Here's one with a little more meat on it. Fred Fulton was big, strong and reasonably skilled. Nino was also big but did he have the grit that Fred did? Opine at your leisure.
Grit and a jab was most of what Valdes had going for him. Fulton's chin is the question here, otherwise he should be able to win if he was as good as he is said to have been. I'm never very confident in picking a fighter without seeing any film. It's possible that Valdes would be too physical for him since Fulton showed alarming fragility at times.
Hm, didn´t Valdez do more in his, better, era than Fulton in his? So, this may be a hint on who to pick here. Fulton was higher regarded in his time than Valdez in his though, which would be a hint for the opposite. Tough to call.
Tell us a little more on Valdez. Didnt he start out at middleweight? I heard a lot of people state he beat Moore in 55 for right to fight Rocky. Also he couldnt ko Folley who was kod by any body who could punch.
Agreed with GreatA and PP - can't make a serious pick without seeing Fulton. It's theoretically possible that Valdes could overpower Fulton the same way the similarly big, hulking Wills did; OR it's possible Fulton could outskill Valdes the way similarly "fragile" fighters like Baker and Satterfield did. Either way, it's purely a guess.
Both guys had an impressive run of wins as the leading contender in their respective eras, each with a decisive win over a HOFer (Fulton over Langford, Valdes over Charles). Both guys were then perceived as being "exposed" thereafter, and while both did float in and out of contention for some time afterward, neither one ever reached quite the same heights again. I'd say they're both pretty comparable in that regard.
I don't know what weight he started out, and in fact his early record is a bit sketchy, but he had apparently been fighting for quite some time before he finally distinguished himself as a leading contender somewhere around the age of 30. He was a big, hulking fighter (compared to others in his era), with deceptively quick hands, tremendous punching power, and (for a time) a great chin. On the flipside, he had very poor technique and defense, and basically just relied on his chin and sheer bulk to absorb punches - which ultimately was his undoing. His career was characterized by explosive KO wins alternating with ugly, messy snoozefests. Valdes skyrocketed to prominence when he scored a shocking upset win over ex-champ Ezzard Charles in '53. Prior to that, he was thought of as just a tough journeyman, losing to "name" fighters like Bob Baker and Moore, but perhaps giving them better-than-expected fights. After beating Charles, Valdes followed up with a string of wins from late '53 through early '55, which included wins over two other top 5 contenders (Heinz Neuhaus and Hurricane Jackson), each of which was supposed to earn him a shot at Rocky Marciano's HW title. However, Charles ended up getting first one, then two shots at Marciano's title, and then Valdes was bypassed again for Don Cockell. Valdes ultimately lost a close decision to Moore, which ended his run as the top contender. After that he was thoroughly battered (and dropped) by a supposedly washed-up Bob Satterfield, which started him on his decline. After a series of losses, he was suprisingly KO'd by up-and-coming Eddie Machen, which left him looking like a shot fighter. His loss to Folley came right after that. Valdes eventually did manage to work his way back into the top 5 when Floyd Patterson was champ, but although he still had his size and power, his intensity and punch resistance were gone, a fact that was exposed when he suffered an upset loss to mediocre journeyman Chuck Powell. After that he quickly faded out of the top 10, was used as a stepping stone for an up-and-coming Sonny Liston, and then was forced to retire because of an eye injury following a so-so winning performance against Brian London.
At 17 years old Valdes weighed 175 pounds. That's the only time he made the light heavyweight limit and was a heavyweight afterwards. Not much solid information on his pre-US fights though.
Fair enough. Who do you think fought in the better era? And does that play a role in your judgement of their "class"?
