How Good Was Jeff Fenech?

Jeff Fenech is not an ATG. Had he beaten Nelson then he may have been seen as one but it was the rematch that solidified my thinking that he would never be one. I'd had previous doubts about him since the Zarate fight, specifically about how he reacted to adversity (or in this fight, preceived adversity...check out Fenech's reaction after the fight ended and he thought for a moment that Zarate had been given a TKO win on a cut)

At his best though, he was a monster who largely flew under the boxing world's radar

 

Do you not think putting on that level of performance in his 4th division against one of the most highly regarded fighters of that time demonstrates that he was a great fighter? Especially considering a lot of people consider it a robbery.

 

It was only a shadow of the great Carlos Zarate that Fenech beat, but I'm sure I've heard Zarate quoted that he thinks even at his peak he couldn't have beaten Fenech. High praise indeed and if Zarate didn't honestly think it, he would have no cause to say it.

 

Absolutely! I remember getting ready to watch Tyson/Ruddock, being excied about watching Nelson school this aussie who at the time I knew very lettle about....mid-way through I realized he was no joke. Nelson is my favorite non-Philly fighter, and I was upsetthat a draw was the decision...When a fighter ives a performance like Fench's he deserves the decision he has earned. to do this a you said well above his natural weight class against a high caliber opponent shows he was a great....the level of greatness is really the only thing that is debateable.

 

Pfff the worst austrailian named jeff that won titles in 3 divisions in the 80s.

 

I would say that Fenech was really fighting someone his own size when he fought Nelson :yep But it showed that he didn't need to be the bigger man to outhustle and outfight a top fighter.

A real shame he never fought Esparragoza IMO.

 

True, Zarate was a 36 year old who'd been retired for about 7 years and had fought nobody since making a comeback. High praise indeed from Carlos, although I wonder if he meant that he could never beat Fenech at 122 rather than 118. Zarate had little success when fighting the bigger boys and Fenech was a big 122 lber

 

Samart was a fighting machine. Weight drained, I know, but the beating Fenech put on him was frightening.

 

I reckon at 122 there was Gomez, Fenech....then daylight. Nobody would have troubled either of them too much at the weight

At 126 Fenech found them a bit stronger and since one of his strengths was his strength and pressure they didn't fall as easily as the smaller guys. His mangled hands didn't help the situation. With a healthy pair and a bit more power he would have been incredible

 

I don't know that Zarate applied any weight qualification to his assessment of Fenech? But Zarate was an absolute wrecking ball, even though slight in build. It came as high praise indeed for Fenech, and I was quite shocked to hear it at the time.

 

Not even sure Fenech needed more power with the relentless tempo he had. But a sounder pair of hands would have been extremely useful and who knows how good he could have been then?

 

Fair enough. His hands forced him into holding back although at 126 you could see his punches had less effect aginst the better fighters

As an aside..Fenech's attitude wasn't too good at times. For the Nelson rematch he's quoted as saying he thought he's walk right through him, which isn't a good attitude to have against Azumah Nelson. His longtime trainer had also literally kicked him out of the gym and told him to come back only when he'd learnt respect and humility

 

To be fair the beating he laid on Villasana would've stopped a few. Villasana was one of the hardest men I've ever seen!

 

I watched Paul Hodkinson fight Villasana and remember thinking that since Hoko was a lesser version of Fenech so he was in for a very long night. Hoko started well but ended up with both eyed closed and unable to see a thing

 

Oh, savage that one, but pretty good operator was Hoko.