Jofre or Arguello, who was the true FW champ?

Well actually the twain did not meet on this one. Jofre was the WBC champ and if memory serves me, was stripped of his title for not defending it against Alfredo Marcano (I think the issue was that Jofre refused to go outside Brazil, so maybe Caracas won a purse bid. Can't remember), But it was Marcano and Bobby Chacon who fought for his vacant title in L.A. The WBA version was won by Ruben Olivares when Ernesto Marcel retired and Olivares defended and lost his title to Arguello, so whether Jofre was stripped or not Arguello would have fought for the WBA titel. Incidentally, I do feel Arguello was fortunate to have pulled that out in the 13th round against Olivares, because up to that time Ruben was ahead on the cards and was really kicking the **** out of Arguello.

 

I see what you're talking about, but remember the WBA and WBC were the driving forces, not Ring Magazine, so if one of them strips a fighter there's not much Ring can do. They can't sanction fights so all they can do is report and throw in a little gripe, but that's it. The Ring never recognized Jofre to begin with. I have a whole lot of Ring mags from that era that shows the title vacant. They didn't recognsie Marcel, Legra or Jofre. They did decide to recognize Arguello after Olivares knocked out Bobby Chacon to win the WBC title. Arguello had just knocked out Rigoberto Riasco about the same time as that fight and they made some statement at the time about them now recognizing Arguello as the true featherweight champ, even though everyone knew it was because he had recently KO'd Olivares, who then wins the WBC title against Chacon. I guess it was the closest thing to unifying the title in their eyes.

 

The last lineal featherweight champ was Vicente Saldivar up until his first retirement. I suppose you could argue that he reclaimed that title when he beat Famechon but a lot of things had happened in the division by the time he lost it to Shibata. If you did accept that then Shibata and the WBC line and further down the line Jofre would be lineal.

 

the only reason I say Saldivar reclaimed it is because he never actually lost it in the ring. On his initial retirement Winstone won the WBC title and Raul Rojas won the WBA title. For me if Saldivar had of regained his title against Shozo Saijo I'd consider that to be lineal because like I said Saldivar never lost it in the ring. I can't see any other way of saying who's version was lineal. Rojas and Winstone both won vacant titles. By the way, you say Famechon was no 2 and Legra no. 1, in who's ratings and at what time? So as far I see it I'd consider the WBC title to be lineal or as lineal as I can get it. That would make Bobby Chacon the lineal champ rather than Arguello.

 

I agree with you about the sanctioning body.

 

The Ring - if you are going by them completely - is the body that vacated the title when Jose Legra knocked out Clemente Sanchez. I don't know their exact reasoning but apparently they musn't have taken too kindly to Sanchez coming in over weight. The WBC stated if Sanchez won, the title would be vacant but if Legra won the title was his, but obviously not in the eyes of the Ring. Ring magazine did not recognize Jose Legra, Eder Jofre or any other featherweight champion until the aforementioned Arguello - after stopping Olivares and Olivares in turn stopping Chacon - was given recognition by them in '75.

 

Wouldn't it of been nice to see Jofre in the mix against fellas like Marcel, Arguello, Olivares, Chacon etc. He still looked good on film even that late in his career.

 

His win over Famoso Gomez was probably his best scalp at that stage of the game, proving he could still mix it with the top guys. I can't see him beating any of the four you mentioned at his advanced age, but I could still see them as competititve.

 

Yes the Famoso Gomez fight sticks out for me. I do wonder how he'd of gone against a relatively green Arguello though. Arguello say of the Ernesto Marcel fight. Marcel was a top fighter himself.