Salvador Sanchez

It can go the other way too. Lets say he wins both the 130 and 135 pound titles.

He didn't get his chance to try further his greatness. Who is to undeniably say he would not have.

 

That is the real problem. The stupidity of life may have snuffed out one of the best ever.

I consider him less only because of what he wasn't able to do. It sucks to consider a guy overrated because of his own death, but that is how I see it.

 

I rate him simply on what he did do.

It really is enough to place him in a very very high echelon.

Lets look at that a bit closer.

He goes 33-1-1 against an assortment of opponents on the way up with the loss and draw inconsequental as he was a young fledgling and a good couple of years away from the spotlight.

He then beats the very highly regarded monster punching Danny Lopez who hadn't been beaten in 5 years and was making his 7th defense of the Featherweight crown he had made his own.

He then beats Ruben Castillo, whose only loss in 49 fights is against the great Alexis Arguello. A very decent win.

Lopez is then stopped again in most impressive fashion.

Two defenses against youngsters Ford and Laporte keep the momentum rolling. A bit flat vs Ford but the deserving winner.

An excellent tko over Robert Castanon follows, a guy only beaten by Danny Lopezin 44 previous fights, tho the resume is a little bare.

Two fights later we have his brilliant win over Wilfredo Gomez, a fighter regarded by most as the greatest P4P in the world at this time. This is his signature win. Gomez record is just sick for wins and ko's but Sanchez, an underdog, beats him well.

A not so impressive SD over Cowdell next, but again he was the better man and dropped Cowdell late in the fight. One wonders if Sanchez rose to the bigger occasions more than the smaller ones, a trait common in many greats. Still the true greats still find ways to win even when not on form or surprisingly tested, and Sanchez did this 2 or 3 times.

Two fights later we have a great fight between Sanchez and Nelson, a Nelson whom hindsight tells us was already one hell of a fighter. Nelson was not to be beaten for another 8 years and he really does speak for himself.

So we have wins over a Lopez many would deem great, a win over a great regarded the best fighter in boxing in Gomez, and a win over a future great in Nelson. We also have 9 successful defenses of his title. His only blemishes come in the fledgling stage.

We have 44-1-1, 9 defenses and a 27 fight unbeaten run. Still only 23!

Sanchez's death may have some rating him too highly, but the simple fact is that the guy has a career that was already that of a true great and totally speaks for itself without concessions or allowances needed. Even finishing when he did he still has enough resume to be placed almost anywhere in the 126 pound ranks. His career is substancial enough to be considered almost complete under different circumstances.

 

When I was a teenager I used to watch fights on US network TV on the weekends. Lopez and Matthew Saad were my favorites. Lopez was really crushing people and I looked forward to his fight with the unknown Sanchez. Sanchez enters the ring, looking like a 70's teen idol with a big afro, just off the set of American Bandstand. Lopez is gonna kill this guy. The announcer (Cosell??) hardly knew anything about Sanchez. The bell rings and Sanchez dismantles Lopez in a clinic. I thought, this guy is so good and makes it look so easy. I became a fan.

Regardless of Sanchez early death, I will not hold that against him. I'm going off of how good he was and how much he had acomplished @ 23. He beat some great fighters. He was becoming a star when the Gomez fight was announced. Sanchez was a big underdog. How will this skinny little guy survive the mighty Gomez? Well we all know what happened and it was after the Gomez fight that Sanchez became a bonified star. If anything, when I speculate how good Sanchez could have been, I'm going to be optomistic and say he'd be a top tier ATG.

 

Innevitably at 5'7 and only 23years old Sanchez would have moved up in weight and he may have won belts but he would have looked less dominating against bigger men and eventually got beaten, maybe sooner than later. After 2-3 years at the top fighters usually lose either from losing hunger or from running into a style that doesnt suit them

Look at Floyd Mayweather now hes gone up 4weight classes and he no longer is physically imposing as he was at 130. BELIEVE IT OR NOT MAYWEATHER WAS A PUNCHER AT 130.

Sanchez was a great fighter with excellent wins and I rate him highly. He was only a champ for 2-3 years so legacy wise that wouldn't be ordinarily be great but because of his death this is overlooked. He could have been a champ for 10 years or lost in his next defense, ie Nelson rematch, we will never know, although many young champs do not stay at the top for too long

Drive carefully tonight, very sad way for a young man to die, the 'need for speed' also killed the nephew of my girlfriend's friend recently (and he was the passenger).

 

I'm a big fan of Sanchez. I'm also a big fan of Rocky Marciano. A lot of critics of Marciano make a lot of negative assumptions based if ands or buts about his career: Only had 6-7 defenses, fought blown up light heavies, beat a bunch of old guys, was to short with stubby arms, took 8 rounds to beat fat guy Don Cockell, and then quit after only 49 fights while he was still in his prime. I say Bull. Marciano is still a top shelf ATG .

Other than Sanchez 1 split decision defeat when he was early in his career, his resume is right up there with Marciano's, and Gomez may have been the best fighter that either one of them beat.

 

That's quite a post, I especially agree with the highlighted, which I have pointed out many times in regards to Sanchez.

 

Good likely points, i am simply saying he could well have ended up rated better P4P than he is now. Dying may not have neccessarily caused him to be rated higher than he may have achieved, as some want to claim.

But the man is still winning, and adding to his P4P status.

Don't take it personally, but i have to call this as BS. Sanchez's legacy was indeed already great under ANY circumstance. Talk years if you like, but the simple fact is Sanchez beat an ATG twice to get and defend the title, beat the number 1 P4P fighter on earth, beat a supposed heir apparent in LaPorte and beat a future ATG of great standard in Nelson. 9, count them, 9 defences of his title.

This is indeed the a legacy that would "ordinarily be great", no doubt whatsoever.

Sanchez was no Don Curry or Nunn, he had already proven his true mettle and i highly doubt he was about to be exposed or fall flat overnight.

Regardless his record as it stands is briliant.

Very sorry to hear that, and sage advice.

 

Thanks Pea.

 

Yep -- that's pretty much the way he got Lopez TWICE!

 

I actually thought more would come to sing the Sanchez praises. I will assume two things

1. Seasoned posters know his praises need not be sung, his record speaks for itself and should not need to be substanciated.

2. It's all been done many times before.

 

He was a legend and one thing I can say about the man that I can't say about alot of fighter's that during his prime years (80-82), there was no controversy about any of his fight's. And those critics who criticized him for the Nelson fight had to have agreed they were wrong when Nelson went undefeated for the next seven years.