Greater fighter: Shane Mosley or Wilfredo Gomez ??

To reiterate on my previous post...Gomez towers above Mosely as a fighter..in every way..and was a legendary champion. You can debate about whether De La Hoya or Zarate was better than the other, but whatever the case may be the difference wasn't great and Gomez shone...utterly shone against Zarate in a way that Shane didn't vs oscar...and Gomez DESTROYED Zarate...a VERY impressive achievement. Shane was great vs Margarito and aged somewhat better than Gome\z, but in the balance, Gomez is greater.

 

Gomez

 

I don't see it as being close at all. Gomez was one of the most complete and effective fighting machines of all-time, Mosley was an athletic brawler who lost far more big fights than he won. Video evidence will confirm this opinion.

 

I think they are very close, with somewhat similar careers, both were unbeaten dominant champions until they ran into an excellent foil for their weaknesses Sanchez/Forrest, where both were exposed pretty much. Both looked unbeatable in their first weight class but no neither were. Both have controversal wins for a title in a 3rd weight class. Mosley has the best win of the 2 and has the better ledger of names, although he lost to allot of them. Gomez missed a few names like Pedroza and didn't unify at 122 although I'm not sure how important that would have been, also Gomez's title wins at 126/130 were both against the weaker champions. Gomez has the better run in his lowest division but Mosley has the better wins above his lowest division. Mosley has by far the better longevity

Split a hair between them, I know people will say Gomez is the best 122lber of all time, but that doesn't mean that much given the division is only 35years old and I'm not entirely convinced its true, plus if he faced a 122lb version of Sanchez he's still losing that 1

 

One key difference is Gomez tried like hell in tough fights even when apparently outmatched, whereas Mosley crumbled mentally and went through the motions time and time again, such was the effect of losing to Forrest he seemed barely able to let his hands go for years afterward against any non-inept punching bag-opponent.

Any parallels to be drawn in their career arc or level of opposition are superficial for me here...Gomez was simply the mentally tougher and more gifted fighter, even if he was arguably a "comfort zone" type himself.

It's true that being the best 122lb fighter of all time isn't exactly an epic achievement though.Wilfredo would have been better served to have fought at 118.He cheated himself of a better legacy by taking the easier route re weightmaking for an irrelevant division with no history.Thats another difference between the two; gomez was never the most dedicated of fighters.

still, at his best he was much more of a master in the ring than Shane was.

 

I'm not sure 'mentally crumbling' is fair assessment of Shane, he's overcame adversity or tried to overcome adversity in many fights. the first DLH fight, Mayorga, he chased DLH down in the rematch even if you thought he lost, the second Winky fight showed him grab the bull by the horns and that was much closer than given credit form even in the Cotto fight he was the 1 walking his man down at the end. Against FMJ and Pac he gave up the game, but at that age he can be forgiven. He was more technically inept than mentally weak imo

Gomez is certainly the more fluid boxer of the 2, better footwork, defense and less forced but Mosley makes up for his weaknesses with athleticism and planting his feet so hard he leaves footprints when he throws left hooks or overhand rights and as a powerpuncher excellent despite not throwing quite as straight as the smarter boxers

 

I agree. Gomez could do it all. At his best, he was unhittable and countered w/ great power. And at Superbantam, he was as great as a fighter could get. I have his career and lived thru his career and his KO's over Zarate, Pintor, Davila, Meza, Cruz, Yum, etc. are unbelieveable. On top of whcih, he had a great heart and NEVER Backed down. He had a broken cheekbone against Sanchez in the first and got the crap beat out of him, but still fought well into the 8th. Mosely proved to be a COWARD against first mayweather and then Pac. He looked swcared and refused to even try to win. After all his tough talk. I will always think of him as a guy w/ the power to win the fights, but a heartless coward w/ the going tough.:dead

 

I think Gomez was the much better fighter.

Resume, its quite close, but in terms of the man in the gloves, Shane, while on helluva champion, isnt in the league of Wilfredo, who I think ranks h2h as one of the top fighters in boxing.

Who in his weight range beats him on his best day at his best weight? I cant think of anybody.

 

I especially loved Gomez's sometimes sadistic edge that he had when he seemed like a cat toying with it's prey before dispatching it..he was so superior to this opponents and he seemed to have a cold sort of quality as opposed to a Roberto Duran to me.

 

Can you imagine, when Wilfredo started off as a pro, because of his respect for Duran, he went to Panama and was managed by Eleta and in the same stable. 2 of the 5 best fighters I saw in my lifetime easily.:thumbsup

 

You can watch one Gomez fight after the other in his 122 lb glory days, but the most fantastic of all was vs Zarate...i remember being shocked to **** that my local channel back in '78 actually showed exerpts of that fight on the sports news...and then I was just amazed at what i saw...the wildness of it..Gomez decking Zarate all over the place ..getting him while he was technically down...usually I don't go for that, but Gomez just BLEW ME AWAY...what a fantastic fighter...

 

Gomez.

 

like you say, he was UNBELEIVEABLE You really had to be from that time to remember the complete awe that Duran and Gomez had about them. They just had an aura of menace and yoy KNEW someone would get hurt.

 

You almost dreaded the fate of their opponents, but that would never stop me from enjoying ever moment of it..lol..and yes indeed...Gomez was UNBELIEVABLE all right!!