Wilfredo Vazquez Sr

[Autobarn]

the puerto rican 3 weight champ (118, 122 and 126, WBA titles) appears on hall of fame ballots, and his son recently lost a world title in a memorable fight (vs jorge arce).

vazquez does hold a win over a hall of famer, orlando canizales, and for me there was nothing wrong with the verdict. it should have been a memorable super bantam war, but instead canizales (capable of superb combination punching) was tentative & twitchy, only getting in the fight during the final third, which by then was too late. and vazquez, known for his power & some savage battles, and being the bigger man, unexpectedly boxed a careful fight. perhaps this is why it's not such a celebrated win.

i recall vazquez being a ponderous fighter with late power, as when he stopped elio rojas in the 11th while trailing on points.

vazquez had a fight with antonio avelar, losing by KO, a battle regarded by ring mag as one of the best fights ever. healso had hard fought encounters in asia, vs chan yong park, muguruma and a close defeat to khaokor galaxy. this part of his career seems to be overlooked, sadly.

thoughts on vazquez?

[gb]

I'm a fan, but the decision that he got over Genaro Rios is the most horrific robbery that I've ever seen. He just plodded forward for 12 rounds and didn't land anything significant throughout the entire fight. I had him losing 118-110, but wouldn't really have argued with 120-108.

[Autobarn]

at bantam, vazquez was in many hard fights: KO of park, draw with maguruma, KO loss to avelar in that war they had, defeat to miguel "happy" lora, in which both men were down, disputed loss to khaokor galaxy - has anyone seen any of these fights?

[bennie]

Wilfredo was one of those fighters able to come back and back and back. His longevity really was astonishing.

[Autobarn]

vazquez v avelar is an extraordinary battle.

round 5 is an all-timer.