In terms of overall skills, H2H, and achievements, who would you say is the better fighter in your opinion? Both were great champions who possessed well rounded skills and versatility in the ring. Hard to pick one. Skill wise I think Jofre edges it while Ortiz has better resume.
Jofre is the better fighter and gets the edge because of his late career surge as a mid 30s Featherweight and the smaller man. He did most everything better than Ortiz but Ortiz himself was great and has some better names/wins that close the gap somewhat.
Both top notch ATG's. Ortiz should have been lightweight champ a lot earlier. It would have been no surprise to Brown, how clearly he had been beaten. He had just put off the inevitable, until he had no choice!
Jofre has a strong resume rooted in consistency and dominance. Ortiz is probably stronger, but Jofre's H2H skill at his weight, and his insane Featherweight feats at 37 push him over Ortiz for me. He has top class wins over people such as Jose Medel x2 (2 KO in his prime), Eloy Sanchez (very talented top fighter), Katsushiki Aoki (very talented Japanese southpaw known for his 'Megaton punch', as warred Harada), Bernado Caraballo (another talented top contender, very long and knew how to use it. Gave Harada quite the hassle as well). He also has other 'good' opponents at 118, one who he defense against (Jamito), and other non title bouts etc. At 126, age 37, Jofre has a decision win over the very talented Legra (who you are fimilar with) in which he won the Featherweight title. The most insane feat of Jofre is, IMO, his smashing KO victory over Vicente Saldivar, who he dispatched in 4 rounds. With this he re won the Feather title (he was stripped). (In fairness to saldivar, he had not fought in 2 years and had a shorter prime than some. However, its still a shocking KO victory over a top ATG in a higher weight class, and as an 'older man'). Harada (for comparison) has the better names, but Jofre was more consistent and dominant in his overall career.
Jofre’s wins can be a little underrated. Medel was a really, really good fighter. Especially in big fights. He was Mexican Bantamweight champ for like 7-8 years in an era when that particular title was a huge deal. He beat an excellent fighter in Toluco Lopez for it and thrashed him in a re-match. Of course, he scored one of the best wins in Mexican history against Harada. Medel perhaps doesn’t rank as high historically as some guys Ortiz beat like Ramos or Elorde but they were older and much smaller than Ortiz. The Medel that Jofre beat is better. Also probably brought better form and age to their fights than Ortiz-Brown too. Caraballo was another highly regarded, unbeaten contender who’d ran up an excellent record and was tested. Really difficult style especially after such a time out. A lot of the guys Jofre beat to earn his title shot were a mix in styles and good fighters. Ernesto Miranda was a busy, defensive mover with good boxing skills. Danny Kid and Leo Espinosa were damn good too. Ramón Arias, much like Caraballo, a fast, mobile boxer who’d actually came very close to dethroning Pascual Pérez despite having blood in his face all fight from a headbutt. Piero Rollo was an all action, aggressive busy fighter. Good on the European level but only fought for the world title that one time vs. Jofre. Eloy Sanchez was sort of a journeyman but also scored some good wins. He dominated and knocked out Jose Becerra in a huge upset to earn the right to fight Jofre when Becerra vacated. Johnny Caldwell was a good boxer. Good amateur pedigree, scored a big win over Halimi and beat him again in a dull fight. Caldwell wasn’t a big puncher but he was a skilled boxer/brawler and he had a ton of heart. Jose Legra was a superb fighter who really beat Famechon but got robbed badly. He was a style nightmare because he was so much bigger, longer, taller, younger than Jofre. Legra really was great with big fights when there was a title on the line like the European or world title. He rose to occasions. I’d say in a sense that’s better than a lot of the bigger or historically greater fighters than what Ortiz beat. Guys like Frankie Crawford, Godfrey Stevens were good too. Crawford was very close (deserved a win according to some) in a close loss in Japan for the title but lost the re-match a little clearer. He also gave Saldivar a good fight, beat Mando Ramos etc; Stevens not quite as close to Crawford when he went for the title but an accomplished fighter on the South American circuit. There’s also Saldivar who was at the end. That’s probably similar to Ortiz win over Elorde or Ramos IMO though.
There’s some highlights out there in blurry quality. I spoke to someone who had it but his hard drive took a dump.
