Could Wilfredo Gomez ever have beaten Salvador Sanchez

Sorry for the blank post. Having trouble posting. FWIW, I think Sanchez would have always been a bit much for Gomez

 

Absolutely he could. If our own Pat Cowdell or Patrick Ford ran Sanchez close, Gomez had the skills to go that bit further. It would need a huge effort as Sanchez had overwhelmed him but if Bazooka puts that down to the injury and doesn't weaken mentally, he has every chance. He is every bit as good at 122 as Sanchez was at 126, maybe even better.

Gomez was losing his focus by the time he fought Sanchez. If he regains it, who knows? And wasn't Sal killed driving to see his mistress? Maybe his focus was starting to slip.

If this fight had happened we might have seen a revitalised Bazooka against a complacent Sanchez. In his last fight, Azumah Nelson had given him fits despite only having had a handful of fights. As good as Azumah was, he is not as good after 15 or so fights as Gomez could have been in 83.

Hold a gun to my head and I'll pick Salvador but make a case for Gomez and I'm not going to laugh you out of town.

 

No, I don't think so. His best chance to beat Sanchez was when he fought him and instead he took a brutal beatdown. If they'd fought again, I think Sanchez would have beaten him again - he had his number.

 

In retrospect it isn't especially easy to imagine him doing so, considering how their fight actually went, but I often wonder how much closer it might've been if Gomez hadn't gotten off to such a disastrous start. He didn't recover from it really and Sal really put his foot on Gomez's throat from then on. That said, Gomez actually did pretty well to get himself back in contention in the middle rounds before Sanchez hurt him again and finished things. Like Eddie says, he'd lost his focus by the time they fought and was in love with his power and full of his own ****. I can definitely imagine Sal, a natural counter puncher, having stretches of trouble with Gomez if he opted to box and move like he was capable of, though probably not enough ultimately to lose.

 

It's hard to say really, he did get nailed early in the fight and it's hard to get over something like that against someone of the quality of Sanchez. On a different night who knows. You could say the same about whether Zarate could of beaten Gomez on another night. I think there really is a question mark over Zarate's fitness for that one and Wilfredo's conduct as well. Harry Gibbs had an uncharacteristic bad night for that one.

 

But he was never as good at 126 lbs as Sanchez was.

A good big man beats a good little man.

Styles make fights and Sanchez probably beats Gomez 10/10 at 126 lbs.

I may have overdone the cliches in this response, though. LOL.

 

He destroyed Gomez as well.

Yes, Gomez in '83 was probably better than Nelson in '82, but they had different styles. Sanchez had a bit more trouble with Nelson's style than he did Gomez's style. But, it's not like Sanchez lost to Nelson. In the end, he stopped him. It's not like he won a disputed decision or the like.

Gomez's sole good performance at 126 lbs. was against a lethargic LaPorte, who fought off the ropes and who had been decisioned by clubfighter Gerald Hayes a few months earlier.

Laporte was a solid, good 126 lb fighter.

Nelson and Sanchez were greats at 126 lbs - just better than Gomez could ever hope to be.

 

Good post Al, I agree. Things went about as badly for Zarate as they could have that night and Gomez was a right dirty cheating swine throughout, awesome though he was. He was a nob against Davila too and Sal must've been super pumped to give him a pasting. It's quite enjoyable to see him get his comeuppance to be honest.

 

It completely depends on how much emphasis you place on Gomez having to drain weight the day of the fight. There are so many angles. It sure can't have helped him but Sanchez always looked quite comfortable.

I wouldn't say Sanchez destroyed Gomez. Tho never looking like the winner Gomez came back and fought reasonably competitively after being smashed early.

Gomez, 24 years old, the W.B.C. superbantamweight (122-pound division) champion since February 1977, was moving up in weight class, but apparently not enough. He had to get up at 4:30 this morning, 4 1/2 hours before the weigh-in, to take off four pounds in order to make the featherweight limit of 126.

''There is no question the weight influenced the outcome immensely,'' said Gabriel Penagaricano, one of Gomez's lawyers, who represented the battered boxer at the post-fight news conference. ''But that is absolutely no excuse. Sanchez proved tonight he was a formidable champion.''

 

He clearly didn't train properly for the fight, which seems extraordinary now but I guess reflects the level of overconfidence/arrogance Gomez had at that point. If the rematch had taken place then I'm sure Gomez would have entered the ring in 100% physical condition but he would still have the psychological scars of the first fight to overcome.

How much did the fight with Sanchez take out of him mentally as well as physically? He seemed to recover pretty well in subsequent defenses of his super bantamweight title but there are plenty of people who say he lost something after that fight. He certainly lost his aura of invincibility and standing across from Sanchez again, would he truly believe he could beat him, given the way the first fight went even with the excuse of no preparation? I personally don't think so.

 

Gomez LUSTED after a rematch. He was utterly devastated when Sanchez was killed.

Doesn't mean he'd win of course.

 

Oh yeah, no doubt that he wanted to get Sanchez back in the ring. But if he had, when he finally got back in there, would he be able to erase the first fight from his mind? All hypothetical of course, but I have my doubts.

 

The answer is never. In his last fight, Sal stopped a man, Azumah Nelson, that would go on to stop Gomez as well. Now before some of you claim that the Nelson of the Sanchez fight was a "green" version of the Professor, please watch the fight again, because he looked pretty damn awesome in one of the greatest featherweight fights that I've ever seen.

 

I put no emphasis on it.

I agree with his lawyer - it's a lame excuse

It's indefensible to move up in weight and still have trouble making the weight.

If he couldn't train properly for the biggest fight of his career, that's all on him.

So, even if he was weight drained, it's his responsibility and should in no way be used to lessen the accomplishment by Sanchez.