I’d have the say Olivares is up there. Olivares though no longer prime was vastly more experienced and the defending champion. Arguello overcame adversity falling behind, getting outboxed and in front Of Olivares fans to score a great KO. Escalera- dethroned a long reigning respected and talented champion. I think perhaps those are his best two. Mancini was a great one too. Just bided his time, used his experience and fought a smart fight with a hungry young lion. Expert finish. Chacon was on a good run, an excellent fighter and Arguello took him apart. That’s another great win. Other notables like Limon, Edwards were dominant excellent wins. Castillo was a top contender of the day. Very skilled, he had to rally to come back and break him. Ramirez was an excellent fighter too though that could have gone to the Mexican.
His biggest wins were at his lighter weights but his breakthrough that made him an American star was Mancini ..
Arguello's 130 lbs. resume is stacked from top to bottom with great names. And I think he had a 100 percent finish rate at that weight, which, again is remarkable given how thick the talent was, and how Alexis put the majority away without difficulty. Alfredo Escalera X2 Ruben Olivares Bobby Chacon Boza-Edwards Limon Rolando Navaratte His TKO 5 win over Andy Ganigan is less remembered, but Ganigan was a nightmarish puncher, who had previously put away Sean O'Grady in less than two. Plenty of people have a low opinion of O'Grady on this forum, but the point is, Ganigan was seriously, seriously dangerous and Arguello put him away in a hurry.
I remember the Ganigan win, short but violently sweet. Those body punches Arguello landed still look devastating! Another win that gets overlooked is the Costello fight when he won the Jr.Welter championship. It was plain to see the Pryor fights had taken a lot out of Arguello, but the one thing it didn't take away was the power, and when Arguello finally caught up to Costello. It was over quickly.
I've always rated Alexis's win over Jim Watt as well. He didn't get the big KO like he generally did but moving up he floored and clearly beat a very good boxer who was enjoying a good run at the time and was determined to hang in there. That said you can't go past the Olivares victory. Two ATG's duking it out in a give and take humdinger until finally Alexis comes from behind for the win. Damn I love these two fighters!
Amen. True Legends, not the manufactured kind as most of the "ATG"S are in today's era. Especially the one that has less than 15 pro fights, yet being compared to some of the greatest boxers in history like Arguello,Duran, Brown,Ortiz, or Ross.
Personally I don't tend to put Arguello's win over Olivares near the top. I don't think Olivares was anything special north of 118 lb, and it certainly wasn't one of Arguello's greatest performances. He needed the stoppage as he was behind after twelve, and Ruben made light of his size disadvantage for the most part, albeit Arguello didn't peak as a Featherweight, either. Olivares is the best 'name' on Alexis' record, but for me his best victories in terms of being indicative of how special a fighter he was came at 130 lb. Escalera, the horrendous verdict against Everrett aside, was a good WBC champion, and Arguello handled him handsomely two times over. But consider this; the four men who held the title after Arguello were Limon, Boza-Edwards, Navarette and Chacon. Yet Arguello successfully defended against all of them, usually swatting them with contempt. His wins at 135 are still excellent, but he didn't quite have the same cutting edge he'd had as a Super-Featherweight, hence why he let Watt off the hook in terms of failing to force the stoppage (didn't matter too much as Jim was a clear second-best) and why he took a little longer than normal to stamp his authority on the Gangian (but what a savage body shot knockout he delivered eventually!) and Mancini. Worth remembering that he also dropped a non-title decision to Vilomar Fernandez in a Lightweight experiment a while before that, so safe to say that 130 was Arguello's absolute best weight. But damn, what a fighter. Still makes my top twenty-five pound for pound list.
