I have only seen his fights against Hagler and Hearns Also do you think it was a punch or thumb that closed his eye in the Hagler fight?
Very unlucky guy Roldan to fight for titles against 3 outstanding fighters. Gave Hagler a tremendous tussle, which would have been even tougher for Hagler if there hadn't been the accidental thumb. Then he nearly had Hearns out, and when way past his best still managed to give Nunn a good run for his money. He'd be champ today, no doubts.
At his best, he was very aggressive, strong, and could punch. He wasn't particularly fancy or skilled, but he probably could beat some of the MW titlists to come around in recent years, like maybe Joppy and that ilk.
People dont realize he was trained by the same man that developed Monzon which is why he was so well prepared for the Hagler fight. Most top notch fighters seem to perform better in big fights and I never saw him do as well after that. I never saw an actual thumb get into the eye so for me it's hard to be suspicious of one unless I have proof postive.
If I remember correctly, he actually suffered some kind of orbital fracture, probably similar to what John Mugabi suffered against Duane Thomas. Don't know if that came from a thumb or just a freak punch.
Crude and tuff, early on.......... Later he became chopped Carne Asada............... I'm not sure what his last fight was........ He was stopped by Nunn in 1988 or '89 and kinda' vanished....... Roldan's biggest win was his shocking 1983 KO over Frank "The *******" Fletcher....... In 84 was the Hagler fight / maul job.... MR.BILL
He really destroyed...demolished Frank Fletcher...can't help but being impressed by that fight...that much said, he was pretty much a right hand bomber-crude slugger type that met his masters in Hagler (he got that bogus kd of Hagler) and Hearns.
He looked quite impressive against Hagler until the thumb or whatever it was that caused his eye to close. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJb_oLfVaU0
I always thought Juan lacked huge desire and commitment. He seemed to have been capable of being even better but lacked the will.