Just how good was Salvador Sanchez?

Stunning.

And what matters the most in life—he had the third gear to walk through fire when your mind and body betrays you later on in the fight.

An invincible eagle, truly.

 

He had some so-so performances but he also had some brilliant ones. His best performances were against the best competition, so he clearly rose to the occasion. Lopez, Gomez, and Nelson were time capsule worthy. But against next level boxers like Cowdell, Castillo, and Ford, he struggled. Might have been better against punchers than boxers. Regardless, he always won as champion, so he knew how to edge close ones and find ways to win. Showed that against LaPorte too, another good fighter.

 

Spot on .. interesting note is that Roy Jones rates Sanchez as one of the very best he ever saw, ever.

 

There are few whom I enjoyed watching fight more than Salvador. He was smooth and also had a warrior mentality when he needed one. I looked forward to every chance I got to see him fight and after the first Lopez fight (had never seen nor heard of him prior), I always rooted for him.

But I do think there’s two things going on here:

1) He really was special and was a great fighter.

2) He was also a shooting star. We never got to see how things would play out because he was taken away from us. There’s a bit of ‘live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse’ going on here because if there was a decline coming it never happened.

It’s entirely possible he was due for a stumble, or maybe even a fall. Pat Forde gave him fits. Cowdell, a relatively pedestrian talent, had his moments. Laporte troubled him, at least in spots. Azumah really took him to the wall … and to his credit Sanchez responded. But Nelson was really a novice pro at this stage, and knowing how The Professor was in rematches it’s entirely possible that Azumah would have taken the return go had they fought again a year or so later.

We might look at Sal a lot differently had he been able to fight another decade or so … or maybe he would have further proven his greatness. If a unification had happened with Pedroza, maybe he would have won or maybe not. Had he moved up to lightweight and gotten the Arguello fight many anticipated, we may have learned that feather was his limit. Or maybe not.

The sad thing is we’ll never know.

 

Poise, character, excellent stamina, great footwork, rhythm and counterpunching.

Sal's perception deffo benefits from having his life cut tragically young in that we never got to see him fall off and whilst he could box down to level of competition, we saw him do enough when he needed to.

RJJ's a student of the game - his complimentary words about Sal carry a lot of weight with me.

 

Agree with this.
I actually don’t think Sanchez had a beautiful boxing technique but what he did have was great timing, a great brain and I think he was simply a “winner.” The bangers were made to order for him, he used their aggression against them but the boxers, the guys he had to force the action with, they gave him more problems.

 

We were robbed of seeing how good he actually was and could have been, though off of his short career I have him among the best at 126.

 

He was great, certainly. I don't know how much longer he could have gone on at that finely-honed edge though. Fighters with power have that extra something there to bail them out when the sometimes imperceptible slip begins. He didn't. With Sanchez it was always going to have to be focus, conditioning, and boxing acumen. The level at which he was willing to put himself through what such a fighter needs to do wears one out eventually. Can't stay there forever. My guess is he meets his Waterloo within two years after the time of his demise, had he not died.

 

Agreed. Especially when you start to think about him moving up 4 pounds and how tough that division was at that timeframe. But that sure was a great win over Gomez, wasn't it? At a time when most were backing Bazooka and had not watched enough of Sal to see how solid his game really was.

 

To me Sanchez having a few issues vs certain fighters that aren't maybe bigger well known names is not a negative to me it's actually a positive.

Patrick Ford was a freak for a Featherweight very tall with a long reach, and a tangy tall Featherweight who boxes on outside is going to be hard style for natural counter puncher. I actually like the way Sanchez was able to overcome Ford by fighting out of his comfort zone coming forward, to me that's a mark of a great fighter being able to adjust and turn fights around.

Obviously we marvel at Sanchez's great performances vs Lopez, Gomez, but to me I marvel even more at how Sanchez adapted vs all different types of styles and was able to overcome rough moments that for me sets him apart.

PS I didn't think the Pat Cowdell fight was close at all I thought Sanchez was a wide winner in this fight.

 

I had the Cowdell fight fairly clearly for Sanchez as well. Never understood what all the "wow, he sure dodged a bullet there" talk was ever about.

 

This is how i had it.

Salvador Sanchez vs Pat Cowdell

1 Sanchez
2 Sanchez
3 Sanchez
4 Sanchez
5 Cowdell
6 Sanchez
7 Cowdell
8 Cowdell 2 minute round
9 Sanchez
10 Sanchez
11 Sanchez
12 Sanchez
13 Cowdell
14 Sanchez
15 Sanchez 10-8 knockdown

146-138 Sanchez

I have to say i remember this fight being alot closer, watching it again as i'm older i don't think this fight was close at all IMO. And i think it's very overrated as a close fight.

Cowdell for me just didn't punch with enough authority, he didn't throw enough punches, and his only real weapon was his jab. For me Sanchez was never in danger of losing this fight, and always looked in control. Sanchez would take rounds off backing up and Cowdell would win these rounds with his jab.

But anytime Sanchez chose to come forward, you could tell he was class above Cowdell, his punches were more effective and anytime he landed flush on Cowdell he would wobble him. Ok sometimes Sanchez wouldn't always land cleanly, because Cowdell had an awkward herky/jerky style. But the fact is Sanchez was the only fighter punching with authority in this fight, i was also impressed how Sanchez went to the body, that's a part of his game you don't really see too often.

I give Cowdell credit he's a class below Sanchez, but he managed to stay in the fight and have some moments. And also showed tremendous heart getting up from that round 15 knockdown, for a second it looked like he wanted to stay down, but much credit to him for getting up and showing his mettle.

But overall Sanchez for me clearly won this fight with effective aggression, and the much more effective punches. Cowdell was brave but clearly lost i don't know how this was a split decision honestly.

 

I can't remember my own card, but while having it a bit closer it was still not terribly tight.

 

i used to be a bit under impressed by sanchez.

a bit like hopkins i guess. everything correctly every time, it's not spectacular but it is special.