Just how good was Salvador Sanchez?

He had this ridiculously mature poise, self-possession, ring mastery...all at a very young age. At times he seemed almost systematic, yet he was pretty much always great to watch.

He could have been both the greatest featherweight ATG, and a multi-weight title holder, I'm sure of that.

 

I think we know plenty .... he destroyed an extremely good and very tough, established champion in Lopez ... he destroyed an exceptional fighter in Gomez. He beat a bit raw but pumped up and terrific challenger and future all time great in Nelson in an incredible fight ... he easily defeated a very good and hard punching future champ in LaPorte .. we saw him fight over 13 rounds six times and never takes deep breath, we saw him take monster shots from monster punchers and never get staggered ... Sanchez was an exceptional boxer and pretty decent puncher with insane stamina and an iron jaw ... we'll never know if we was a meteor like a Tyson or a long term title holder because we never will know how his outside the ring life would impact his focus but his talents were indisputable ..

 

We’ll put.

 

Granted he was a pro only for 15 fights, Sanchez fight is still one of Nelson's best displays. He was outboxing, outhustling a p4p star. His ring IQ is acutely visible. While I wouldn't call it a crutch, the amount of fights and type of opposition fought are sometimes overrated when estimating the start of a fighter's prime. Everybody's different. Some guys are finished articles already in their early 20s. You drop them in a championship fight right off the bat and they might put up a vintage performance.

 

What I always say is yes Nelson was green but name another Featherweight at that time that would beat even that version of Nelson ?

To me the performance is similar to Witherspoon vs Holmes a green prospect who performed way above what their record suggested.

 

Nice analogy of talented young fighters with little professional records making game performances against dominant champs ...

 

By the time he was 23 he beat four champions, including two ATG. I would say he was pretty good.

 

Sure. But let’s say he didn’t die so young …

What if, for instance, he beat Laporte in a rematch and then fought Azumah again and lost. And then moved up to lightweight and fought Arguello and lost. And never won another title.

Does that not change how we look at him at bit?

Not saying it would have happened that way, but it’s not an unlikely scenario to have it play out like that.

 

Sanchez was only 23 when he died.....he was getting better, smarter and stronger...the fight with Nelson was an anomaly and no offense to Azumah but I feel a rematch would have shown just how scary SS was....he had not even matured as a fighter physically or psychologically yet.

 

You get better when you die young!

 

There is no doubt more times more time but considering his youth we have a lot to go on ... forty five fights, ten title bouts, decisive victories over Lopez, Gomez and Nelson ... that said the early loss was a tragedy ..

 

Especially when you are so proven already

 

Nelson was very difficult to beat in a rematch. Nelson would also get better after that fight.

 

Narratives can, overtime, become over-emphasized, and one I think which qualifies is Sanchez struggling against pure boxers. I remember him winning against Castillo and Ford. That extra gear having the final say. Had they been draw-worthy + no rematch, then there'd be a problem.

 

Was the big talked about fight Sanchez moving up to fight Arguello at 135 ? Much as I respect Sanchez and as much as Arguello was right pre-Pryor in 82 I still think Alexis was too much for Sal ...