Just out of interest after reading the Gomez Olivares thread. This pits prime 122 Gomez vs Arguello circa the Olivares fight.
Pre-Sanchez Gomez was majestic, and Arguello always had trouble with movement. But Gomez was hittable, and I say Arguello takes him out with a left hook around the 9th.
Goto go with Arguello, maybe not in his prime but he was still a monster at the weight, still a big hitter and had allot of volume to give his opponent nightmares. I see him stopping Gomez late. However Sanchez outboxes Arguello for a UD at 126 or 130
I personally think Arguello scrapes by on points against Sanchez at 130 in a fight that may have been better than Pryor-Arguello. Sanchez wasn't an out and out mover and Arguello has a better jab and reportoire than Danny Lopez. Also, when you consider that along with his dominations he also had some close ones, I don't agree that Sanchez has a better pedigree around these weights than Alexis. I have a fight of Sanchezs where he weighed 129, can't remember the opponent bit he looked sensational. Also, Arguello, whilst not Floyd-fast, was not Froch-slow. He had a good workrate and...well dunno why I'm saying this powerpunchdrunk thinks Arguello had 'no jab'
Rubin Castillo at 23, and had a similar style to anchez, gave Arguello absouloute hell at SFW. anyway I think Gomez is there to be hit but his smoothness and boxing give him an early lead and then Arguello starts getting threw more and more for a late round rally and a KO
Sanchez is 1 of my faves, I rate him above Armstrong/Pep/Saddler the lot at 126lbs. I believe him to be seriously underrated, in allot of ways he reminds me of Duran the way he'd combine defense and attack making a man miss and sliding in to throw combinations, in a P4P sense I'd rate him way above Pryor, not just on achievement but hes just better. Such fluidity in his punches and combinations, a great judge of distance, wonderful angles, great workrate where he managed to maintain technique despite going at a hell of a pace, very good speed, the way he could throw punches so well balanced from any angle, countering ability, hell of a warrior with a great chin. How many times has boxing seen such a complete package like Sanchez? Obviously Sanchez died at only 23, how many other fighters had achieved so much at 23? If he had lived I think his frame would have taken him all the way to 140lbs cleaning out divisions along the way and without hesitation I'd pick him over Chavez. As for Arguello, all that boxing savy, workrate and speed would be enough to pull out a UD.
I think Gomez might be a bit to small here, and I don't think he looked all that great at Featherweight. Late stoppage.
I don't think Sanchez was anywhere near as good as Duran at combining offense and D.He got hit quite a bit in all of his fights and could be a magnet for the left jab especially, plus not elusive in the pocket. In fact i think he's too easy to hit to beat Arguello at a weight above 126.
No not quite as good as Duran, Sanchez could be hit by the elite, especially with his high octane style but he got hit allot less than he'd hit them. His use of distance/movement/and head movement means even when he was hit he wasnt hit that clean. And his chin was iron at 126 going against some of the biggest 126lb punchers in Lopez, Nelson and Gomez. I see his chin/body benefiting from a move to 130lbs I'm sure he would have done sometime after the Nelson fight and cleaned house. If he fought Arguello I'm sure Arguello catches him with some hum dingers but Sanchez would simply land more of his own.
Gomez simply didn't have the chin to withstand Arguello for 15 rounds. He might build up an early substantial points lead, but at some point Alex's sharpshooting would nail him. As great as Sanchez was, one thing he was definitely not noted for was power, yet he dropped Wilfredo early and broke his face. (Cheekbone specifically, I believe.) Arguello's height and reach advantage would be tremendous against a mover whose primary means of slipping punches was by leaning back.
