BoxRec

This is fifteen rounds, gentlemen. The two best bodypunchers of all-time? Just may be so.

Chavez, as tireless & inexhaustible as the tide, bringing his vaunted body assault & trademark grit to run headlong onto the precision powershots & outstanding ring generalship of Arguello.

Result?

I think that I got to go with Chavez here at lightweight. Arguello at 135 was not the same fighter of the 70s when he was at his very peak at feather and jr lightweight. I think this fight should be at 130lbs, where both were at their peak. But I still favor Chavez to win late by TKO.

elmersalsa wrote:I think that I got to go with Chavez here at lightweight. Arguello at 135 was not the same fighter of the 70s when he was at his very peak at feather and jr lightweight. I think this fight should be at 130lbs, where both were at their peak. But I still favor Chavez to win late by TKO.

Cosign on all of that... Chavez beats him at any weight imo, just too much pressure, power, and chin. If Pryor beat Arguello, Chavez definitely would.

Styles make fights, and Arguello's stationery presence, allows Chavez to constantly land. Julio will take some whoppers no doubt, but has the chin and stamina and body attack to break Alexis late..

Arguello's long midsection would have Chavez salivating. He would eat some hellacious shots throughout the fight; but Chavez's iron chin would hold up and eventually his brutal, relentless, body assault would end matters late. TKO10 or 11.

I think Arguello had the style to beat Chavez.A tall standup boxer with a great jab,devastating power,and was a great infighter too.He was slow but that wouldn't matter in this fight.Both had titanium chins so I'll go with Arguello by close decision.I do think if anyone got stopped it would be Chavez.A 130 pound holocaust.

pete wrote:I think Arguello had the style to beat Chavez.A tall standup boxer with a great jab,devastating power,and was a great infighter too.He was slow but that wouldn't matter in this fight.Both had titanium chins so I'll go with Arguello by close decision.I do think if anyone got stopped it would be Chavez.A 130 pound holocaust.

Agreed. Arguello's precision & thumping shots burn up Chavez's face for a close decision. Both men are hurt something awful, Chavez's face would be a pizza, & with the bodywork Chavez had put him through, Arguello would be hurt just breathing, much less walking out of the arena.

Arguello struggled with left hooking aggressive fighters. He was behind on points when he beat a past-his-prime Ruben Olivares and was even in his fight with Ray Mancini going into the 12th round. He was knocked down by right hooking and aggressive Jose Luis Ramirez and escaped with a split decision in his prime. Chavez handled Ramirez fairly easily and won by a comfortable margin. Against the best punchers from 130-140 Chavez was never knocked down or remotely hurt in his first 90 fights. Chavez had an underrated defense that allowed him to expertly slip and parry punches on the inside. Chavez would build up a lead and sustain it in the later rounds.

I pick Julio Cesar Chavez.