Greatest Featherweight Boxers

[AngryGoon38]

Sandy Saddler
Willie PeP
Salvador Sanchez
Alexis Arguello
Marco Antonio Barrera
Vicente Saldivar
Henry Armstrong
Prince Naseem Hamed
Danny Lopez
Rueban Castillo

This is my personal top 10 list.
Honorable mentions are aplenty.
Especially the guys that went the distance with, or almost the full distance with Salvador Sanchez.
Azumah Nelson would make 1st place on the Honorable Mentions list, so he's basically at Number 11 for All time Great Featherweights.
Rueben Castillo I have as number 10 because he was That Good, if only for a relatively brief time-span.
It would've been a Draw if Sanchez and him were in a 10 rounder, so yeah, he definitely gets the 10th spot for All time Greats at 126, at least in my own personal opinion. And also, I Did watch they're bout, Live on Tv, when I was 10 years old, and I remember being Very Impressed by Castillo with his Very Valiant and Highly Commendable Effort versus The Monster Salvador...!!!

[Ezzard]

Lot of top fighters there.

That group of fighters with Terry McGovern, Owen Moran, Abe Attell and others are worth looking at too.

Johnny Dundee is another name that might make it.

[bwu]

Ezzard's suggestions are all sound. I'm not feeling Castillo, Lopez and Hamed for the very top tier, but the beauty of these discussions is in the differences.

Kid Chocolate, George Dixon, Jem Driscoll and Eusebio Pedroza are all possible candidates.

[elmersalsa]

The great Eusebio Pedroza of Panama made 20 title defenses of the WBA World Featherweight Crown. Ten of them in his opponents' back yards. That is a world record that probably won't be easy to beat.

A magnificent fighter, probably the best and most complete boxer that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Vicente Saldivar of Mexico was another fighting dynamo. What a fighter! He held the World Featherweight Crown twice. He was unbelievable and unbeatable in his first reign.

[giacomino]

I'd have Saldivar in my top 5 probably, Kid Chocolate, Davey Moore and Juan Manuel Marquez (he was really good at FW, despite a couple of losses) would be above Hamed, Lopez and Castillo for me. Pedroza was a nut puncher who got some questionable decisions but I'd probably have him ahead of Lopez and Castillo, maybe in the 10-15 grouping, because he did last a long time as a beltholder and was very crafty. I tend to agree with the OP that Castillo was brilliant in late 70s, early 80s when he fought Arguello and Sanchez. An example of a fighter who would have won a belt (if not two) and held it for a while in today's boxing universe

[scartissue]

Sandy Saddler
Willie PeP
Salvador Sanchez
Alexis Arguello
Marco Antonio Barrera
Lou Ambers
Henry Armstrong
Prince Naseem Hamed
Danny Lopez
Rueban Castillo

This is my personal top 10 list.
Honorable mentions are aplenty.
Especially the guys that went the distance with, or almost the full distance with Salvador Sanchez.
Azumah Nelson would make 1st place on the Honorable Mentions list, so he's basically at Number 11 for All time Great Featherweights.
Rueben Castillo I have as number 10 because he was That Good, if only for a relatively brief time-span.
It would've been a Draw if Sanchez and him were in a 10 rounder, so yeah, he definitely gets the 10th spot for All time Greats at 126, at least in my own personal opinion. And also, I Did watch they're bout, Live on Tv, when I was 10 years old, and I remember being Very Impressed by Castillo with his Very Valiant and Highly Commendable Effort versus The Monster Salvador...!!!

I think there are some good fighters there and wouldn't dispute what anyone's opinion is as long as it's well-thought out. The only thing i would bring up was Lou Ambers, who was a career lightweight and never fought at 126.

[AngryGoon38]

Saldivar Was Great. He gets the number 6 spot.

Howard Winstone vs Euesubio Pedroza would've been an Amazing Featherweight Clash.

Barry McGuigan had quite a LiL run. A shame that he didn't get to box versus Wilfredo Gomez.
Gomez, obviously an AtG at 122, Still could've beaten a fair share of "Very Good"(Lower tier Great) Featherweights.
McGuigan-Gomez would've been a 50-50 type of bout.

[Ambling Alp II]

Saddler and Pep are arguable as to who is #1 and #2. Sanchez is a solid #3. After that some close calls. Vincente Saldivar always gets overlooked on these lists and has a good case for being #4.

[Teddy's Toupee]

Sandy Saddler
Willie PeP
Salvador Sanchez
Alexis Arguello
Marco Antonio Barrera
Vicente Saldivar
Henry Armstrong
Prince Naseem Hamed
Danny Lopez
Rueban Castillo

This is my personal top 10 list.
Honorable mentions are aplenty.
Especially the guys that went the distance with, or almost the full distance with Salvador Sanchez.
Azumah Nelson would make 1st place on the Honorable Mentions list, so he's basically at Number 11 for All time Great Featherweights.
Rueben Castillo I have as number 10 because he was That Good, if only for a relatively brief time-span.
It would've been a Draw if Sanchez and him were in a 10 rounder, so yeah, he definitely gets the 10th spot for All time Greats at 126, at least in my own personal opinion. And also, I Did watch they're bout, Live on Tv, when I was 10 years old, and I remember being Very Impressed by Castillo with his Very Valiant and Highly Commendable Effort versus The Monster Salvador...!!!

Naseem Hamed hit very hard for a featherweight, but in terms of his skillset he doesn't deserve to be in the top ten.

[davie]

Saddler and Pep are arguable as to who is #1 and #2. Sanchez is a solid #3. After that some close calls. Vincente Saldivar always gets overlooked on these lists and has a good case for being #4.

No argument for me, Pep was the greater fighter

[Ambling Alp II]

I could go either way. Saddler did win 3 out of 4 head-to-head.

[SeanBrennan]

Naz for me

[Teddy's Toupee]

Naz for me

Not for me. Lacked solid fundamentals compared to the very best. His power made up for a lot of flaws for a time.

[SeanBrennan]

Naz for me

Not for me. Lacked solid fundamentals compared to the very best. His power made up for a lot of flaws for a time.

only ever beaten by a multi weight ATG, and the most exciting to watch in a traditionally pillow fist weight.

[Teddy's Toupee]

Naz for me

Not for me. Lacked solid fundamentals compared to the very best. His power made up for a lot of flaws for a time.

only ever beaten by a multi weight ATG, and the most exciting to watch in a traditionally pillow fist weight.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. described him as a potshotter incapable of throwing combinations when there were rumours Naseem and his son might fight. He was right. Mayweather Jr. would have humiliated Hamed.

[Ambling Alp II]

Thats not far from the mark. Some people greatly overrate him. Who is the best he ever actually beat? Kevin Kelly?

[1382843]

Not for me. Lacked solid fundamentals compared to the very best. His power made up for a lot of flaws for a time.

only ever beaten by a multi weight ATG, and the most exciting to watch in a traditionally pillow fist weight doodle baseball

Floyd Mayweather Sr. described him as a potshotter incapable of throwing combinations when there were rumours Naseem and his son might fight. He was right. Mayweather Jr. would have humiliated Hamed.

I admire the talent and achievements of Floyd Mayweather Sr. in the boxing world.

[Monzon83]

I don’t think I’d have Naz in ahead of Azumah. Prime for prime I think Nelson does a job on him.

[Bodyshot3]

Pedroza for me as well.....but otherwise flawless.

[elmersalsa]

Pedroza for me as well.....but otherwise flawless.

Eusebio Pedroza was a master. A great fighter that doesn't get the credit that he deserves. He was the most complete boxer that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

He was a true world champion and great featherweight. For me, a top 100 all time pound per pound great.

Pedroza made 20 title defenses against the best of the featherweight division had to offer. He beat them all. Ten of those 20 title defenses were in their opposition backyards. That's an all time record for title defenses in opponents backyards. No one did it better!

[gilgamesh]

Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler and Henry Armstrong are probably the all time best in the weight classes history.

My personal favorites are Erik Morales and Bobby Chacon.