Wilfredo Vazquez (Sr) - Hall of Fame Worthy?

[Autobarn]

Vazquez sr was on the IBHOF ballot this year, although he did not get voted in.

he never was #1 at his weight, never got fighter of the year, nor was he a 'pound for pound' entrant at any point.

best he got - I think - was fighter of the month after come from behind KO of rojas, at ring mag, who said back in '96 that he's definitely not HOF material & that his fights are often slow and boring.

nonetheless:

Vazquez won many title fights, mostly in his opponent's backyard (france, Italy, japan, korea, USA). compare to Rosario, cotto, Trinidad, who were often the main attraction, with matchmaking on their side. or gomez, who had a weight class, 122, invented pretty much for him. a different case for Vazquez, a true "road warrior" who seldom had things his way.

he overcame adversity many times - a gruelling & close defeat to Miguel lora; close defeat to kaokor galaxy in a tricky one; brutal defeat to Antonio avelar - to become a 3 weight champ (14 defences, combined). bantam champ at his 2nd attempt; super bantam champ vs raul perez, a revenge win, followed by 9 successful defences, incl. canizales; after losing the title he rebounded with come-from-behind KO of rojas, his one-punch power traveling up successfully from 118 and 122-pounds.

one of his "boring" wins was a close-but-clear win over a hall of famer, orlando canizales, unbeaten in about 9 years with 16 consecutive world title wins. Vazquez boxed carefully, timing canizales with rights, messing up his rhythm & making him look very uncomfortable in their texas matchup.

lost his biggest fight, in 1998, vs naseem hamed. but Vazquez was nowhere near the fierce, free swinging warrior who traded knockdowns with lora (for me, one of Vazquez's best and most exciting performances).

very long career at world level for a guy known mainly as a one-punch hitter (though obviously he was more than this). would've loved to have seen him in with Daniel Zaragoza (with whom he has common opponents: lora, Thierry Jacob & chan yong park), the similarly gritty Mexican (also a road warrior) who made it to the hall of fame.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Very solid fighter, I wouldn't vote for him.

[giacomino]

Underrated fighter who fought a lot of good opposition. IMO Zaragoza fought better competition and did better versus top competition over his career, but Vazquez scored some big wins (particularly KOs of Perez and Rojas, which were big upsets at the time), won alphabet belts at three weights and was a true road warrior. Wouldn't be upset about him making somebody's HOF

[Autobarn]

Vazquez did twice stop Jacob, who beat Zaragoza. and did better vs lora than zaragoza, coming close to winning. Vazquez also had the distinction of beating the guy who beat lora - raul perez - by early KO (also a revenge win).

also outboxed a hall of famer, canizales, which Zaragoza obviously didn't do (fenech, L10, and pretty soundly, in the case of zaragoza).

Vazquez's road warrior traveling also took him to Thailand, for the controversial defeat to galaxy (Zaragoza faced no top thais, nor I believe did he fight over there).

Zaragoza faced more top americans (Patterson, twice; paul banke, three times) & better Japanese (hatanaka, an incredible fight; joichiro tatsuyoshi, twice - denying 118 champ a 122 title). and he had the hard fights on the so-cal scene, a major advantage here for Zaragoza (now the world capitol of boxing).

Zaragoza had the big rivalries - the three great fights with banke. two with Patterson (disappointing performances, a D12 hugfest & stoppage defeat, cut AND battered). 2 awkward ones with acero sanchez. two entertaining ones with tatsuyoshi, hugely popular, warrior to japan what arce is to mexico & gatti to western viewers.

Zaragoza seemed to face the more badly faded names (a good break for him!), such as Frankie Duarte (still, a good little fight), mike ayala & carlos zarate.

both men faced korea's park, Vazquez scoring late KO & zaragoza winning a split decision (I recall it being another fight marred by Zaragoza's holding).

late-career, both stopped by big names (Zaragoza by morales & Vazquez by hamed), overwhelmed after boxing pretty soundly. prior, both had late career big win on premium networks that made waves - Vazquez's come from behind, 1-punch win over rojas for the WBA featherweight title (showtime); Zaragoza, in the punch marathon with wayne McCullough on HBO. both showed what made them special, the Vazquez bomb & Zaragoza's workrate & defense at an advanced age.

without matchmaking and home advantage (in Some cases) and because they just seemed to fight Anyone, both prone to surprise defeats - Zaragoza to Jacob, Vazquez to khaosai galaxy victim Contreras & gilberto roman victim avelar (amazing, wild fight).

would've been good to have seen Vazquez v Zaragoza! between them they faced pretty much everything. both embodied the gritty warrior spirit & perseverance shown by Israel Vazquez & Rafael marquez in more recent times.