top 10 Mexican fighters of all time

Ruben Olivares
Vicente Saldivar
Salvador Sanchez
Julio Cesar Chavez
Miguel Canto
Baby Arizmendi
Carlos Zarate
Erik Morales
Marco Antonio Barrera
Kid Azteca

 

Good list... Morales & Barrera (as much as I dont like MAB) deserve to be recognized with the best, 2 great fighters, 2 great careers.

 

No Ricardo Lopez? I would have to have him above both Barrera and Morales myself.

 

You could argue it based on skill-set, but it's much harder to come to any concrete conclusion with someone who faced such weak opposition in comparison.

 

I think Sorjaturong, Alvarez, Sor Vorapin and Grigsby fights show that against recognized opposition he could be awesome.

And as you said skill-set wise, he was arguably the number one Mexican of all-time. I remember him stealing the show on the Tyson/BrunoII undercard, he was seemingly almost perfect that night.

He will sadly always be punished for weighing less than 112lbs, as today there is little love for anyone who weighs less than 126lbs, even amongst the older generation.

Today unless a fighter has won 30 world titles at 12 weight divisions in 8 fights, he is clearly not worthy....

 

Sorjaturong and Sor Vorapin were mediocre, not to mention past it in the latter case.Grigsby wasn't up to much either.

 

I remember a streaking Humberto Gonzales thinking that as well. Seven rounds of hell, and Humberto decided the sport was not for him, no more.

 

have lopez at 4th

 

More like an aging Gonzalez, who's chin let him down once again.Sorjaturong was a big right hand banger and that's it.Very limited fighter otherwise imo.

 

Going in to the fight, no one was calling Gonzales old. Indeed he seemed on top form, having gained revenge over Carbajal by adding new dimensions to his game, and showing as well as being an excellent puncher, he could box.

He was a generally recognized top 12 pound for pound fighter walking into the ring that night.

 

He definitely wasn't shot but looking back over his fights, he had notably slowed down by the third Carbajal fight imo.Both of them had.Neither had a long prime.

Chiquita could be knocked out at any stage in his career by a lesser talented puncher though, i'll say that.Not a big supporter of him or Carbajal.

 

Hindsight is often 20/20. Going in Gonzales was meant to steamroll him like Lopez had....

Ali was a warm favourite to beat Spinks first time around, but just because he lost, it did not, nor should it, devalue Frazier beating Ali.....

The same applies here, it just was that going in, Gonzales was seemingly far from past his best unlike Ali.

 

Recognized opposition doesn't always equal skilled opposition. Sorjaturong would go on to a big upset victory over Gonzalez, but at the time Lopez had him he was a relatively green fighter who'd yet to experience the big stage. And to be honest, as Mantequilla said, he never really honed his skills.

He looked damn near impeccable, but there were still a lot of facets of his game (such as his in-fighting) that were never fully tested, and the only example of a near elite stylist of any type that he faced was Alvarez, and we saw how he fared against a stronger fighter who packed a good punch (though admittedly Lopez was past his best by then). We never saw how he'd have fared against another solid boxer-puncher, defensive specialist, swarmer, etc.

I agree with this (the meaning anyway). IMO, a fighter's worth should be based on his effectiveness at the weight he was comfortable at. Some fighters are just better suited to jumping weights, and are capable of fighting comfortably at each of them. Others are only really comfortable at one or two, that doesn't mean the weight-jumper is the better fighter.

 

Julio Cesar Chavez


Salvador Sanchez

Ruben Olivares
Ricardo Lopez
Vicente Saldivar
Miguel Canto
Carlos Zarate
Erik Morales
Marco Antonio Barrera
Juan Manuel Marquez