BoxRec

The nation of Mexico has produced many boxers.

Ruben Olivares, Rafael Herrera, Chucho Castillo, Alfonso Zamora, Carlos Zarate, Vicente Saldivar, Salvador Sanchez, and Julio Cesar Chavez. ----------

1. How do you think they should rank 1 thru 8?


Why?




2. Which Mexican boxers were your top 5 favorites?


Why?



Please explain.

I also got an all time list of the best Mexican boxers of all time. All 10 of them are in the top 100 greatest pound per pound list in my view.

For the 20th Century, I got it like this:
1. Julio Cesar Chavez
2. Salvador Sanchez
3. Ruben Olivares
4. Miguel Canto
5. Carlos Zarate
6. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
7. Vicente Saldivar
8. Alberto "Baby" Arizmendi
9. Lupe Pintor
10. Pipino Cuevas

For all time (20th and 21st Centuries), I got it like this:
1. Julio Cesar Chavez
2. Salvador Sanchez
3. Ruben Olivares
4. Juan Manuel Marquez
5. Miguel Canto
6. Carlos Zarate
7. Marco Antonio Barrera
8. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
9. Erik "El Terrible" Morales
10. Vicente Saldivar

All these fighters were some terrific performers. It would be hard to see Saul "Canelo" Alvarez break into this list. Will he beat Gennady "GGG" Golovkin in this coming fight in May? I don't know. But he has to have a classic and unforgettable win.

My top 5 favorite Mexican fighters:
Julio Cesar Chavez
Vicente Saldivar
Salvador Sanchez
Erik "El Terrible" Morales
Pipino Cuevas

My top five Mexican favorites (at it's a hard list to narrow down):
Pipino Cuevas
Carlos Zarate
Alfonso Zamora
Ruben Olivares
Daniel Zaragoza

Can I include Mantequilla Napoles as an honorary Mexican?

1. Julio Cesar Chavez
2. Ruben Olivares
3. Juan Manuel Marquez
4. Salvador Sanchez
5. Carlos Zarate
6. Marco Antonio Barrera
7. Erik Morales
8. Ricardo Lopez
9. Vicente Saldivar
10. Miguel Canto

I think Olivares at his best is probably the best but Chavez' consistency gives him the edge. Marquez is more recent and being my favorite fighter of all-time I am a little hesitant to put him higher but maybe in years to come when I become more nostalgic I may place him closer to Chavez. Marquez was always in great condition and with the exceptions of the Mayweather fight (where it wasn't a fair fight) and Bradley (when he was 40 and as a welterweight) it can be argued he won all his fights. Sanchez is interesting. Maybe if he'd fought 2-3 more years he'd be #1 as many believe or maybe he'd be down around 7, 8 or 9. The truth is often in the middle hence 4th. I think there's a bit of distance after 4 with Zarate leading the bunch barely. The more time has gone on the more and more I've moved Barrera and Morales up my list. Two magical fighters. Lopez from a technical standpoint is as good as there is and he was dominant and undefeated. What's not to like? His competition just lags far behind. Saldivar or Canto could be as high as 5 such is the closeness of this list. Saldivar probably retired too soon in his prime because when he came back he could still fight at a high level and Canto was a master boxer, very active and dominant.

I suppose the closest to the top 10 that don't appear would be Baby Arizmendi, Kid Azteca, Juan Zurrita, Gilberto Roman, Rafael Marquez for me. The list is long. Mexico has produced not just so many great fighters but really entertaining fighters.

My personal favorites in something of an order :- Juan Manuel Marquez, Salvador Sanchez, Rafael Marquez, Ruben Olivares, Gilberto Roman, Ricardo Lopez, Daniel Zaragoza Chiquita Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada and Joe Medel. I like a lot though Raton Macias, Jose Luis Castillo, Jose Becerra, Rodolfo Martinez, Israel Vazquez, Rafael Herrera, Melchor Cob Castro etc;

Chavez
Olivares
Saldivar
Sanchez
Marquez

Those are the top 5 for me. Several other guys could make up the rest of the top 10: Arizmendi, Azteca, Barrera, Canto, Casanova, Castillo, Herrera, Morales, Roman, Zarate, Zurita, etc.