enjoy 2010 for me...plant a tree and call it IB.

 

Driscoll won every round against Attell, so maybe he merits a thought ?
Attell didnt want a return ,and Driscoll had given his word concerning an engagement back in the Uk ,Jim was old fashioned, he kept his word.