How good Could Salvador Sanchez have been had he lived?

I love Sanchez and he’s on my personal Mount Rushmore of favorites. I’ll give a more detailed answer later when I get time. It’s difficult to say. We saw there were styles he excelled against and ones he struggled with that weren’t considered as good as the top level guys he stopped. It’s possible/probable someone of the elite level finds that formula and beats him and then we alter how we think of him.

IMO at 23 he’s already top 4 from Mexico and probably around 10-12 Latino and May have had 2-3 more years at that level so I can see him climbing both lists but perhaps not quite enough to be #1.

 

I think he had a LOT of big obstacles coming up. He wanted to fight Arguello at 135 from memory and that would have been one helluva hurdle over 15. Camacho at 130 at that time would have been too big too i think. I think he would have had a very good chance of getting past Pedroza personally.

 

I go back and forth with the Sanchez-Pedroza question. Yes, Pedroza represented a tough stylistic matchup, but let's face it, the reverse is true too. Pedroza never saw anything like Sanchez.

 

Agreed. Pedroza has probably become a consensus choice in recent years but Sanchez would be a difficult task imo. He sure wouldn't tire in the championship rounds like some did and he would be a lot harder to get all those dirty tricks past too. He has plenty of output too.

 

Pipino Cuevas started at 14 years old, and was finished by 24 years old with his loss to Roger Stafford.

 

Excellent post..I only respectfully disagree on Arguello. I got AA taking a tight UD.

 

Sal would have done good, but not great like many tend to believe. Truthfully, a fight with Eusebio would have been 50/50, and there is no way he is beating Edwin Rosario, Howard Davis jr, Hilmer Kenty, or Roger Mayweather. Even Arguello may be too much. I could see him beating Serrano, Boza Edwards, possibly Mancini, even Sean O'Grady.

 

That's what I was thinking, Alexis was a handful at 130. I could see Sanchez fighting at 135 pounds by the time he was 27-28 and that would be rough on him. I do think he'd have beaten Camacho at 130 pounds, if he had judges that hated running

 

Arguello would have been at 135 which is where he'd settled at that time. He filled into 135 very well.

 

I agree Azumah would have taken him in a rematch but Sanchez was a great great fighter.