BoxRec

Yesterday, August 12, marked the 30th anniversary of the great Salvador Sanchez. One of the finest fighters Boxing has ever seen.

To think he was only 23 when he passed away, & had already achieved Greatness, is quite something special indeed. Just imagine what he would have no doubt go on to achieve had he not be suddenly killed in a car accident?.. Mind boggling.

Rest in Peace, Champ!

and to think his best fights and possibly even his best nights may have been to come, up at 135.....

I remember that fight with Azumah Nelson. WOW, what a scrap!! Sanchez, had already been recognized to be a great champion, basically "discovers" another fighter of almost equal caliber. That's what boxing is supposed to be about!!

I imagine if he would have unified the feather crown against the great Eusebio Pedroza and beat him. Then jump to 135lbs and challenge the great Alexis Arguello or Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and then wait for a showdown down the road with the great Julio Cesar Chavez sowhere at 130lbs or at lightweight around 1985. It would be mindbogling that in 1985 or 1986 he would have still be under 30 years old! I imagine if he would have beaten all those great fighters. We probably would have called him the best ever or something close to it.

elmersalsa wrote:I imagine if he would have unified the feather crown against the great Eusebio Pedroza and beat him. Then jump to 135lbs and challenge the great Alexis Arguello or Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and then wait for a showdown down the road with the great Julio Cesar Chavez sowhere at 130lbs or at lightweight around 1985. It would be mindbogling that in 1985 or 1986 he would have still be under 30 years old! I imagine if he would have beaten all those great fighters. We probably would have called him the best ever or something close to it.

I give Sanchez a better shot at beating Arguello than most probably do.

Salvador was great, but he would've hit a brick wall at 135.A Camacho, Davis Jr, or Kenty probably would've beaten him, and Mancini and Boza would've given him fits as well.I tend to favor Alexis over Salvador in a matchup, though I could see Sal beating Frias, or Noel.

Howard Davis Jr beating Salvador Sanchez ???

Suppose it's possible he could have lost but it's likely that Sanchez would have beat Davis. He probably would have had some interesting fights at 130 and 135. Concievably, he may have eventally fought even higher by the time he was 30.

Salvador Sanchez is one of my alltime favorites, but despite his tremendous skills, he could at times fight at a rather laid back pace. For instance, I thought he could have ended the fight with Azumah Nelson well before the final rd (How many times did Nelson's legs go wobbly before the 15th) but instead he chose to relax and not press the matter to the final rd, then suddenly dispatched Nelson with relative ease.

Seamus wrote:Salvador Sanchez is one of my alltime favorites, but despite his tremendous skills, he could at times fight at a rather laid back pace. For instance, I thought he could have ended the fight with Azumah Nelson well before the final rd (How many times did Nelson's legs go wobbly before the 15th) but instead he chose to relax and not press the matter to the final rd, then suddenly dispatched Nelson with relative ease.

I always thought that Sanchez operated in the Mode of Monzon.....via: why put your victim out of his misery and end the fun? Once he goes down, there is no one left to beat on....lol.

I just can't see Salvador beating Howard.Especially if he's coming up to the division like 1983/1984.He doesn't have the power that Edwin Rosario had, and I don't see Howard making the same mistakes agianst Salvador like he did against Watts.Howard may be a tad bit out of his league.

BoxBuzz wrote:I remember that fight with Azumah Nelson. WOW, what a scrap!! Sanchez, had already been recognized to be a great champion, basically "discovers" another fighter of almost equal caliber. That's what boxing is supposed to be about!!

So do I. I was amazed at how well an unknown Nelson fought that day and knew we'd be seeing much more of him. Little did we know just how much more we'd be seeng from him

As for Sanchez, due to his unfortunate end some of the speculation on 'what if' goes well overboard. I'd say he'd peaked already and there was nowhere for him to go but down. Maybe a couple more years at the top and past his best by 25 or 26. That's not to take away from his achievements but the chances he'd take on and beat the lightweights of the mid 80's are so-so IMO

BoxBuzz wrote:

Seamus wrote:Salvador Sanchez is one of my alltime favorites, but despite his tremendous skills, he could at times fight at a rather laid back pace. For instance, I thought he could have ended the fight with Azumah Nelson well before the final rd (How many times did Nelson's legs go wobbly before the 15th) but instead he chose to relax and not press the matter to the final rd, then suddenly dispatched Nelson with relative ease.

I always thought that Sanchez operated in the Mode of Monzon.....via: why put your victim out of his misery and end the fun? Once he goes down, there is no one left to beat on....lol.

Sanchez always reminded me of a cat playing with a wounded mouse. He'd slap an opponent around for rounds when he could have gone for the kill earlier.

I don't believe that Salvador Sanchez had already past his peak at the time of his tragic death. It was only 11 months since his career defining win over Wilfredo Gomez, and while his last 3 defenses had all gone into the 15th rd, I think some clarification is required. Pat Cowdell turned in a brave performance and at times frustrated Sanchez with a very good jab, but he barely survived to the final bell, and the one judge having him winning by a pt was just plain ridiculous. That was not a close fight in my opinion. I had Azumah Nelson ahead of Sanchez by 1 pt going into the final rd, but much of that can be attributed to Salvador's snooze alarm not going off till the 6th rd. After that it was an entirely different fight, with Nelson looking very vulnerable at times. When Sanchez decided to wrap things up in the 15th it was very clear it was all over for Nelson.

Seamus wrote:I don't believe that Salvador Sanchez had already past his peak at the time of his tragic death. It was only 11 months since his career defining win over Wilfredo Gomez, and while his last 3 defenses had all gone into the 15th rd, I think some clarification is required. Pat Cowdell turned in a brave performance and at times frustrated Sanchez with a very good jab, but he barely survived to the final bell, and the one judge having him winning by a pt was just plain ridiculous. That was not a close fight in my opinion. I had Azumah Nelson ahead of Sanchez by 1 pt going into the final rd, but much of that can be attributed to Salvador's snooze alarm not going off till the 6th rd. After that it was an entirely different fight, with Nelson looking very vulnerable at times. When Sanchez decided to wrap things up in the 15th it was very clear it was all over for Nelson.

aye, true, though i think as much credit needs to go to Nelson as a future ATG with superb physical tools who gave an almost psychotically-intense and energetic performance in the first half of the fight, as to Sanchez's somewhat pedestrian pace in the early half of the fight. even in the later rounds when Sanchez was taking over Nelson still came roaring back from time to time. but absolutely, by the end, it looked like Nelson was on borrowed time- his jaw looked like it had lost repeated arguments with Andre Ward's head, it was grotesquely swollen. one of my top 15 or 20 alltime fights. i think I'll stick it on tonight, actually.

Counter-puncher wrote:

Seamus wrote:I don't believe that Salvador Sanchez had already past his peak at the time of his tragic death. It was only 11 months since his career defining win over Wilfredo Gomez, and while his last 3 defenses had all gone into the 15th rd, I think some clarification is required. Pat Cowdell turned in a brave performance and at times frustrated Sanchez with a very good jab, but he barely survived to the final bell, and the one judge having him winning by a pt was just plain ridiculous. That was not a close fight in my opinion. I had Azumah Nelson ahead of Sanchez by 1 pt going into the final rd, but much of that can be attributed to Salvador's snooze alarm not going off till the 6th rd. After that it was an entirely different fight, with Nelson looking very vulnerable at times. When Sanchez decided to wrap things up in the 15th it was very clear it was all over for Nelson.

aye, true, though i think as much credit needs to go to Nelson as a future ATG with superb physical tools who gave an almost psychotically-intense and energetic performance in the first half of the fight, as to Sanchez's somewhat pedestrian pace in the early half of the fight. even in the later rounds when Sanchez was taking over Nelson still came roaring back from time to time. but absolutely, by the end, it looked like Nelson was on borrowed time- his jaw looked like it had lost repeated arguments with Andre Ward's head, it was grotesquely swollen. one of my top 15 or 20 alltime fights. i think I'll stick it on tonight, actually.

Sanchez would not have fought Arguello.
Arguello-Pryor was set by July 1982. Watch Pryor's fight with Kameda; there's even a post-fight interview with Arguello in the ring.
After that fight, of course, there had to be a rematch, and there was.
After that, Arguello was basically finished.
Even in Sanchez-Nelson, John Condon (when discussing the possibility of Sanchez's fighting Arguello) said something like, "I think Arguello's moving up in weight," which Alexis indeed was.
But it's too bad we didn't see Sanchez-Pedroza.

There was talk of a Sanchez fight in the press after he beat Elizondo then again after he beat Busceme. His manager (Bill Miller) even discussed this in the post-fight press conference.

Sanchez himself called him out in the press in May "The reason I fight is to beat three champions: Danny Lopez, Wilfredo Gomez and Alexis Arguello. Two have been done". Three months later he was dead.

orbtastic wrote:There was talk of a Sanchez fight in the press after he beat Elizondo then again after he beat Busceme. His manager (Bill Miller) even discussed this in the post-fight press conference.

Sanchez himself called him out in the press in May "The reason I fight is to beat three champions: Danny Lopez, Wilfredo Gomez and Alexis Arguello. Two have been done". Three months later he was dead.

And none of those comments addresses my point.
Also, Sanchez had a September fight coming up with Laporte.
I'm saying that, even had Sanchez not died, the Arguello fight would never have happened.
That'd have been no one's fault. After Pryor I, there had to have been a rematch. There was. Pryor beat Arguello into retirement, though he came back a shell of his former self for two fights v. Jefferson and Costello, after which he retired again.

Well no, you categorically stated that he would not fight him.

He could have, in that time frame I mentioned.

Obviously he didn't, so it's moot.

orbtastic wrote:Well no, you categorically stated that he would not fight him.

He could have, in that time frame I mentioned.

Obviously he didn't, so it's moot.

I stated that "Sanchez would not have fought Arguello."
The reason is simple, and it had nothing to do with Sanchez's death. It wasn't Sanchez's fault, and it wasn't Arguello's. It was because Arguello moved up to fight Pryor. You quoted, among other things, a comment made by Sanchez after the Rocky Garcia fight, which was in May 1982. By that July, Pryor-Arguello was set. All Pryor had to do was beat Kameda, and Arguello had a tune-up against Rooney.
You also quoted from a press conference after Busceme, but Arguello had a little business to take care of first: unify the lightweight title, which he did v. Gannigan.
So, when I said "Sanchez would not have fought Arguello," I didn't mean it in terms of Sanchez's having been unwilling to do so. I meant that it wouldn't have happened based on history, specifically the Pryor bouts.
The reverse is also true: because of this (the Pryor fights), Arguello would not have fought Sanchez.

Elizondo was in 1981.

orbtastic wrote:Elizondo was in 1981.

The only thing you said about Elizondo was that there was "talk in the press" about Sanchez's fighting Arguello. You also said that Miller mentioned it at a post-fight press conference after Busceme and that Sanchez called out Arguello in May 1982. Arguello by then had his sights set on a fellow named Pryor. Sanchez obviously was keeping active, too, by fighting Nelson (originally was supposed to have been Miranda) and Laporte. In other words, he and Arguello were three divisions apart.

A far more realistic fight that could've (but sadly didn't) happen was Sanchez-Pedroza. ABC showed Pedroza-Ford, and he was then off network T.V. for a year, only being shown on ESPN v. Sibaca. Too bad it wasn't Eusebio against Sanchez on HBO in December of 81 instead of Pat Cowdell.