BoxRec

On August 12, 1982, Salvador Sanchez was tragically killed in a car accident in Mexico. Salvador was only 23 years old.

Had Sanchez not been killed at age 23, had Salvador boxed professionally till around 1995. -------------

Do you think that Salvador could have scaled high heights in boxing such as what Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, or Carlos Monzon scaled?



Please explain.

Well, maybe not that legendary, as the mentioned names, but still he's name would have been close. Actually he deserves to be called great even now with the scalps he managed to get and the performances he provided.

Sanchez is my favorite of all time and loved him from the day I saw him fight Lopez.

He no doubt would have had more wins against quality opponents, but he would also have sustained losses as all fighters ultimately do.

His legacy benefits from his tragic death at 23 years of age. Like rock stars and movie stars that die young, Salvador Sanchez' legend continues to grow from generation to generation.

I'm grateful to have seen his fights in real time on my TV screen.

Agree. He was a legend already. He already had several major victories against great fighters near or in their prime. Gomez, Nelson, Lopez, as well as Castillo and Laporte.
There was no cherry picking here. He was not feasting on names who were well past him.
He is the classic example of quality over quantity. Sure other fighters had more wins and had a longer career; but they still didn't have as impressive of a victim's list as him.

As for the original question; it's really hard to say. We don't know how much better if he would gotton, or he could have even regressed. He started his career at 16; he probably was not going to be one of those guys fighting in his late 30s.

The great Salvador Sanchez was One of the most complete boxers ever. He could do it all: box, great chin, speed of hands and feet, fight inside, stamina, will, heart and determination.

We never know how high he could have gotten. Some boxers going up in weight are not as good as their former class. But, at the rate that he was going at only 23 and already a seasoned professional at 46 fights, he was already an all time great at the time of his death. The ONLY FIGHTER he missed fighting at featherweight was a unification showdown with the great Eusebio Pedroza.

Assuming Sanchez would have moved-up sometime between '83 and '85 here are some of the major Jr. Lightweights as ranked by The Ring for those years. There was some serious (big name) competition; much opportunity for greatness or defeat:

Jr. Lightweights ('83 - '85)

Julio Cesar Chavez
Roger Mayweather
Bobby Chacon
Hector Camacho
Rocky Lockridge
Cornelius Boza Edwards
Wilfredo Gomez

Move him up to Lightweight for '83 through '85 and the competition becomes scary.

Ray Mancini
Edwin Rosario
Tyrone Crawley
Livingstone Bramble
Howard Davis Jr.
Jose Luis Ramirez
Harry Arroyo
Hector Camacho
Jimmy Paul
Terrence Alli

and in '86 you can add Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker.

I don't know, Sanchez would have walked into a hornet's nest of competition, success was not assured.

APerno wrote: ↑16 Aug 2018, 01:27 Assuming Sanchez would have moved-up sometime between '83 and '85 here are some of the major Jr. Lightweights as ranked by The Ring for those years. There was some serious (big name) competition; much opportunity for greatness or defeat:

Jr. Lightweights ('83 - '85)

Julio Cesar Chavez
Roger Mayweather
Bobby Chacon
Hector Camacho
Rocky Lockridge
Cornelius Boza Edwards
Wilfredo Gomez

Move him up to Lightweight for '83 through '85 and the competition becomes scary.

Ray Mancini
Edwin Rosario
Tyrone Crawley
Livingstone Bramble
Howard Davis Jr.
Jose Luis Ramirez
Harry Arroyo
Hector Camacho
Jimmy Paul
Terrence Alli

and in '86 you can add Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker.

I don't know, Sanchez would have walked into a hornet's nest of competition, success was not assured.

I think that he was way more talented than most of the boxers written above. I know one thing, if he loses to some of them, it won't be because of skill.

APerno wrote: ↑16 Aug 2018, 01:27 Assuming Sanchez would have moved-up sometime between '83 and '85 here are some of the major Jr. Lightweights as ranked by The Ring for those years. There was some serious (big name) competition; much opportunity for greatness or defeat:

Jr. Lightweights ('83 - '85)

Julio Cesar Chavez
Roger Mayweather
Bobby Chacon
Hector Camacho
Rocky Lockridge
Cornelius Boza Edwards
Wilfredo Gomez

Move him up to Lightweight for '83 through '85 and the competition becomes scary.

Ray Mancini
Edwin Rosario
Tyrone Crawley
Livingstone Bramble
Howard Davis Jr.
Jose Luis Ramirez
Harry Arroyo
Hector Camacho
Jimmy Paul
Terrence Alli

and in '86 you can add Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker.

I don't know, Sanchez would have walked into a hornet's nest of competition, success was not assured.

I actually think the Jr. Lightweight list looks better.
Imagine Sanchez vs Chavez! They were only three years apart!
He probably would have beaten Mayweather, Lockridge, Chacon, Boza Edwards, but they would have been interesting.
Camacho would have run form him so it would have been boring.

He said his intentions were to retire around the age of 25. He wanted to fight in Japan and he wanted to fight Arguello. I think the Arguello fight was probably out of reach since Arguello was fighting Pryor.

Let's assume he sticks to his word and retired at 25 so in 1984 I don't think he'd have moved out as he was generally always in the gym and a very active fighter who made the weight with little problems due to his great professionalism.

He was scheduled to fight LaPorte in September of 1982, he'd have outpointed him again by a wide margin. His mandatory was Colombian Mario Miranda (LaPorte beat him for the vacant title after Sal's passing), he'd have beaten him with minimum fuss to close out 1982. I believe the wheels where already in motion regarding having him fight in Japan, so he'd likely have done so and then I think the big fights will have been a Wilfredo Gomez re-match and a unification with Eusebio Pedroza. I would have backed him to win both though I suspect Pedroza's style would have been more of a problem for him. Another interesting re-match would have been Azumah Nelson who was able to give him hell despite being a relative novice who took the bout on short notice. Sanchez often fought to his opponents level though so he'd have raised his game too. It's possible that turns into a trilogy.

I rate Sanchez very highly already. For me he's already in my personal all-time top 50 ever and I rate him fourth on the all-time Mexican list. Had he already peaked? Who knows. He was an intelligent fighter, dedicated to his craft but he was literally in the gym 12 months a year and very active, often going 13/14,/15 rounds that can take a toll especially when they aren't all easy fights. Ford, Cowdell, Nelson gave him problems.

Interestingly I spoke to Ignacio Beristain whilst watching Juan Manuel Marquez doing a training session (in LA fight week 2010 for the Katsidis fight in Vegas) and asked who he considers to be the best fighters from Mexico. He pointed to Marquez who was in the ring doing some exercises, mentioned Ruben Olivares, Julio Cesar Chavez, Carlos Zarate and talked about Gilberto Roman and what a great boxer he was. We talk a little more and names like Chiquita Gonzalez, Erik Morales, Ricardo Lopez are mentioned and I asked "what about Salvador Sanchez?", his response was one almost of contempt for Sanchez. He screwed his face up and said "He was only successful because he was bigger and stronger than his opponents. He had horrible technique.", I was very surprised as I've always considered his technique to be very good though perhaps not as perfect as people like to portray. I asked if he felt he would have been a great fighter had he lived and he said no. He said he was already regressing as a fighter and was going to lose anytime.

I think he may have had some kind of grudge. Now I know Nacho knows Boxing and sees things better than about 99.9% of people but he seemed too far apart on Sanchez that it had to be personal. Sanchez was an excellent all-around boxer. Good, not great power. He had excellent boxing skill, but not beautiful technique IMO. His hands were generally in good position and he was excellent with his shoulders which made him almost as good as any fighter in history with feints. I think his offense got sloppy when he got excited and he'd throw a lot of arm punches. His feet were excellently positioned at all times, though not overly fast. I think he had good timing and vision though not explosive speed. Defense was good not great. He could be tagged but he was so fast to counter and win an exchange and he had a chin of concrete which made him so difficult when you factor in his patience, poise, incredible stamina and pure fighting will.

This whole "fought to the level of his competition" nonsense is just that. Nonsense. I feel like it's been repeated so often over the years that people just throw it out there assuming it's consensus so they won't be met with any resistance.

Unbelievable that so many grown men would use such a lame excuse to gloss over all of his less than stellar efforts. Maybe he just had problems with certain styles? Kinda like every other fighter in history.

Again, Sam was great and would have picked up a strap or two, but he would gave some serious problems moving up.