Eusebio Pedroza - How good was he, how do you rate him?

Good enough that I think a fight between him and Salvador would have been a toss up. One other thing Pedroza was not afraid to take his title on the road.
Maybe if Pedroza had died young people would be talking about him as they are about Chava?

 

Maybe. Pedroza was GREAT when he was on the go. But he never fought anyone as good as the 2 that Chava stopped- Gomez and Azumah. Just for the record, Juan LaPorte said Sanchez was the best fighter he ever fought.

 

After being punched in the bollocks by Pedroza for 15rds I think it unlikely that Laporte would give a glowing endorsement of the Panamanian.

 

Very true:good. I didn't even give that one a thought. Nicely put!

 

It does work both ways though, the "Patrick Ford Argument." People who use Patrick Ford to bolster the idea that Pedroza would beat Sanchez never seem to mention Juan Laporte. Sanchez had an easier time with him than Pedroza did.

For the record, I am not completely certain Sanchez would beat Pedroza. Wrong style.

 

Good point regarding LaPorte.

The only difference between Ford and LaPorte is that more time had elapsed between LaPorte's fights between Chava and Alcran, allowing Juan to get a bit more seasoning. Ford, if I recall correctly, fought Sanchez and Pedroza back to back.

Then again, Juan pretty much was who he was throughout the entirety of his career, so the fights may well have gone down the same way, even had they occurred in a shorter amount of time. And even with more seasoning, Ford might well have been picked apart by Pedroza when they fought.

Styles make fights, and all that.

 

Ya know who's underrated? Rocky Lockridge. He never had fifty odd title defenses against mostly **** opposition like Pedroza, but he was constantly in there with world class opposition and applied himself well there. He also had three victories (the Gomez fight and both Pedroza fights) ripped away from him in disgraceful decisions.

 

Lockridge is very underrated.

Pedroza's opposition is a bit underrated.

Pedroza-Lockridge I and II are underrated fights, imo (though I thought the first one could have gone either way and the second one was a clear, though close, victory for Alcran.)

 

Shame Lockridge was cold-****ed by LaPorte, though.