Better fighter: Roberto Duran (135) or Wilfredo Gomez (122)

Duran had all the tools. Duran is the better all around fighter.

 

Duran had better Legit Challengers. Gomez was great at Jr. Feather...but it was a new Division.
Gomez needed a Ruben Olivares-type Challenger. In fact, Olivares had to jump from Bantam to
Feather in order to move up in the early 70's, because Jr. Feather didn't exist. More than likely,
it would have been Olivares who would have set the standard for the perfect Jr. Featherweight first,
then Gomez comes along to match or exceed the Olivares' records.

 

I think Duran edges out Gomez by a slight margin...the difference was minimal IMO. A real shame that Gomez didn't hang around at 122 a bit longer...I always thought that a match with Ruben Olivares would have been a huge win for Gomez...he would have destroyed the Mexican just as he did Zarate.

 

Duran for me but he is a top #10 p4p beast. Gomez was at his best in the 70's before he became more power orientated. He could basically do it all and was superb at slipping punches and boxing when he wanted to be. A really complete fighter. Later on he was to forego much of this for offense and this sped up his decline, a pretty early one imo.

 

Gómez won the gold medal at the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba before turning professional.[7] He also competed in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, getting eliminated by an Egyptian rival in the Olympic's first round of bouts.[8] He compiled an overall record of 96 wins and 3 defeats as an amateur boxer. Because of his family's economic situation, he decided not to wait for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, opting to begin making money right after the Cuban competition instead. Coming from Puerto Rico, he settled for less money and exposure from the American media, and moved to Costa Rica, where he began to tour all of Central America in hopes of finding matches. His professional debut came in Panama City, Panama, where he fought to a draw with Jacinto Fuentes.

 

Any performances stand out in particular?

 

Check out some of the late 70's stuff. The Davila bout shows him in good stead.

The one thing i hate about Gomez is how terribly dirty he was. Elbows, hitting on the ground and lots more. He was an arseole in the ring and not in a good way. No respect often even after he'd beaten them.

In many ways the Sanchez fight was a good comeuppance.

 

Good post John, I agree with you.

 

This is also a very good post. I'm with you again mate.

 

The fight against Yum was a brilliant showcase by Gomez for me. Some of the stuff he pulled in that bout wasn't far from being unsurpassable.

 

Here's a post from way back in here from one of the old brigade that deserves a bit of a rehash. I'm not saying i agree with every word but it does paint an impressive picture of peak Gomez.

Gomez of the late '70s looked like the best pound-for-pound - ever. His opponents at that time weren't much cop, but he stood out like a fat bird in the Playboy mansion. Except he was only little. Little, but not little enough to fit into the more historically rich 118lbs division, which is a shame. Wasn't big enough to fit into the 126lbs division either, so he was left to fill the ghostly 122lbs void which was, at that time, all but starved of talent. Gomez came and rescued it, and brilliantly so - gliding like Pep, hitting like Robinson and thinking like Duran, Gomez the Wizard imbued all the past powers of the greats and crafted his own offensively-defensive style that worked magnificently. He toyed with his opponents; poked them, prodded them, scared them, then broke their ribs or nose. Professional fighters looked foolish and intimidated as Gomez bore in, jabbing and tapping, feeling and feinting but at the same time, not being hit - at all. Slipping punches by a millimeter, ducking them in succession, floating in and out like a wraith. Then he just bashed **** out of 'em.

 

If their was one fighter who looked more dynamic than Duran in the late 70's it was Gomez. When he used his boxing ability and was disciplined he looked unbeatable. Imagine R.Jones with great boxing ability, not just physical athleticism. I think his competition was just little below what Duran was fighting, but he looked even more devastating. I slightly lean towards Duran because of the competition he faced. But I wouldn't argue with anyone who favored Gomez.

 

Tough call. Duran is the obvious pick because he established himself as an all-time great in one of the original 8 weight divisions while Gomez ruled over a betweener division, neither a bantamweight nor a featherweight.

But Gomez put the junior featherweight division on the map - the history of the division effectively started with him. There was Gomez and then everyone who came after. Even with some of the quality of the fighters who've spent time at 122 pounds since (Barrera, Morales, Pacquiao) Gomez is still by far and away the greatest in the division's history.

He is because of 5 years unbeaten and 17 straight title defenses (and all by KO). But he also is because of two momental wins that effectively bookended his dominance - the '78 win over Zarate was as big a shock and as dominant a performance as anyone produced that decade and mirrored what would happen to Gomez himself three years later when he was an overwhelming favourite against a young, unheralded champion called Salvador Sanchez. His final defense in December 1982 against bantamweight champion Pintor was and still is the greatest fight in the history of the junior featherweight division.

So, I pick Duran but it's a tribute to Gomez for leaving such an indelible mark in such an unheralded weight class that it is that close to call.