Wilfredo Gomez ATG if no Light Featherweight division?

As nobody replied to my post about the "inbetween" devisons I thought I would repost but narrow it down. For example would Wilfredo Gomez, who pretty much legitimised the fledgling Light Featherweight class with his excellent run as champ, still have had an ATG career if there were no Light Featherweight class and he had to fight at either Bantamweight or Featherweight during his peak years? Which would he have fought at? BW up to FW, or straight into the FW division you think?

Featherweight options:

If in 1977 (the year he first won the LT FW title) he had challenged Danny Lopez for the WBC Featherweight title what would have happened?

I suspect he could have beaten WBA champions of the time Cecilio Lastra or Rafael Ortega but what about Eusebio Pedroza who took over for a long run as WBA FW champ in 1978? Could he have beaten Pedroza and then set up a clash with Sanchez but as a FW unification match?

Bantamweight options:

If in 1977 he had been able to make Bantamweight then he would have clashed with Carlos Zarate for the WBC title, how would this fight have been different at BW? He could also have fought Jorge Luján first for the WBA title and then clashed with Zarate as a BW unification match or if a little earlier maybe Zamora?


All the Gomez/ BW - FW expects please let me know what you think of these options! Also any other examples of great fighters who made their careers at the in-between weight classes whose ATG standing may have been different if forced to fight in one of the 8 original classes.

 

So how would Gomez have done if he had challenged Lopez at FW? I imagine that would have been a classic! I have not watched Sanchez/Gomez fight for years but I remember Gomez rather arrogantly just walking straight in with his chin hanging in the air. I think he had become addicted to his power and left himself wide open to Sanchez, but if this fight had taken place earlier, say Gomez beat Lopez and held title until 1980 when Sanchez challenges, maybe it would have been different? He boxes and is more cautious, also it is less of a super fight at this stage so less pressure to be macho!

Also if Gomez fights Zarate earlier at BW maybe he loses? Fighting someone like Zarate in your first title challenge is far more daunting than fighting Dong-Kyun Yum at LtFW. Maybe he woudl have folded like Pedroza vs Zamora in his first challenge before moving up and establishing himself at FW?

 

True, at his best he would be too mobile and if Chacon found a way, albeit against a less experienced Little Red, then Gomez should be OK. However was Gomez a bit BW or a small FW if you get my drift? He went all the way up to JnrLW so he must have had a big frame but he looks quite small compared to other FWs and seemed pretty vulnerable when his punch did not carry up in weight.

 

What I find frustrating with the split titles and multiple weight classes, speaking as a fan, is that we will in a way never really know how good fighters like Gomez were. While I acknowledge we can watch film and judge skills and style as far as record goes with 8 weight classes his career could very well gone like this:

Wins WBA Featherweight title from Rafael Ortega, retains against Cecilio Lastra and Eusebio Pedroza then loses unification with Salvador Sanchez who lives and then beats Gomez in a rematch. He then wins FW title vs Juan Laporte, after Sal moves up but loses in first defence to Nelson and then has to go all the way up to Lightweight in 1984/85 and most likely loses to Edwin Rosario or Livingstone Bramble for the title or even in this fantasy, Sanchez who is now unified LW champ in a third fight.

In my alternate history this would leave him as a 2 weight champ with a title fight record of 4 wins vs 4 loses with 1 win and 3 loses to the ATG opponent he faced i(f you think Nelson, Pedroza and Rosario are ATG otherwise it means he loses to Sanchez, his one ATG fight which is similar to someone like Hamed)

This sort of career while very good puts him on a level with fighters like Lockridge, Hatton, Judah, Chacon IMO rather than the next level up he is thought of as a 3 weight champ with 23 world title fights to his name due to having JnrLW and JnrFW belts available to fight for.