Wilfredo Gomez

[TIC]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

[TitoFan]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

I sort of see your point in that 1994 was the year of Camacho, Campas, and Carr.

But then I went through each year of The Ring Magazine's annual ratings from 1994 to 1999, and didn't see any names in the top ten that would've given Trinidad much trouble.

The three names I see that people talk about wishing had been matched against Trinidad are: Quartey, Mosley, and Forrest.

Yeah... it's too bad Trinidad didn't face any of those three. They would've been good fights.

However, you look at his record from the time he won that first championship, and you come away with a pretty good list of names.

But sure... his already super-impressive resume would've looked even better had he faced and beaten any of those three names.

[greynotsoold]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

I sort of see your point in that 1994 was the year of Camacho, Campas, and Carr.

But then I went through each year of The Ring Magazine's annual ratings from 1994 to 1999, and didn't see any names in the top ten that would've given Trinidad much trouble.

The three names I see that people talk about wishing had been matched against Trinidad are: Quartey, Mosley, and Forrest.

Yeah... it's too bad Trinidad didn't face any of those three. They would've been good fights.

However, you look at his record from the time he won that first championship, and you come away with a pretty good list of names.

But sure... his already super-impressive resume would've looked even better had he faced and beaten any of those three names.

In my opinion, I don't think that Forrest, Quartey or Mosley were interested in fighting Trinidad. If they were, it wouldn't have gone well for them.

[TitoFan]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

I sort of see your point in that 1994 was the year of Camacho, Campas, and Carr.

But then I went through each year of The Ring Magazine's annual ratings from 1994 to 1999, and didn't see any names in the top ten that would've given Trinidad much trouble.

The three names I see that people talk about wishing had been matched against Trinidad are: Quartey, Mosley, and Forrest.

Yeah... it's too bad Trinidad didn't face any of those three. They would've been good fights.

However, you look at his record from the time he won that first championship, and you come away with a pretty good list of names.

But sure... his already super-impressive resume would've looked even better had he faced and beaten any of those three names.

In my opinion, I don't think that Forrest, Quartey or Mosley were interested in fighting Trinidad. If they were, it wouldn't have gone well for them.

Mosley was never able to solve Vernon Forrest. He would've fared worse against Trinidad.

Personally I think Quartey would've been the most competitive of the three... but I'd still bet on Trinidad to win inside the distance.

[TIC]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

I sort of see your point in that 1994 was the year of Camacho, Campas, and Carr.

But then I went through each year of The Ring Magazine's annual ratings from 1994 to 1999, and didn't see any names in the top ten that would've given Trinidad much trouble.

The three names I see that people talk about wishing had been matched against Trinidad are: Quartey, Mosley, and Forrest.

Yeah... it's too bad Trinidad didn't face any of those three. They would've been good fights.

However, you look at his record from the time he won that first championship, and you come away with a pretty good list of names.

But sure... his already super-impressive resume would've looked even better had he faced and beaten any of those three names.

tito won the ibf belt in ninety-three, ninety-four was a brilliant year for him, then ninety-five to ninety-eight was four years wasted. pernell whitaker is the obvious one, he was there from ninety-three, they didn’t fight until ninety-nine. ike quartey was there from ninety-three, they never fought. jose luis lopez won the wbo belt in ninety-six, they never fought. oscar de la hoya was there from ninety-seven, they didn’t fight until ninety-nine. shane mosley didn’t move to welter until ninety-nine. vernon forrest only really became a contender around ninety-nine, so they are not really in the timeframe I am discussing

[TitoFan]

My favorite fighter has always been Felix Trinidad...

off topic. do you think we missed seeing tito at his best against the best?

Not sure what you mean.

i mean tito's ninety four campaign was so good, followed by four years of rubbish. this was his peak in my opinion & when he should have been matched against the best welters. his career could have been even better if don king hadn't have stalled it

I sort of see your point in that 1994 was the year of Camacho, Campas, and Carr.

But then I went through each year of The Ring Magazine's annual ratings from 1994 to 1999, and didn't see any names in the top ten that would've given Trinidad much trouble.

The three names I see that people talk about wishing had been matched against Trinidad are: Quartey, Mosley, and Forrest.

Yeah... it's too bad Trinidad didn't face any of those three. They would've been good fights.

However, you look at his record from the time he won that first championship, and you come away with a pretty good list of names.

But sure... his already super-impressive resume would've looked even better had he faced and beaten any of those three names.

tito won the ibf belt in ninety-three, ninety-four was a brilliant year for him, then ninety-five to ninety-eight was four years wasted. pernell whitaker is the obvious one, he was there from ninety-three, they didn’t fight until ninety-nine. ike quartey was there from ninety-three, they never fought. jose luis lopez won the wbo belt in ninety-six, they never fought. oscar de la hoya was there from ninety-seven, they didn’t fight until ninety-nine. shane mosley didn’t move to welter until ninety-nine. vernon forrest only really became a contender around ninety-nine, so they are not really in the timeframe I am discussing

Yeah well you know... it happens. Every elite fighter could've fought x or y fighter and sometimes they fight late... or it never happens. Promoters are largely to blame. But that's the nature of the sport we all love.

[Master]

So Tito should have faced Quartey and Lopez as well as Sweat Pea who were champions?

All of the belt holders never unified and were to blame. Not until Oscar came up and rocked the cartel did things start to happen.

Pernell Whitaker was recognised as the best for me at the weight at that time.

[Spicoli]

It's interesting looking back. I figure Tito didn't really waste time for a couple of years if he had guys like Jones Jr and Jim Lampley talking about a potential "super fight" regardless of 20+ lb difference. Largely based on Roy always going on about the p4p rankings but he talked that up more than a couple times. But I like the idea of fighters fighting the best in their same division first here . The thing is of all mentioned Tito had and kept his momentum and arguably most of his top matches were still ahead of him. And Oscar was ahead for all of them save for Lopez. Lopez was really a risk reward situation and as fun and tough as he was he was also all over the map. Dude was a character as they say. Smoked a lot, blew up in weight after battering Yori Boy and career burned at both ends rather quickly. He wasn't helped by winning the wbo strap as it was still at the time pretty much dismissed and major bodies were not siding with it. Honestly save for the Chavez and McGirt II fights for Whitaker his parallel run with Tito at 147 was not all that super stellar. Was impressed with taking title off 154 Vasquez tbf. McGirt entered with a literal torn bicep in first fight and still held his own very close to point of a rematch. Whitaker and Tito were close and targeted 96'ish with HBO having a double header. Tito wanted it and said so often. Likewise Whitaker but big picture and momentum wise they were going in opposite directions. And some of Whitakers outside the ring habits may have been catching up. After the 'build' card Whitaker goes in with Rivera and imo lost a very close tough fight where he underperformed and had to have a rematch. It would have been excellent had they met prior to 99' but all the same politricks we see today helped trip it up. Cross promotion squabbles, tougher tune ups than expected and the stars not aligning perfectly. What an era nonetheless. They are all intertwined and were active ! fighting champions.

[TitoFan]

The thread is about Wilfredo Gomez, and somehow veered off to Felix Trinidad.

But that got me to thinking about how these greats are ranked in the list of Puerto Rican champions.

Like any list of this sort, it depends on who you ask.

I've yet to see a ranking list based off a survey of Puerto Rican boxing fans... but I suspect it depends on the age you ask, that will decide the answers you get.

Most lists I see on the web have Gomez, Wilfredo Benitez, and Carlos Ortiz as #1, 2, and 3 in whatever order... with Trinidad and Cotto coming in at #4 and 5 is some lists.

Interesting.

At some point I'll give it some thought and come up with my own list.

[TIC]