Arguello at Featherweight and Lightweight

Do you guys think he could be classed within the top ten at either weight.

At Featherweight obviously he was younger and IMO hadnt quite matured into the technical skills he had in the Super Feather and Light divisions. However he was much more physical. At Featherweight he compiled a decent record post his loss to Marcel.

Art Hafey - A top Featherweight contender of the day, stopped in the 5th round.
Ruben Olivares - A motivated and in good form Olivares, not that long after his first move up to Featherweight and he had already dominated Bobby Chacon. Arguello won a war with a KO in the 13th. Afterwards Olivares again destroyed Chacon before losing to Kotey.
Leonel Hernandez - A dominant win over a contender.
Rigoberto Riasco - ditto
Royal Kobayashi - Undefeated future Champion. Arguello absoloutly brutalises him with body shots and takes him out with a peach in the 5th.
Salvador Torres - Another dominant win over a contender.

Obviously, Olivares is the best win of the bunch and Arguello's only real signature win at Featherweight, it was an in-form Olivares but at that time he was terribly inconsistent, I still think it is a quality win. The Kobayashi win is another good one mainly for how dominant it was and that Kobayashi went on to becoem a champ, but perhaps Kobayashi was pre prime?

The rest of the wins are just wins over contenders that add depth to the resume. the Hafey win is probably the stand out here IMO.

Personally, I do not think it is enough to warrant a top ten spot, unless you are highly in favour of H2H rankings.

Now Lightweight.

At lightweight Arguello did not have the physical advantage is strength he normally commanded so struggled abit with the strength of his opponents. He di however have a fairly lengthy reign and wins over good fighters.

Cornelius Boza Edwards - A young future Super-Featherweight champion, fought in a non-title bout. Arguello was very dominant here in one of his best performances but Boza was green and not in his optimal weight class.
Jose Luis Ramirez - A young but decent Ramirez, again a non-title bout. A very controversial win (I thought Arguello won it) and he was dropped. Ramirez would become a champion at Lightweight.
Jim Watt - A good title holder. Had beaten the likes of Howard Davis and Sean O'Grady. By no means an all time great but he was a good Champion. Arguello absoloutly dominated Watt and outboxed him in one of his best displays of boxing. A very good win.
Ray Mancini - A young and ambitious and highly talented brawler in Mancini. Really wanted to win the title and arguably in his prime just needing experiance. despite Mancini putting up a tough fight Arguello did in effect domiate and took him out late. mancini later became a solid champion himself. A very good win.
Roberto Elizondo - Dominant win over contender.
James Busceme - talented amatuer, not great as a pro. Dominant win.
Andrew Ganigan - One of the top contenders of the era. Arguello was dropped and struggled abit but he got Ganigan out there fairly quick. A good win.

I think at Lightweight Arguello has a better chance of being in the top 10, but it is a very deep division.

The wins over Mancini and Ganigan stand out for me here. Especially the Mancini one, who wenton to become a very good champion. The manner of the Watt win was very impressive also and it got the title for Arguello.


What do you guys think?

 

Fair enough, I think he has more substance in his record at 135, though.

I agree the Hernandez fight is superb.

 

At Super-Featherweight he reigned supreme, he would be consensus number 1 at that weight, he was superbly dominant, as you say, 1975 thru 1980.

I thought the Ramirez fight was a close but clear win, I thought the knockdown made it close but Arguello clearly won.

 

Been a while since I watched it, aswell. I thought it was competitve but Arguello was the boss in there with that body work.

Also toughts on the main theme of the thread would be very welcome.

 

Physically he was a beats at Featherweight, he was very strong, had even more dramatic heaight advanatge and as you say was abit more nimbler.

At Lightweight I think he more more clever and calculated in his approach, he made every punch count and showed improved countering. At Feather he could be drawn into a fight abit and would trade rather than pick his openenings for counters as he did at Lightweight.

Even then, he probably is better at Featherweight. But I think he did better work at Lightweight.

If any Featherweight can stop Saddler it is Arguello.

Agree with that.