What did the man have going for him? I hear him brought up sometimes as being one of boxings more neglected greats... Why is that?
He was tall, rangy, strong, powerful, durable, dirty, good on the inside and a very good offensive fighter.
What Bummy said. Saddler was a lightweight, light-welterweight, fighting in the featherweight division. He was huge compared with most opponents. He was rangy and used his height and reach effectively. And he could fight inside as well. He was skillful enough not to need to fight dirty, and smart enough to know when it was necessary to use dirty tactics to maintain or regain the edge. Pretty comparable to Bernard Hopkins in style, power and tactics. I suspect that when Saddler fought Pep he worried that the racial barrier would cost him decisions, so he went all out, including dirty tricks, to ensure the win. I'm surprised Saddler was DQ'd only once (per boxrec.com), and that wasn't against Pep.
The old saying don’t judge a book by its cover applies to Saddler. Saddler was a very tall featherweight with a slim build. The writers of the time said he looked like a starved Ethiopian. But one only had to see Saddler in action to reveal the truth. Saddler was super durable, tough, and deceptively strong. In 162 fights, Saddler was only stopped once, and that was his second professional fight. Saddler is third on the all time knock out list with a total of 103 knockouts. While Pep is famous for winning a round without throwing a punch, Saddler once won a fight with the first punch he threw. History records that Saddler got the better of Pep. In the ring Saddler’s rangy style and long left proved to be too much for many shorter featherweights to beat him on the outside. On the inside, Saddler was skilled and sometimes dirty brawler. Saddler was a throw back fighter to the old bare knuckle days. Sandy could work his man over something fierce, and had a knack for producing swollen faces and cuts. For whatever reason, Saddler lost a few decision vs lesser fighters. Perhaps his throw back style of beating the other guy up and going for the knockout meant he did not box enough to win rounds? I believe Saddler was one of the top three featherweights of all time, and a top 25 all time pound for pound type of fighter.
