Ismael Laguna - How Do You Rate Him

Really all depends on how you scored some of Zapata's fights. He had very close losses/draws to Laciar, Bassa (twice), and Alfonso Lopez early in his career.

They weren't clear robberies like Marcel/Shibata, but if you scored them all to him, things get very tight. I've never seen the Lopez fight, but I can see the argument being made for the others.

I wouldn't make that argument for any but the Bassa rematch myself. He had the ability to win all of them, but he was too comfortable coasting. Just didn't do quite enough. Could be maddening to watch at times because of it.

 

Thanks for the prompt, George - watching Laguna sounds a lot more interesting than the fights I had lined up to watch.

Btw, I think I made Saldivar-Laguna a draw.

 

Pretty much my card, George. I had it 7-3 for Laguna but can see a 6-4 as well. This is a close fight but not a difficult fight to score. Laguna's work was extremely clean even in the grainy footage. The style is Ernesto Marcel to a tee, and you can see how big an inspiration Laguna might have been to him.

Interestingly, I always viewed Laguna as Saldivar's best victory. I really don't know now as I always rated Saldivar very high as an ATG. Granted Laguna has the clear advantage in physique and was naturally the larger man.