I know the obvious answer, don't worry. I have watched a fair bit of the Mexican hard man that is Villasana, and he has always struck me as the typical Mexican warrior, immensly tough and strong with a pressure fighting style. Now I consider him as one of the toughest, and to an extent, strongest Featherweights I have seen. He really is just a street brawler relying on his strength and toughness at times. Now, he fought Jeff Fenech, who had come up from Bantam, and Villasana was at times man-handled and pushed around. In fact I would say Fenech was by far the stronger man. Now, do you think any other Bantamweight could have done this? I mean, it is some feat. (I know that Fenech was not a natural Bantamweight but he did establish himself there, at least, and also I know he was a physical beast but that is besides the point.)
Difficult enough to do at 126.........I remember reading a synopsis of maybe the first fight with Nelson, where Nelson was quoted afterward regarding his inability to put Villasana away. He apparently just shrugged and said, "Don't know. That's as hard as I can punch."
Yeh, he was one tough guy Villasana, in the first fight he made Nelson back off a fair bit and gave him hell with his pressure. Nelson was much more effective in the rematch but still couldn't put away or could hardly even budge the Mexican. It makes Fenech's win very impressive for me, especially how dominant it was and the type of fight.
Villasana was strong but more so tough as nails. It's his ability to take a punch that really impressed me.
This thread doesn't make sense. Villasana was a featherweight and Fenech fought him at 126lbs. Just because Fenech was once a batamweight, doesn't mean he was a batamweight when he fought Villasana. Fenech started at 118 but slowly moved up to 130 as he matured.
Incidentally, i'd say the guy Fenech won his Bantam title from(shingaki)was one of the very worst champions of the entire decade. Can't really knock Fenech for it, but christ he was poor.
I think he was a very strong Featherweight. He really troubled Nelson with his strength, as he could match Nelson's, who was not used to that. He had a great set of whiskers on him. I believe Russell thinks he has one of the best chins of all time, and with good reason. I know Fenech was not a natural Bantamweight and matured into a SBW and even a FW, I think he became a natural Featherweight, as at Super-Feather he did struggle IMO with Azabache, greatly. Although saying that, do you see any fighter who established themselves at Bantamweight (what Fenech did), out-muscling Villasana? Despite Fenech growing into a SFW, he had established himself as a Bantam, it wasn't as though he had a few early fights as a Bantam, he was a world champion and made a few defences. Do you understand now?
Ain't seen him. I bought a career set of Fenech and the 1st disk did not work so I probably don't have this fight on DVD either. I think Fenech's run at SBW is pretty good though, Payakaroon and Zaragoza stand out. I do think as a whole Fenech is underrated, as he won three titles in three weights, at a time when it was still fairly important. He beat solid contenders in every weight-class, and never lost his title in the ring. Also he came the closest to winning a fourth world title (and probably should have won it) out of all the other prospectors. I think if he had got the nod against Nelson we would regard him entirely different and much more positively.
I'm watching him at the moment. He is a solid wee operator, my biggest problem is he can't combine his offence and defence, it is one or the other. Also his use of the shoulder is, shall we say 'unique', but brilliant. If you do give him the Nelson fight, you have the first four world champion and he would be a bit more 'mainstream' IMO
