Juan Roldan versus Mustafo Hamsho

I agree that Hamsho has a better resume - there's no doubt that Roldan left himself on the margins by staying in Argentina too much, but I don't think this is really a fight where one fighter took on a certified minefield of opposition and the other is really quite unproven, especially if we look at performances in losses, not just wins. It's not going to be defined by "so-and-so just beat too many very good fighters to give the other the benefit of the doubt". Hamsho had some good wins, and also some that haven't stood the test of time very well, but I never bought the idea he was ever really clear of the pack after Hagler. There were plenty of guys he didn't fight that needed to be handled to say something like that about him, and the wins he did have needed to show more overall ability within them.

Part of it is that I don't really think he did have a granite chin, or a good enough offence/defence for the sort of style he had to quite merit elevating him like that. His chin was very good, but not granite. It was his heart and will to win that was great rather than raw durability imo. His offence was anaemic and slappy for a brawler. Like Antuofermo's it was too reliant on having a difficult rhythm to solve and in being able to frustrate fighters through dirty tactics - the sort of approach and ability level that could make anyone look bad initially, but would be thoroughly figured out by lots very good fighters after more than one fight. He also flatly should have had more points taken away from in various fights, such was the constant fouling, but that's not really something we can account for.


Taking a look at Hamsho's better wins against other contenders.

I never saw his fight with Watts, so I can't comment on that, but it's possible it might be his most impressive, depending on how the fight went and what sort of stoppage it was. I like Watts; imo, his fight with Hagler was more competitive than it usually gets made out to be.

The Benitez win hasn't stood the test of time at all for me. Pretty obvious looking back with what we know now about Benitez's out of the ring lifestyle that losing against Hearns sucked the last of the dedication out of him. He looked bad at 160 against the limited Tony Cerda right before this fight, and offered next to nothing against Hamsho. Partially that was no doubt due to Hamsho's own style, and that 160 was probably too high for him to remain a physically strong fighter, but he also just didn't seem to care much; intentionally waving hamsho into the corner and rarely throwing counters, as if he realised early he didn't have it physically to win the fight, so he'd just try and make a fool of Hamsho...which he didn't succeed in doing, though he did expose the shortcomings in Hamsho's offensive ability.

Wilford Scypion had talent but was too damaged mentally after killing Willie Classen. He became extremely one-paced. It always seemed 50/50 if you would get a committed performance from him, including freezing completely against Marv. I do not find the two-way hold 'n maul fest he had with Hamsho to be all that impressive from either of them.

Czyz is probably my favourite Hamsho fight, and he was beaten soundly. I don't rate Bobby that high as far as contenders of that era go, and his consistent frontrunning in all of his later 175 losses takes a bit of the shine away from this to me, but he was undefeated here and did show heart. A solid win.

Curtis Parker I and II. Curtis was a solid pressure fighter and on the face of it another two solid wins. However, the first was a bad decision where Hamsho was outpunched, and the second was also a hard-fought competitive win. Hamsho gets hurt a few times in these fights. Parker doesn't have much trouble matching him in exchanges and isn't close to the wrecking ball that Roldan was.

Minter. This is his best win, but it was no war. Minter was notably gun shy and less active because of all the cuts losses. He still hurts Hamsho and gains respect when he does elect to sit down on some punches, but Hamsho never really lands cleanly often enough or heavily enough to shake him out of the safety-first approach and risk getting cut again, even though Mustafa's doing enough to clearly win most of the rounds. Compare this to the Sibson fight, right after it, where the local rivalry aspect gets the better of Minter, and he opens up a bit more from the start...Sibson caves him in quickly with those short, fast hooks and rights in horrific fashion...Now, Tony had his own drawbacks, but also clearly a totally different ceiling of overall offensive prowess.

The way Hamsho fought in these fights, some of which, like undersized Benitez, Bobby and the cutshy incarnation of Minter were distinctly favourable ones stylistically speaking, in no way solidifies him to me as being a Dick Tiger-like figure who no middle would want to get into a slugfest with, or, when looking at the Hagler fights too, a granite chinned fighter rather than a more generically durable tough one....There's his struggle to put a dent in anyone with a clean punch offensively, far too reliant on being able to mug them with an unorthodox rhythm; not really looking that stronger than Parker or Scypion (until he gassed in the last round) when that doesn't really work, or Minter who gets on his bike as an obvious pre-decided gameplan; too easy to hit, being clearly hurt at times, including imo showing a lesser chin against Hagler than Roldan did. They're solid wins and good mauling performances, but in none of those fights does he look nearly as much of a monster as Roldan managed to against Kinchen (compare that bout to the Minter vs Hamsho one), who I think was probably better than all of them as an opponent all things considered at the time of the fights. the dominant brutality of that fight closes the gap quite a bit for me despite having less numerous wins against other contenders.

With Roldan, you have someone about equally durable and active, but brought clearly greater strength and a considerably scarier brand of unorthodox, natural offensive ability compared to those fighters; that unorthodox argentinian brawling, powerpunching style is something that is a lot less suited to marching straight into and trying to mug and maul compared to an upright non-infighting textbook fighter like Minter (who is reluctant to let his hands go by then to boot) or an undersized and very likely unfit slickster content to lay on the ropes and corner. Being more game matters in a slugfest, but so does being stronger, built like a mini-Galindez, much harder hitting, and a lot better at smashing your opponent regularly in the face with effective, heavy punches. Which is why I make it 70/30 for Juan being able to plant his feet and dictate the range more often and reduce Hamsho's mauling effectiveness/output enough long before it becomes a big enough issue. If Hamsho was any combination of stronger, harder/cleaner hitting, a level or two more skillful, or even just had a chin that was genuinely granite like a Buchanan or McCullough, then I'd lean towards him being favourite to take advantage of his more determined mentality enough to cause major issues later. But unless you could meet fire with fire like Hearns (who I think, on balance of the Minter and Hagler bouts, would destroy Hamsho within 5-6 rounds), it took a lot to get Roldan to the stage of feeling he'd done all he could and while he has his own variety of technical flaws to exploit, I'm not seeing where Hamsho ever showed he had strong enough attributes within his style, or enough raw tools outside of it.