Is Edwin Rosario the hardest hitting LW of all time?

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in Roasrio's KO of Viruet, he was 32 at the time and was ko'ed in his next fight as well by Alvin Hayes . He retired after that so he realized he was done.

 

Interesting. I've always siloed Chapo alongside Pipino in my head, as the LW or WW versions of each other respectively.

 

Agreed.

Viruet had also radically changed his style into that of an aggressive banger who really worked the body. His televised stoppage wins via attrition leading up to Rosario were impressive, and his post fight trash talking interviews were tremendously entertaining. But he wasn't as deadly a puncher as Vilomar Fernandez could chose to be on the few times he decided to load up and fight aggressively. (Vilomar crushed Monroe Brooks in two rounds and chased Howard Davis, Jr. all over the ring after decking Howard with a left hook. But it wasn't Vilomar's temperament. Viruet was pugnacious.)

After their first bout, Jose Luis Ramirez made it clear that Rosario was definitely a harder puncher than Arguello, although lacking in stamina. Rosario was the first major beneficiary of the 12 round limit.

 

Broner deserves honorable mention.

Also Tank Davis and Oscar De La Hoya.

 

Edwin El Chapo Rosario was a hard puncher but he could not take a punch, he was stopped by Jose Luis Ramirez, and was destroyed by Julio Caesar Chavez in Nov 1987.

 

Scared the "Macho" out of Camacho too.

 

He also ruined Camacho for the rest of his career ...

 

The two times (in particular) he caught Camacho with thunderous punches took away Hector's confidence and spunk and it never really came back. In future fights he was more safety first, more restrained. I'm sure i quoted some of his post fight comments ages back. From memory he wasn't too happy. I'll have a look over the weekend.

To be fair he also lived life in the fast lane.

Edite, found already -

• After the fight, Camacho said: "If I fight him again, I want a million dollars. If I'm gonna come out looking like a Cabbage Patch doll, I want to get paid for it."
• Many believe the fight with Rosario changed Camacho. Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com wrote, "Camacho was never the same fighter. He still boxed like an angel, but when the going got rough, he ran like the devil. He took no chances. And unless he was absolutely sure that his opponent had been declawed, he rarely went in for the knockout."

 

If you feel that way, you don't know much about Ike Williams. He would have made short work out of all the 80s lightweights, with the exception of maybe Chavez. He would have had all KOs if he were on Rosario's schedule. Only reason he doesn't is because he had to fight welterweights, and not creampuff welterweights, in an extremely tough and compettive era. Sometimes a fight a week. That's insanity by today's standards.

 

Can't say for sure but an argument can definitely be made

 

Ike was beaten three out of four times by Willie Joyce with with both extremely close to the lightweight limit each time.

Great fighter but i'd hardly be surprised if Rosario hit harder.

 

Rosario didn't "ruin" Camacho .... Camacho not only won the fight, he won 51 ADDITIONAL fights after that.

Ruining a fighter is when you are a prospect, and a reigning champion (in a higher weight class) offers to let you spar with him, and you pummel the reigning champ in the higher weight class so badly during your spar, the reigning champ in the higher weight class suffers brain damage and has to retire ... never fighting again.

Shane Mosley did that.

Shane Mosley never lost at lightweight. Shane Mosley knocked out 30 of 32 opponents at lightweight. And Shane Mosley stopped all eight of his lightweight title challengers. He also, as a 135-pound prospect, he beat the reigning WBO champion at 140 so badly in a spar that he was forced to retire.

It's weird how some guys get praised heaped on them for being a puncher, and others don't.

Can you imagine if Rosario knocked out 30 of 32 lightweights he faced, scored KOs in eight straight title defenses, and then moved up to welterweight and junior middleweight and knocked out guys like Margarito, Mayorga and Fernando Vargas? Oh, and beat a prime Oscar De La Hoya ... TWICE.

Jesus, there would be a Hall of Fame in Puerto Rico JUST FOR HIM.

Rosario hit hard, but insisting he "ruined" fighters like Camacho, who won 51 fights after that and won his fight with Rosario, too, is pure nonsense.

 

I put plenty of stock in it as his chin had never been cracked despite being 32. It's not like Viruet had 60 fights or anything. Heaps of fighters retain good chins well past 32. He stopped the big punching Norman Goins half a dozen fights earlier. Sometimes when a chin is cracked it's never the same as was the case of Sean O'Grady, Saad, Hamsho etc.

 

Arguello was a good banger.