Gamboa and Hamed and Barrera would get ****ed up by Sandy. Here's a few: Armstrong, Arguello, Sanchez, and maybe, just maybe, Pacman could beat him in an all out war.
Expand on this if you would? MAB is a world class operator. I know he fought in colour but he had quite a few dimensions to his game.
I saw Sandy Saddler a few times. Tall, sinewy,and a cruel stand-up hitter. Not much defense. In my opinion, I would bet on Alexis Arguello to beat Saddler and maybe Ko him. Sandy though tough was easy to hit, and anyone Arguello could hit ,Alexis hurts... Arguello by late stoppage. Style makes fights....
Yeah because Saddler never lost any decisions to lesser fighters than MAB. That reasoning just isn't good enough in my opinion. MAB got cold clocked at 122lbs when he was young, lost a razor close decision in a rematch, and then went on to improve as a Featherweight. MAB isn't a fighter to be laughed at.
-Size, Power, Durability -Edge in the clinches -just as much of a dirty ******* I just think the styles favor him a bit. Barrera could light him up going in and out with combinations, but in a head to head battle i think Sandy would take it, or hunt him down if fighting a backfoot MAB. There's no need for that snide bull****.
Barrera's problem would be imposing himself on the fight. He doesn't have enough pep, haha, to keep Saddler all the way off with punches, with a situation where Saddler is stalking his shorter opponent with very hard punches the most likely outcome if Barrera tries to force his opponent off with hard counters the best possible outcome for that strategy. Barrera is very good technically of course, but you need superb footspeed and/or a slight advantage in the war of evolution between power and chin, and Barrera has neither here. So this is not a good situation for Barrera. He likely gets pushed back and forced onto the defensive a fair bit. None of this is fatal to Barrera because he has really good balance which means he will keep punching back, but he's already had his aggression lifted from him which is likely to cost him rounds all on its own. He also becomes vulnerable to pushing jabs, and to being cornered, all bad for the cards and the brain. If he fights more aggressively, I think he would be knocked out, if he comes in he gets man-handled and out-fought IMO. So his best possible fight would be the imagined perfect fight where he picks the perfect spots to fight aggressively whilst also refusing to cede control in the longer spells which he would spend fighting more carefully. In this way, it is possible to imagine a fight where Barrera takes a decent handful of rounds on two out of three cards and sneaks a decision win. But this does not allow for Saddler's hail-mary, fight-changing and round-winning if it doesn't just flat out stop Barrera, or Saddler's ability to maul and force an opponent into wilfully defending himself when he needs to step off. Basically, the odds don't favour a Barrera win, at all. IMO it would call for an off night for Saddler and a perfect fight for Barrera. Certainly he can't win 2/3.
All makes sense to me. Fair enough. You're right, I only included it because I thought the tone of your post was all too dismissive. I can understand the shouts of Gamboa and Hamed eliciting that sort of response, but laughing at the idea of MAB beating Saddler? The Mexican was top shelf, Swarmer. No need for it.
Exactly, I just don't see him being able to press the fight against Sandy very effectively. he'd have to absorb some bad, bad shots coming in, and if he did get in he'd have to deal with sandy's uppercut and clinch fighting, which IMO are tops in the division apart from Armstrong. He could fight with a little more movement but the fact of the matter is that he just isn't good enough of a mover to stray from his usual style against another FW AtG. My tone may have been off but I stand by my opinion of Saddler knocking Barrera out.
I've only watched his fights with Pep so I'm in no real position to dispute this, I just take exception to people laughing off his chances. As already noted, Saddler was more than hittable and Barrera was very adept at throwing sharp, accurate combinations. He also worked really well behind the jab against Hamed and Tapia at 126lbs, and Saddler was no stylist from what I've seen. There's enough room for a half decent argument, no?
As I already mentioned to McGrain, I felt MAB fought on the back-foot very well against Hamed and Tapia. These two aren't in any way comparable to Saddler but I think it's an indication that MAB would try to box as opposed to take the fight to his opponent. You might be right, MAB probably wasn't a good enough of a mover to make this work for him against Saddler, at least not well enough to earn a victory, but you don't think there's room for debate? Fair enough. I admit my snide comment was a little ****.
I think this is as tough as you can make it for Barrera in this type of fight. Morales actually has a better chance of creating an upset for me, a little rangier.
I think MAB has a better jab than EM and he's more prepared to use it. There isn't a disparity in reach either, I don't think.
I feel like Morales fights rangier though, ya know? I don't really know the tale of the tape for either tbqh, so that's your call. Barrera's chances against Pep or Sanchez>>>>his chances against Sandy.