BoxRec

Shortly before his death, Salvador Sanchez talked about moving up to lightweight and face Alexis Arguello and he expressed no desire to defend his featherweight belt anymore.
How do you see him in these matchups?. I've provided a date so we don't have to debate if a particular fighter was in their prime or not, just randomly and of course, at 135 lbs:

1982 vs. Arguello
1983 vs. Ray Mancini
1984 vs Edwin Rosario
1985 vs. Hector Camacho
1986 vs. Julio Cesar Chavez

Plus, how about a Sanchez vs Nelson II at 130 lbs, say between 1986-88

These would be some great matchups, hard to say cause we'll never know how Sanchez would carry the extra weight. At featherweight i say Sanchez beats Arguello at lightwieght i'll say it's a pick em but ofcourse me being a huge Sanchez fan i'll say sanchez by the closest of split decisions.

I'll take Sanchez over Mancini possibly by KO but who knows how Sanchez power would be at 135.

Sanchez and Rosario would be a war, Rosarios concrete chin would allow him to last the distance but in the process losing a UD.

Camacho was definitly at his best at 135 he was fast, skilled and carried ok power Sanchez would want to turn this into a brawl, in the begining camacho speed would trouble Sanchez but utlimatly catching up to him in the later rounds winning another UD.

Now These two Chavez and Sanchez are my favorite fighters of all time, this would have been a huge fight as both fighters could box beatifuly when wanted and both could throw em down with the best, both also had iron chins i'll say Chavez chin was probalby a little better than Sanchez's. Chavez would be naturaly stronger than Sanchez at 135, Chavez was basically unbeatable in his prime with Taylor coming the closes to beating him ( say what you want but steel made the right call) , but Sanchez didn't have the kind of speed Taylor had to trouble chavez, i say Chavez by UD.

These are just my opinions ofcourse 8) , im curious to hear everybody else's thoughts though.

Broncano wrote:Shortly before his death, Salvador Sanchez talked about moving up to lightweight and face Alexis Arguello and he expressed no desire to defend his featherweight belt anymore.
How do you see him in these matchups?. I've provided a date so we don't have to debate if a particular fighter was in their prime or not, just randomly and of course, at 135 lbs:

1982 vs. Arguello
1983 vs. Ray Mancini
1984 vs Edwin Rosario
1985 vs. Hector Camacho
1986 vs. Julio Cesar Chavez

Plus, how about a Sanchez vs Nelson II at 130 lbs, say between 1986-88

Sanchez - Arguello ?
Sanchez TKO10 Mancini (cuts?)
Sanchez UD Rosario
Sanchez UD Camacho
Chavez KO11 Sanchez
Nelson UD Sanchez (Sanchez ageing)

Sanchez UD Arguello - Sanchez chin holds up against Arguello and he outworks him for a narrow decision

Sanchez over Mancini - Sanchez cuts him up, but not without withstanding some punishment

Sanchez UD Rosario - Again, Sanchez chin holds up and he doesn't have trouble landing on Rosario.

Camacho UD Sanchez - Camacho too quick for Salvador. Sal's handspeed wasn't the greatest and I've got to believe he would be slower up a weight class and by '85 he'd be slowing also.

Chavez stops Sanchez - Sanchez would have been past it by this time. I don't think he could have withstood Chavez' assault.


The one I'm least sure of is Sanchez-Arguello. It would have been a hell of a fight.

Would you guys have picked Sanchez over Pedroza? I think that would have been a hell of a fight also.

Sanchez over Pedroza? I dont know. Pedroza was able to handle any style fighter using any means necessary. I dont think Sanchez wanted to fight him either.

Pedroza vs Sanchez would be tought fight for both, i dont think Sanchez was ducking Pedroza he ducked no one, but nevertheless this would be a fight were sanchez would be coming forward and pedroza using his defensive skills to make sanchez miss. A hard one to call but sanchez had superb conditioning and he would ultimatly catch up to pedroza in the later rounds with his accurate punches, Sanchez by close SD.

Intriguing topic. We missed out on so many great potential matchups when Sanchez met his untimely end. My thoughts: Versus Arguello - you have to wonder if Arguello would have taken a fight against Sanchez when Arguello was pusuing his four division dream. Woulda taken alotta money, and I think it would have been a bad gamble for Alexis. Sanchez's boxing skills would be too much for him. Sanchez UD 15.
Sanchez would have been all over Mancini. TKO 10-15.
Rosario is the toughest to decide. Chapo looked invincible at times, but Howard Davis nearly beat him and Ramirez did. Sanchez would have found the same weaknesses. If he could pound on Gomez, he could surely pound on Rosario. Sanchez KO9.
Camacho might have outboxed Sanchez. The Macho Man was so hard to hit, while Sanchez was sometimes drawn into taking shots. Camacho by SD.
Nelson would have taken Sanchez in a rematch. Azumah was one tough customer. If he could outbattle Jeff Fenech, he could do it to Sanchez, too.
What about Sanchez vs. Fenech at 130?

I dont' think Sanchez would have that much of a hard time against Fenech, Sanchez would choose to outbox him and take a well deserved UD.

I don't think Nelson would beat Sanchez if they had a rematch, even though Azumah looked real good in the first fight against him we must also point out that Nelson knew what he was going up against while Sanchez on the other hand had never seen Nelson being he was a late replacement(had no idea he was going up against a future great). I say in a rematch Sanchez knows what he's up against and would possibly KO nelson late in the fight or win by UD, either way the second time around it would be an easier win for Sanchez.

An interesting old thread