Tiger vs. Valdez

I think Valdez is made for Tiger.

Admittedly, Valdez did remind me somewhat of Tiger when he was on the way up, but IMO he never developed the kind of skills that elevated Tiger to ATG status.

Tiger was a better inside technician and counterpuncher, and had much better defense IMO. Plus, he was the naturally bigger and stronger fighter as well. In a nutshell, I don't really see anything that Valdez does that Tiger didn't do, while there's quite a bit that Tiger does better than Valdez.

Tiger wins a clear decision.

 

Seems like I'm in the right minority here.

Any Valdez fans?

 

I think very highly of him. I'd have to to give him a chance in an inside fight against Tiger. I just can't outright favor him. My2Sense is a big Tiger fan and not a very strong Valdez believer.

 

I'm not sure I'd describe Tiger as a counter puncher. Not in the same way Jose Napoles was, for example, who would bait his own face or throw a feint, wait for the man in front to throw a punch, then slash him with a predetermined shot. With Tiger it seemed to be more a case of defending against an attack thrown at him and then just naturally springing back and retaliating. There are moments of cleverly timed shots, but you can find examples like that in lots of fighters. Tiger was blessed with quick hands and he could catch a fighter before he'd got himself out of range.

I was watching Tiger's fight with Florentino Fernandez again today (Youtube unfortunately - my old collection on the computer was lost, I'm down to half the fights I used to have, all DVDs) and it's interesting to see how it's played out, because Valdez was vaguely similar to Fernandez.

Tiger did have the upper hand even before the fight was stopped, but it was mostly from well placed lunging hooks and right hands, with some inside bullying added to it. Tiger's defence was fairly tight, it always was - he had a compact body that when rolled up, reminded you of an impenetrable tortoise shell. But what I noticed is that Fernandez, after taking or avoiding one of Tiger's lunges, would hit back instantly with three, four, five punches and Tiger would absorb them all. I can see Valdez taking one or two, firing back with four hard ones of his own, and the two falling into a mutual telephone booth situation (where Tiger would have a slight advantage) before they both regain distance. Repeat.

It was to do with pacing, I think, as Fernandez was looking to get a fast start and hurt Tiger in an effort to make him wary. Of course, Tiger kept coming and was gradually taking over... I'd expect that if the nose wasn't broken, Fernandez would still lose convincingly.

But Valdez was different in one main, important aspect. Fernandez was a nasty body puncher but Valdez was a head hunter. I think he'd open up Tiger's blockade and crack him with some nasty ones and actually take the steam out of him. Tiger's body seemed so solid that hitting it was almost pointless.

Remember that Valdez ran Carlos Monzon close, not so much in the first fight, but the second. His stamina is just not questionable - even in the fifteenth round against Monzon, though having taking terrible punishment and wearing two cut & swollen eyes, he was still bouncing. Two hard fought decision wins over Briscoe, too. Tiger wouldn't be wearing him out.

It's definitely a hard fight to pick and I keep wanting to go for Tiger (I like both fighters equally) but I think I'm sticking with the less proven underdog.

 

I lean slightly to Valdez.
Im taking into account that I believe him to be quicker,a better boxer and a harder puncher.

 

:happy

 

Any more votes? Best matchup I can think of, or the one I'd like to see most anyway.

 

On first thought, I went for Tiger ,but Valdez was a bit more polished as a boxer,imo,most won't agree, his jab was effective and he had a clear edge in power.Tiger tucked up well when attacked and had a granite chin,but even granite will crack if you hit it hard and often enough.Tiger may have the edge in strength ,but it would be negligible.
Tiger by decision or Valdez by decision?
I go for Tiger ,because I think his wins in wars against the toughest of two eras merit the pick.