If Sal hadn't gone so young, could he have been Mexico's 1st 4-weight champ?

I think the second one is more likely, I think he could have moved up to SFW and LW succesfully.

How do you think he would fair with the likes of Arguello at SFW?

 

Hell No.Maybe Jr lightweight, but I don't see Salvador becoming a three, more less, four time champ.Too much comp back then in those other divisions for him to dominate.

 

Im sure he would have won a title at JLW no doubt about it, also think he could have grabbed a LW title, after that it would depend on how he carried the weight. He might have gone on to be the greatest from Mexico, as it is i have him no.2.

 

3 time champ i think he would for sure, i wouldn;'t be too sure about 4, but i could see it happening. Out of the fighters active around that time, the ones i could see him giving him the most trouble would be Whitaker and Chavez IMO.

 

Yeah those two would be intriguing fights, as I think Arguello would have been.

 

I would make him a favorite over Mancini,Ramirez,Rosario etc etc that is why i said he would win a LW title but im not sure hed beat Arguello at LW, at JLW i think it would have been a pickem match.

 

I think he might have been able to do both.

If he wanted to cherry pick his way there, I can see him beating a Rocky Lockridge At 130 (1984), a Jimmy Paul at 135 (1985), and a Rene Arredondo at 140 (1986).

If he stayed at featherweight, he could avoid Nelson, or perhaps even beat him in a rematch, who knows... I don't see anyone bar Nelson that would cause him too much trouble in the division until say Fenech hits the division in 88.

 

With that said, I'd probably regard Sal as a greater fighter if he stayed at 126, beat Nelson in a rematch, beat McGuigan or a fading Pedroza and had the odd decent defense against an Esparragoza, Grove or Cruz than I would if he scaled 4 weights beating the calibre of guys he'd be beating along the way.

Beating a Pazienza or Alfredo Layne or even a Lonnie Smith type of guy wouldn't have meant much to me.

We can rule out wins against the likes of Camacho, Chavez and Pea - wouldn't happen.

 

Or possibly meeting Pedroza in a unification bout, and getting his arse kicked ?
As great as Sanchez was ,I believe there is a" James Dean" aura attached to him,"how great he could have been ,what wonders he would have performed". etc.
Fact is he was not even established as the best Featherweight in the world when he died.
Nine successful defences ,all in the US or Mexico, good record.
Pedroza had twenty, some of them in his challengers back yards.

 

Sal's discipline and training habits meant that staying at 126 was never going to pose any difficulty for him. He was already at a stage where he was likely to dominate the featherweights as long as he cared to. Nelson was actually a sub par performance for him. A rematch with Gomez was widely seen at the time as the only serious potential challenge for his WBC title. A challenge of Arguello was contemplated for him not long before Alexis had a notion of his own to try SRL, but the boxing press was as strongly discouraging Sal from going after Arguello, as they were against SRL-Arguello.

Rather than move up in weight, Sal may have eventually opted for a unification bout against Pedroza, a match the WBA titleholder eagerly sought. At that time, the middleweight championship was the only consistently undisputed crown in the sport. Sanchez-Pedroza would have had a real up in the air aura about it, especially after Eusebio beat the crap out of Ford. If Pedroza managed to prevail, Sal's youth still gave him a long range edge.

While I then believed Pedroza had the edge in a potential showdown with Sal, it must also be mentioned that Sanchez stepped it up considerably in the three biggest matches of his career, Gomez, and Lopez I & II. In retrospect, the outcome of Sanchez-Gomez is one of the biggest mysteries of the era.

If I recall, he expressed an interest in retiring while young, and going to college, maybe to pursue a career in medicine. (In Mexico, this would have certainly been more feasible for Sanchez than it would have been for O'Grady and Czyz in the States.) Sal may well have had the temperament to retire early and make it stick, rather than hang around as long as possible.

 

I honestly don't know.
I liked Sanchez he had the ability to relax in the ring ,and was a great judge of pace ,and when to apply pressure.
I was just playing devil's advocate.

One thing I do know,I would have paid to see him and Pedroza go at it.

 

I think he could certainly be a 4weight champion, especially if he got the right fights. He has the frame to go up in weight and the skill and ability to make it a higher weights. I think his movement, speed, skill, chin an workrate sees him winning a UD against Arguello at LW.

Looking at who was around

SFW 82-84 - Camacho, Mayweather, Chacon, Serrano, Lockridge and Chavez would hit the division later. Chavez is the toughest but Prime Camacho could be a bigger stylistic probem.

LW 83-85 - Arguello, Mancini, Bramble, Rosario, Camacho, Rosario. Arguello and Camacho are the toughest challenges

LWW 83- Pryor

He could well beat the lot of them if he adds the weight properly