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The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 16 Sep 2026, 00:52
by gilgamesh
So what would be everyone's take on what is the best era of the Featherweight division.
Often throughout history this division doesn't get a lot of attention or shine, but every now and again we'll have oodles of tremendous matchups and talent pack this division all at once.
The 2 eras that stand out the most to me are the Late 70's/Mid 80's era which featured the likes of Ruben Olivares, Salvador Sanchez, Alexis Arguello, Bobby Chacon, Danny Lopez, Bazooka Limon and Cornelius Boza Edwards among others.
Followed by the late 90's/early 2000's era which featured Naseem Hamed, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.
Of course we also have the Saddler/Pep era.
Those would surely be the Top 3 time periods of Featherweight fisticuffs right? What say you?
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 09:50
by overhand_right
Well done for trying something new. I'll have a think before posting as my knee jerk response is to start writing about Salvador Sanchez.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 10:58
by Expug
What comes to mind is all of the great fights that took place at The Olympic auditorium in Los Angeles during the 70s. Lopez, Chacon, Olivares, Superfly Sandoval, Frankie Duarte, etc.
70s and into the 80s were great times.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 19:55
by goose 5
This is a terrific question. Pep and Saddler dwarf anyone- before or since, imo. However, for overall depth, it's very tough to call. I'd like to say that Davey Moore isn't talked about enough, the man was a beast.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 20:19
by Ambling Alp II
The era mentioned were fun. Personally, I loved watched the Lopez-Sanchez era. They each had some great fights and of course fought each other twice.
There were some other eras that often get overlooked.
Going way back, there was a great ear with some great fights with guys like Abe Attells, Johnny Kilbane, Jen Driscoll, Tommy Murphy.
The period right after Saddler gave up the title was interesting. There were several fighters produced some good fights. An aging Pep, Hogan Kid Basey, Carmelo Costa, Davey Moore.
The 1960s had Vincent Salvador, who might the most underrated of all. Sugar Ramos, Howard Winstone and others were around.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 20:27
by gilgamesh
There's of course also Eusebio Pedroza who I forgot to mention in the 70's/80's era. That one may be the most loaded time period overall even though the best overall Featherweights are probably Saddler and Pep who's achievements are unmatched by most others in the divisions history.
Abe Attell holds the record for most consecutive defenses of the Featherweight title I believe, I could be wrong on that though.
Henry Armstrong briefly held a Featherweight title before outgrowing the division, but obviously he'd be hell on wheels to deal with for just about anybody in the divisions history as well you'd have to think.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 20:44
by goose 5
I enjoyed Barry McGuigan's career very much, especially the Laporte and Steve Cruz bouts.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 17 Sep 2026, 20:52
by gilgamesh
goose 5 wrote: ↑17 Sep 2026, 20:44
I enjoyed Barry McGuigan's career very much, especially the Laporte and Steve Cruz bouts.
Believe it or not I've never watched a Barry McGuigan fight. I need to rectify that soon. The same was also true until recently of Ray Mancini, but I've since watched all of his career. Mancini and McGuigan sorta had similar career trajectories in that they were aggressive brawlers who did a lot early, got a lot of hype, and them their careers were soon over almost as quickly as they began, but what fun they were while they were around.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 18 Sep 2026, 01:27
by gilgamesh
I've been pleased to discover that so many of Marco Antonio Barrera's fights are available on YouTube. I expected about 35 or 40 or so of his bouts would be available for viewing, but it's closer to 60 so the vast majority of his career is on video.
Weird to see Barrera in the early 90's with long hair
He was already a fairly well established name when I first started following Boxing in a serious way. Morales vs Barrera 2 is the first Boxing PPV I ever bought because I was so stoked at what I had seen when they replayed their 1st bout in the buildup to it.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 19 Sep 2026, 13:15
by londonwar
Does the footage of Pep v Sadler exist? I'm thinking it's patchy like the zale v graziano slugfests?
What we'd give to see that era in close-up HD !
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 19 Sep 2026, 16:51
by elmersalsa
To me, the 60s era of Vicente Saldivar, Howard Winstone, Jose Legra, Sugar Ramos, Johnny Famechon and Mitsunori Seki was a very underrated and talented era.
The late 70s early 80s era is the one that enjoyed the most. The featherweight class had Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Salvador Sanchez, Patrick Ford, Juan La Porte, Ruben Castillo, Eusebio Pedroza, Azimah Nelson, Rocky Lockridge, Wilfredo Gomez and Juan Domingo Malvarez was a great one. I think that this era was the most loaded of them all with two great champions that should have unified the crowns in Sanchez and Pedroza.
The 70s era was also great. They had Ruben Olivares, Alexis Arguello, Art Hafey, Ernesto Marcel, Bobby Chacon, Danny "Little Red" Lopez and Davey Kotey. They produced some exciting fights. Especially the Arguello vs Olivares fight. What a fight that was!
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 09 Oct 2026, 19:11
by 570295
I agree with Elmer on the 60s being underrated. The fact that Saldivar was able to rule with an iron fist over that stacked division speaks volumes. One of the greatest Featherweight champions and one of the greatest Mexican champions ever in any weight class.
Re: The Best Era of Featherweight Boxing?
Posted: 09 Oct 2026, 21:12
by gilgamesh
elmersalsa wrote: ↑19 Sep 2026, 16:51
To me, the 60s era of Vicente Saldivar, Howard Winstone, Jose Legra, Sugar Ramos, Johnny Famechon and Mitsunori Seki was a very underrated and talented era.
The late 70s early 80s era is the one that enjoyed the most. The featherweight class had Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Salvador Sanchez, Patrick Ford, Juan La Porte, Ruben Castillo, Eusebio Pedroza, Azimah Nelson, Rocky Lockridge, Wilfredo Gomez and Juan Domingo Malvarez was a great one. I think that this era was the most loaded of them all with two great champions that should have unified the crowns in Sanchez and Pedroza.
The 70s era was also great. They had Ruben Olivares, Alexis Arguello, Art Hafey, Ernesto Marcel, Bobby Chacon, Danny "Little Red" Lopez and Davey Kotey. They produced some exciting fights. Especially the Arguello vs Olivares fight. What a fight that was!
Yeah you could just call the 1976-1985 decade for Featherweight boxing the era that captures all that stuff, and it's undeniably excellent. The amount of stuff that Champions had accomplished in their 20's back in that era compared to now is insane.