Who is the GOAT of 140?

Okay, it seems most of the votes and a fair few posters consider Chavez to be the GOAT of 140. However, I remain unconvinced that he really has the resume to back it. Chavez's best wins at 140 are: Roger Mayweather (who he had already KOd in 2 but was ranked at 4 by The Ring), Sammy Fuentes (ranked at 9), the 77-0 Alberto Cortes (unranked by The Ring and only fought journeymen in Argentina to pad his record), Meldrick Taylor (ranked 2nd by The Ring and 6th P4P, but the controversy around the stoppage and the fact Meldrick was 2 seconds away from a deserved SD win after outworking Chavez detracts too much from what would be Chavez's signature win for me to appraise it too thoroughly), Kyung Duk Ahn (holder of the IBF title, never fought outside his native S. Korea and retired following his fight with Chavez, unranked by The Ring), Johnny Duplessis (ranked 9th, of his 36 wins up to this point, 23 were against opponents with losing records), Lonnie Smith (ranked 1st by The Ring at 140 in 1985 when he won the WBC belt but lost it in his next fight by TKO, then lost again by SD immediately after, had been fighting journeymen and welterweights at the time he fought Chavez and wasn't ranked by The Ring), Angel Hernandez (unranked by The Ring, this was his first time fighting an opponent coming off a win in 4 years, his best win up to this point was Rafael Limon, who was 0-5 in his last five), Frankie Mitchell (unranked by The Ring because he was a lightweight who held the NABF LW title and had unsuccessfully challenged for the WBA 130 title against Brian Mitchell), Hector Camacho (who had recently gone 1-1 with Greg Haugen, held the then unrecognised WBO title, and was ranked 6th by The Ring but was also on the decline at the time), Marty Jakubowski (who had only three times beaten an opponent with a winning record or who was coming off of a win up to this point in nearly 40 fights, unranked by The Ring), Greg Haugen (ranked 9th by The Ring and whose best days were at 135 in the mid to late 80s, mostly padded his record with journeymen), Terrence Alli (ranked 3rd by The Ring, holder of the NABF 140 title at the time, had failed in his 2 previous title challenges at 135, respectable opponent though), then Chavez drew with Pernell Whitaker at welter in what everyone knows is one of the most egregious robberies in the sport's history, went back to 140 to defend against Andy Holligan (unranked by The Ring), then lost to Frankie Randall (unranked by The Ring), the rest of his 140 defences were against a badly faded Meldrick Taylor (unranked at the time), Tony Lopez (ranked 9th), Giovanni Parisi (ranked 7th), and David Kamau (ranked 6th). Chavez then lost his WBC title to Oscar De La Hoya and never regained a world title. In total, that is only 9 defences of his title against Ring ranked opponents out of 20 title defences. Chavez also never unified by challenging for the WBA belt, which was held by, in order, Juan Martin Coggi, Loreto Garza, Edwin Rosario, Akinobu Hiranaka, Morris East, Coggi again, Frankie Randall, and Coggi a third time, all while Chavez was reigning in the division at the time. The absence of Coggi is also quite glaring on Chavez's ledger, as he was continually ranked in top 5 of 140 throughout Chavez's entire reign at the weight and was a fellow belt-holder at multiple points during it as well. Again, I remain unconvinced that Julio Cesar Chavez has that great of a claim to the status of GOAT of 140 is as I have seen made out.

 

It took me about an hour to research and type that up. Weirdly fun though. I might consider doing it for Locche, Pryor, and maybe one of the old school guys (Canzoneri, Ross, or Berg maybe). I rank Locche and Pryor above Chavez at 140 currently, so I do kinda wanna deep dive into their resumes and explain why I think that. This has gone from figuring out who the GOAT is to being more of a ranking exercise for me honestly.

 

I agree the R. Mayweather win is quite good, but Chavez had already beaten him inside of 2 rounds at a weight Mayweather was arguably better at. He wasn't exactly pushing the boat out when he chose to rematch him, it was just kind of an easy belt for him to grab against a guy he knew he could beat imo. And I think it says a lot about Chavez's run at 140 and his choice of competition in general that this is arguably his best win at 140 outside of Meldrick where the stoppage was so controversial it's hard to really say Chavez legitimately beat Meldrick in their first fight.

 

Alright, here are Locche's best wins at 140 with context and Ring ratings in chronological order: The first fight listed at 140 for El Intocable is his draw with Carlos Ortiz (not ranked by The Ring at 140 because he was champion of 135, the fight was quite controversial, many believing Ortiz deserved the decision but it was also a close fight apparently, even if Ortiz edged it), Sandro Lopopolo (who was the undisputed champion at 140 at the time and lost to Locche in a non-title fight), LC Morgan (an inconsistent fighter quite clearly past his prime but who still held a KO win over Carlos Hernandez less than half a year before he faced Locche, he also handed Jose Napoles his first KO loss, and beat Eddie Perkins; quite faded by the time he met Locche but capable and better than his record suggests, unranked at the time), two wins over Alfredo Urbina (past prime, unranked, but solid contender with good wins, best work was at 135 a couple years before he met Locche, where he was ranked 3rd at 135 in 1963 thanks to his wins over LC Morgan, Napoles, and Joe Brown), Takeshi Fuji (WBA champion at the time, lineal champion, and briefly undisputed champion following his win over Lopopolo and defence over 7th ranked Willy Quatuor before being stripped of the WBC belt for "breach of contract", the hard-hitting Japanese-Hawaiian had 26 KO wins in his 31 wins until meeting Locche and was on a 15 fight win streak after being KOd by Filipino Fel Pedranza which he avenged), Carlos Hernandez (former undisputed champion, unranked at the time, was on a 7 fight KO streak against fringe contenders in his native Colombia, notably Alfredo Urbina among them), German Gastelbondo (ranked 8th, solid contender who fought mostly in Colombia), Joao Henrique (ranked 3rd, the undefeated Brazilian was coming off a big win over Eddie Perkins), Adolph Pruitt (ranked 2nd, a very good contender who lost his challenge for the vacant WBC 140 title against Filipino Pedro Adigue Jr by homer decision, KOd him in the rematch but the title wasn't at stake, excluding his robbery loss to Adigue, was on 13 fight win streak going into the Locche fight), Domingo Barrera (unranked, somewhat controversial decision but seemingly a close and crazy fight with Locche unable to use his left arm from the 2nd round on and cut above the right eye from the 8th onwards but staggered and hurt the tough Spaniard multiple times throughout the fight), and Antonio Cervantes (unranked at the time but still a fellow ATG at the weight who would later twice capture world titles at the weight following the loss, the win has aged very well on Locche's resume imo and was his last defence), Locche then loses his title to Alfonso Peppermint Frazer of Panama (unranked at the time, but Locche was declining when they fought). Locche unfortunately never unified with Pedro Adigue (but did Adigue after both men had lost their titles and beat the man who beat Adigue and who should have been rightful owner of the WBC title, Adigue's title reign wasn't all that special either, he lost the belt in his first defence). The real glaring absence on Locche's ledger is Bruno Arcari, who held the WBC belt for most of Locche parallel reign and was ranked as the no. 1 challenger by The Ring for most of Locche's reign, but it seems Arcari was reticent to face the Argentine in his home turf and vice-versa. There is some controversy surrounding the fact he fought almost his whole career in Argentina and the fact that the Argentine judges scored well for defence but I think with how skilled and capable Locche was, it seems absurd that his reign was based on homer decisions, especially when most of the tape we have and the fight reports illustrate him easily outclassing his opponents. I believe that Locche's wins over such greats at the weight as Carlos Hernandez, Takeshi Fuji, and a young Antonio Cervantes all qualify him for the spot of GOAT of 140 much more than any other fighter at the weight. Overall, that is 5 fellow champions he bested and 3 wins over Ring ranked contenders in only 6 title defences.

 

Hatton beat Kostya Tzsyu, Juan Urango, Malignaggi, Laczano, and Jose Luis Castillo at 140. He had a good run and was a P4P talent at the weight. His only loss at 140 was to '09 Pacquiao, one of the best fighting machines in the sport's history imo. He was unified champion during a good era for the weight. I think he deserves a spot on the list. I might switch him or Bradley out for Jose Napoles though since finding out his run at 140 was exemplary and I now rank him very highly at the weight. Larkin had a solid run at the weight but never won a title and lost most of his big fights. His wins over Willie Joyce, Freddie Archer, and Billy Graham are good but he was too inconsistent and wasn't a feature at the elite level.

 

I will clarify though that I don't think Hatton has a claim to the GOAT of 140 but I think he does have a solid argument for being top 10. I do think I skimped out on the old-school guys like Ross, McLarnin, and Beau Jack. I'll make a top 15 soon and I'll do a couple more resume overviews when I get the time.