BoxRec

At one point I read where a panel of three experts discussed this fight and all 3 picked Saddler, two of them by ko before the 8th round.. Is this accurate? To me the fight would come down to how well Saddler could fight at a distance and how well Sanchez does inside; essentially which man controls the distanc. Sanchez is unlikely to be able to hurt Saddler- will Saddler be able to hurt Sanchez? My pick would be Saddler because he proved it more nights against more and better fighters than did Sanchez.

It would be pretty even, but i go with Sanchez. first because of the speed. Sadler was not that quick fighting inside. The power is on Sanchez side. i would say KO in the 10th by Sanchez.

Sanchez - better all round fighter. Also today's referees probably wouldn't let Sandy away with some of the rough-house tactics that often gave him an advantage in his fights so he's be hampered by that restriction to his style.

J

tiredoldngrey wrote:At one point I read where a panel of three experts discussed this fight and all 3 picked Saddler, two of them by ko before the 8th round.. Is this accurate? To me the fight would come down to how well Saddler could fight at a distance and how well Sanchez does inside; essentially which man controls the distanc. Sanchez is unlikely to be able to hurt Saddler- will Saddler be able to hurt Sanchez? My pick would be Saddler because he proved it more nights against more and better fighters than did Sanchez.

Actually, Sanchez probably fought the same type of tough opposition if not more tough... and i'd say Sanchez wins a unanimous decision. Sanchez had a chin that easily compares to Morales, and well, Morales has never been KO'd.
So Sanchez won't get KO'd.. Sanchez would counter Saddler all night. Sadler would probably get pissed and use dirty tactics. I don't think Sanchez would do that though, I think he'd keep his composure and adapt to Saddler's style. In a 15 round fight Sanchez might even get the TKO. That's my opinion.

Saddler regularly knocked out lightweights in non-title fights,to suggest that Sanchez hit harder than the consensus acknowledged hardest hitting feather in history,as well as one of boxing's P4P hardest hitters,is a little crazy.Sanchez is like Shane Mosley,a lot of KO's but not really a big puncher.Saddler was stopped in his second pro fight when he was 17,in his next 160 bouts he never was.Sanchez couldn't KO Saddler.Saddler handled Pep 3 out of 4 and Pep got the beating of his life in the one fight he won.My pick is Saddler by decision as Sanchez had a damn good chin,people's love of Sanchez is admirable and understandable but they need to learn about Saddler as well,he was a lot more than a dirty fighter some think all he was.

dws wrote:Saddler regularly knocked out lightweights in non-title fights,to suggest that Sanchez hit harder than the consensus acknowledged hardest hitting feather in history,as well as one of boxing's P4P hardest hitters,is a little crazy.Sanchez is like Shane Mosley,a lot of KO's but not really a big puncher.Saddler was stopped in his second pro fight when he was 17,in his next 160 bouts he never was.Sanchez couldn't KO Saddler.Saddler handled Pep 3 out of 4 and Pep got the beating of his life in the one fight he won.My pick is Saddler by decision as Sanchez had a damn good chin,people's love of Sanchez is admirable and understandable but they need to learn about Saddler as well,he was a lot more than a dirty fighter some think all he was.

I understand that. I never said he'd KO Saddler.. I said he "might" TKO Saddler in a 15 rounder.. because of the accumulation of punches not because of a one punch KO. As for Saddler being more than a dirty fighter.. I know he was a great fighter but you have to admit when he got frustrated he was known to use a few fouls.. and well, I think one of Sanchez' greatest ability was his ability to adapt to any style.. and so I'd say he'd counter punch Saddler all night. But that doesn't mean Saddler isn't any good.. it just means that Sanchez stylewise would be tough for Saddler. We'll never really know anyway.

vagabundo55 wrote:I understand that. I never said he'd KO Saddler.. I said he "might" TKO Saddler in a 15 rounder.. because of the accumulation of punches not because of a one punch KO. As for Saddler being more than a dirty fighter.. I know he was a great fighter but you have to admit when he got frustrated he was known to use a few fouls.. and well, I think one of Sanchez' greatest ability was his ability to adapt to any style.. and so I'd say he'd counter punch Saddler all night. But that doesn't mean Saddler isn't any good.. it just means that Sanchez stylewise would be tough for Saddler. We'll never really know anyway.

If Sandler could handle Pep, he probably would have had few problems with Sanchez.

The Great John L wrote:

vagabundo55 wrote:I understand that. I never said he'd KO Saddler.. I said he "might" TKO Saddler in a 15 rounder.. because of the accumulation of punches not because of a one punch KO. As for Saddler being more than a dirty fighter.. I know he was a great fighter but you have to admit when he got frustrated he was known to use a few fouls.. and well, I think one of Sanchez' greatest ability was his ability to adapt to any style.. and so I'd say he'd counter punch Saddler all night. But that doesn't mean Saddler isn't any good.. it just means that Sanchez stylewise would be tough for Saddler. We'll never really know anyway.

If Sandler could handle Pep, he probably would have had few problems with Sanchez.

Sanchez wasn't Pep. Not saying Sanchez is better just saying they're different.. Sanchez could adapt to pretty much all styles.

vagabundo55 wrote:Sanchez wasn't Pep. Not saying Sanchez is better just saying they're different.. Sanchez could adapt to pretty much all styles.

Perhaps he could have grown into that statement, but considering the young age he died at I hardly think he had the opportunity to face "all styles". Saddler fought over 160 professional fights and Pepp over 240. While Sanchez was a fine fighter and may have been considered an all time great had his life not ended so tragically at an early age, his competition wasn't comparable to Saddler and Pepp. Prior to winning the title he did not exactly face stiff competition. Of course, some of his title fights were against very good fighters (including a very green Azumah Nelson), but all put all together he was an unfinished novel.

The one advantage Sanchez wopuld have in fighting Saddler that Pep didn't have is size and strength. Pep was much smaller and Saddler could manhandle him inside; when he fought Del Flanagan, who moved and boxed beautifully all night in winning a UD, he couldn't do that becayuse Flanagan was just about as strong and stayed n the clinch until the referee separated them. I think that Saddler would be too experienced for Sanchez, maybe hit a bit too hard and be a touch too clever. If there is an early end to the fight it will be in Saddler's favor and in the 12th or later. That is what I think would happen

The Great John L wrote:

vagabundo55 wrote:Sanchez wasn't Pep. Not saying Sanchez is better just saying they're different.. Sanchez could adapt to pretty much all styles.

Perhaps he could have grown into that statement, but considering the young age he died at I hardly think he had the opportunity to face "all styles". Saddler fought over 160 professional fights and Pepp over 240. While Sanchez was a fine fighter and may have been considered an all time great had his life not ended so tragically at an early age, his competition wasn't comparable to Saddler and Pepp. Prior to winning the title he did not exactly face stiff competition. Of course, some of his title fights were against very good fighters (including a very green Azumah Nelson), but all put all together he was an unfinished novel.

Unfortunately because of that tragedy we'll never really know his true potential.. but he did beat 4 top 10 fighters in less than 2 years.. if that's not tough opposition I don't know what is..

Interesting match, I would lean towards a Saddler win as he faced and beat better opposition.

The Great John L wrote:

vagabundo55 wrote:Sanchez wasn't Pep. Not saying Sanchez is better just saying they're different.. Sanchez could adapt to pretty much all styles.

Perhaps he could have grown into that statement, but considering the young age he died at I hardly think he had the opportunity to face "all styles". Saddler fought over 160 professional fights and Pepp over 240. While Sanchez was a fine fighter and may have been considered an all time great had his life not ended so tragically at an early age, his competition wasn't comparable to Saddler and Pepp. Prior to winning the title he did not exactly face stiff competition. Of course, some of his title fights were against very good fighters (including a very green Azumah Nelson), but all put all together he was an unfinished novel.

I gotta agree with you John L.

Both were tremendous fighters. I have both of them in my top 5 featherweights of all time.

God this would have been amazing.

Sanchez's chances were much better with Saddler than Pep or Armstrong.

There is no greater mystery in boxing than the question of "just how good could Sanchez have become".

I tend to imagine him as becoming possibly the greatest his division had ever produced, but it was just too short of a career to be sure.

Remember, regardless of how promising his physics may have been, his emotional and mental state would have needed to be on a par with those gifts. What was his life style like? I don't know but if he was the sort that was likely to keep his nose clean, I'm not sure you can over estimate his potential.

...when saddler fought del flanagan he started using his ungentlemanly tactics early and flanagan was a smart fighter so he used some of the same tactics saddler used in fighting back and saddler could be heard by ringside writers saying "let's fight clean....let's fight clean!"
i remember watching that fight on tv. flanagan, a good boxer was in top form that night.

saddler was a great fighter , though. he learned early to fight inside because he knew that's where the shorter fighters (just about all of them) have to work against him. usually sandy made them change their minds after a bit of tugging and hauling. sandy was very strong; surely one of the strongest featherweights of all time.

as for saddler/pep...the only one of their four fights that doesn't beg some questions is their second one.