I probably need to see more of Espana, but from what I've seen, I favor him by decision. The welterweight division between 1981 (after Leonard-Hearns) and the mid/late 90s (Oscar, Tito, Ike, Whitaker, DLH) gets overlooked quite a bit. There was some real talent there. It's a little sad that the talent pool as a whole in boxing in recent years has gone down considerably.
crisanto, gave meldrick taylor a bad beating, he was from venezuela i believe. He was trained by belfast bookie barney eastwood.
This would be a great ****ing fight. Two very tough men who would make this an absolute war. Espana's fight against Quartey is awesome. I would favor the Espana from his winning effort against Meldrick Taylor, and even his losing effort against Quartey over any version of Mayorga. "Claws" was equally as strong as Ricardo, and was the more skilled fighter. It would be a brutal slugfest with Espana the victor on the cards. I never understood why Espana never staged a comeback after the Quartey fight. Even though he lost to Ike, his performance in that fight would have bested many a Welterweight beltholder over the last 20 years.
Espana was the one who really ruined Meldrick Taylor. Chavez busted him up badly, Norris knocked him out violently, but Espana took Taylor's soul. That said, Mayorga was craftier with his head movement than he gets credit for. Also, when he was in good shape, he had great, awkward hustle. People like to pretend that Vernon Forrest completely confounded Mayorga and got robbed in their second fight. Whether you think the Viper was robbed or not, it was a tough, grueling fight. That, with the kayo in the first fight, and the good win over 6 heads Lewis round out solid proof that Mayorga was a world class fighter before he turned into a freak show.
Espana gave Taylor a pretty savage beating, but make no mistake, Norris beat the crap outta him and had A LOT to do with finishing his career at the top. Espana did beat the **** outta Mel though. But I feel it would have been a different fight if it was a fresher Taylor, like the one that schooled Aaron Davis.
