Had a go at this difficult task - how does it look to you guys? 1) Carlos Ortiz 2) Felix Trinidad 3) Wilfredo Gomez 4) Wilfred Benitez 5) Miguel Cotto 6) Hector Camacho 7) Sixto Escobar 8) Edwin Rosario 9) Esteban De Jesus 10) Wilfredo Vazquez Some near misses / honourable mentions: Ivan Calderon, Jose Torres, Juan LaPorte, Alfredo Escalera etc. A few quick thoughts. Ortiz just has to be number one - of all these guys, he's the one who has no obvious flaw or shortcoming on his record, no area where he doesn't score well. Consistent in title and non-title fights alike, avenged just about all his losses (or at the very least, had already beaten someone who vanquished him) in and around his prime years, quality championship pedigree with very few safe defences considering how many title fights he had. His best wins tended to have quite a bit left in the tank when he beat them, too. Before I compiled the list, I fully expected to have Gomez ahead of Trinidad. On another day, that might still be the case. But this time to my surprise I found myself just edging towards Tito. In terms of opposition beaten Trinidad has a few bigger names, but Gomez's victims were generally a bit closer to their best when he beat them. Both were a little bit exposed by slightly bigger men who were ATGs at their weights, and their greatest nights (Vargas for Trinidad, Zarate for Gomez) are fairly equal if you take all circumstances in to account. But what swung it for me is that Gomez just looked a shadow of his old self once he'd gone north of 122, whereas Trinidad's crowning glory came above his most famed weight. Gomez looked an unstoppable force at Super-Bantam, but a mere here today, gone tomorrow alphabet type at 126 and 130. On the other hand, once he'd left Welterweight Trinidad looked every bit as devastating and heavy-handed at 154 as he had done at 147, and it took a top five Middleweight (in my opinion) to stop him at 160, whereas Gomez (on the slide, admittedly) was turfed out by Layne at 130. The rest is pretty straightforward. Wouldn't argue too strenuously with anyone who switched Rosario and De Jesus around - similar pros and cons for both. Ivan Calderon could be ahead of Vazquez for that #10 spot, I guess, but my misgivings over the depth of the 105 and 108 lb divisions Calderon operated in, along with a general conviction that Vazquez is a little overrated, lead to me having to cut Calderon from the list. Cheers lads.
I like names here but I'd be pressed to have Tito over Benitez. He doesn't have 3 wins that are better than Palomino, Duran and Cervantes. He was more consistent but would he be in Benitez's era? Not imo. Another one I would question is Cotto over Camacho. For me he's got better wins and was more skilled. You covered the any other possible gripes pretty well, other than those good list.
Tito is my favorite Puerto Rican boxer ever and I do feel he gets underrated a lot nowadays. I can see a case for him being anywhere from 2-4. Benitez and Gomez perhaps better overall better talented but Tito being more consistent and disclopined. Hard to argue with your top 4. I’m Ortiz #1, then probably Gomez then Tito with Benitez at 4. Cocoa Kid, Jose Basora probably the best of the rest with then Pedro Montanez with Esteban DeJesus then Miguel Cotto then Edwin Rosario closing out the top 10. I think Camacho had the ability to be top 10 but fell short ultimately because of his lifestyle. Jose Torres is close as is Ivan Calderon and Sixto Escobar despite having a lot of losses was an excellent champion. I love Puerto Rico. I wish they had more elite champions coming through. The people there are awesome and have.a passion for the sport.
Chris, I'm glad you brought up Pedro Montanez, who is a lock in a top ten on my list. I would also bring up the very underrated Angel Espada. But I will say Ortiz is #1 for me also.
