I lied. Let's do this one too. I'm gonna defer for this one, as the only consensus seems to be B.Gonzalez as the Venezuelan GOAT. Then you have guys like Antonio Gomez, Carlos Hernandez, Esparragoza, Antonio Cermeno, Bernando Pinango, Valero, Jesus Rojas, Alexander Munoz. I'm sure I'm missing a lot. Bring me clarity .
Nah, I actually think I basically named my top 5. 1. Gonzalez 2. Gomez 3. Hernandez 4. Esparragoza 5. Pinango. Cermeno barely misses the cut.
I’d rank Hernandez at least on par with Gonzalez. He fought almost everyone in the most stacked era for the Lt. Welter division and beat most.
Obelmeijas is worth mentioning, but he certainly isn't top 5. He wasnt in the same class as Esparragoza, Pinango, and Cermeno, let alone the top 3. I think the best bigger weight class Venezuelan was Vincente Rondon.
1) Betulio Gonzalez 2) Carlos Hernandez 3) Antonio Gomez 4) Luis Estaba 5) Vicente Rondon Only the top 3 did I feel comfortable about. Just outside this group and interchangeable with 4 and 5 would be Esparragoza, Pinango, Cermeno, the Espana brothers, Alfredo Marcano, Cruz Marcano, Vicente Rivas, Jose Luis Garcia and Fully Obel. I know I'm forgetting somebody. I had forgot about Rondon until Xplosive mentioned him.
I completely forgot about the Espana brothers. Thanks, Scar. Ernesto was a tough guy with power, but very limited. But Crisanto had a lot of talent, and had the misfortune of running into a Quartey possessed.
The two of them were so awkward and ungainly, with two long arms, an inviting chin and physiques that one would think they never trained a day in their lives, but they could hit. There was a funny story about Crisanto when he was Belfast based. Steve Collins came in and sparred with Espana and kept getting hit. He just thought he was rusty until he was in the locker room with Espana and Steve bent over to tie his shoe and happened to see Crisanto scratching his shin. When Collins looked up he noticed that Crisanto wasn't even bending over to do it. His arms were that massively long.
