Great Juan Laporte interview ... Sanchez best by FAR !!!

Ali with his speed would have cleaned up the great Sugar Ray Robinson and all the Welterweights and Middleweights if he had been a Welterweight or Middleweight, I always believed he truly was the best because of his speed more than anything else. As a heavyweight he was barely seen by fans! Can you imagine how fast he would have been at those weights? Out of this world!

 

John, great post! My memory is faulty but I seem to remember that Gomez was the favorite against Sal

 

9-5 in favor of Gomez, so just short of 2-1 on. A solid fave.

 

happens all the time with the big hitters. What about the Layne fight----what a shocker that was and Gomez had nothing.

 

This is why I hate all the p4p stuff. People assume that fighters will be exactly the same kind of fighter an fight exactly the same way with exactly the same skills if they put 50 pounds on or took 50 pounds off. You think Robinson will be as fast or have the same moves if you put 60 pounds on him an he fought as a heavyweight?You think a 6’3 Ali weighing 147 will automatically mean that he would be 5 times quickly than he would be at heavyweight but have the same durability and strength? Mayweather will be just as elusive at 220 as he was at 130? Foreman carrying his power down an hitting flyweight with it?

 

In the case of speed, yes. Power is different because weight has to do with that, but the heavier people are, the slower they are.

 

Cool, born and raised in Tucson, all 64 years.

 

If I remember correctly, ringside tickets for the Sanchez-Nelson fight were going for $30! It is one of my regrets in life that I didn't go to see that one, and I lived close by so it would have been easy to reach. Another one of those things that you think you'll always have another chance to see. I read that the first thing Juan LaPorte did after winning the vacant WBC title was go to Mexico and pay his respects at the grave of Salvador Sanchez. That always struck me as pure class. The array of talent that Juan LaPorte faced is remarkable by any standard, and I would give his opinions considerable weight and credibility.

 

Thanks, John!

 

Thanks for sharing that one, JW!

 

I never thought that Salvador Sanchez could punch that hard, if you watch the fight from July 21 1982 on You Tube, you will notice that Sanchez decked Nelson twice in that 15 round title bout, Sanchez decked Nelson in round 7, and the 15th and last round to produce a TKO 15.