Best Puerto Rican fighter of all time?

Serrano was not a paper champion. He became the WBA champion after defeating Ben Villaflor in a rematch for the title. Ken Norton was a paper champion (one who wins the title outside the ring). Was Thomas Hearns a paper when while the 'true' champion was Leonard before their unification bout? The WBA was at the time the oldest of the two world boxing organizations. (Yes, kiddo, there was a time when there were only two world boxing entities, with the WBC struggling at the beginning to gain the respect the WBA had). Serrano had a long rein at the WBA and no one ever tag him as paper champion. He was not the best. True.

 

Well...only one fighter was a champion after 1986. And since, as well all know, boxing was invented in 1986...you do the math. ::

 

Everyone knows that the best 130 pounders in the world at that time were named Escalera and Arguello

Serrano's challengers were pathetic, he avoided everyone threatening

Lets look at 130 in the late 1970s and early 1980s:

besides Arguello and Escalera, there were guys like Tyrone Everett, Rolando Navarette, Bobby Chacon, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Rafael Limon... all of those guys were recognized as the best of the 130 pound class and Serrano fought NONE OF THEM, instead sitting on his title and fighting shitty, carefully picked opposition

Paper champion doesnt just refer to the Norton situation (which is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL) it also refers to a fighter thought to be holding a belt that is only his due to the politics of the sport and the chicanery of sanctioning bodies

Hearns is a HORRIBLE example, because there was no clear consensus as to who was "the man" at 147... and Hearns and Leonard were both fighting quality opposition... thats why the matchup was such a big deal when it happened

Serrano, on the other hand, avoided every top 130 pounder in the business during his "reign"

He was a bullshit titleholder, simple as that

Dont try to pull the age card on me, I have clearly forgotten more than you have even learned

If Serrano was a black dude or a white guy, we wouldnt be having this conversation

Stick to threads in TAA about shity movies, you're out of your element

How else do you explain a guy who starts a "Greatest Mexican Fighter" thread and leaves out Ruben fucking Olivares

 

I don't know who the fuck Serrano was...but if he was a good 130 why didn't he fight Arguello? or some of the other guys cdogg mention who were not the creme like Arguello but were tough dudes like Chacon,Boze-Edwards,Limon..?

being captain boxrec...and looking over Serrano's record he didn't fought anyone who can be consider good....

looking at a few clips from utube on serrano..i would say Arguello woudl ko him easily..and he would not be able to handle the pressure style fighting of the others mention above....

 

I would have favored every one of the dudes I mentioned over Serrano

 

I agree. I can't make a case for Serrano either.

 

Especially when Alfredo Escalera, also Boricua, was a far superior fighter holding the other half of the title at the same time!

 

Bullshit.
Serrano fought his mandatories. Many of these other boxers you named, due to WBA & WBC politics, were NOT mandatories for the WBA belt. Everybody wanted to fight Escalera and Arguello because that's were the bigger purses were. Serrano had the same problem Daniel Santos has: not many are interested in fighting him. Serrano was a guy that had to travel to Asia, Europe, Latin America, USA everywhere just to keep fighting and defending his belt! And some of the names you mentioned, like Rolando Navarrette & Rafael Limon were overly protected WBC boxers. Guys that had like eight defeats, got title shots, got defeated and then fight AGAIN for the title? Then win the title, lost it shortly after and gets AGAIN other title shot? That was a lot of bullshit politics to keep them in the mix. They were not as good as you think. Chacon was the darling of that era. An exciting fighter, like Mickey Ward, that really didn't accomplished much except for that fight of the year in 82 with Limon. If he was that good he would had a longer reign except for one sole title defense.

About leaving out Olivares from the poll... Ok, my bad. I thought most of you fuckers will not know who he was (like Raul 'Raton' Macias, considered by many mexicans among the top three best ever from that country). That is why I stated 'who was the greatest among these..." to clarify that I was leaving out other worthy names.

 

You just compared Chacon to Mickey Ward, gimme a break

that is just idiotic

Chacon, Limon, Boza, tec. were protected??? protected from what exactly??? protected from beating the shit out of one another everytime someone turned around? protected from each getting taken apart by the REAL Junior Lightweight champion (ARGUELLO) ??

nobody wanted to fight Serrano??? maybe because there was nothing prestigous about his "championship"?? There was money in fighting Escalera and Arguello because they were THE BEST in the division, while Serrano was a lesser fighter happily fighting mandatory scrubs and reigning as "champion"

Name one win Serrano had over a significant 130 pounder, just ONE

And remember Arguello, Tyrone Everett, Alfredo Escalera, Chacon, Limon, Navarette, Boza... those were the best 130 pounders of that era... Serrano fought exactly ZERO of them

This is not a Eusebio Pedroza/Sal Sanchez situation... Serrano is no Pedroza, he was a lesser fighter who kept his "championship" by fighting scrubs and avoiding real challenges... he is not some criminally underrated champion

he is forgotten because he did nothing to distinguish himself

 

Excellent post. Spot on! :bears:

And you're right, if Serrano wasn't from Puerto Rico, Panchy would never be shilling for him this much.

 

Ken Norton may have been a paper champion, but he still fought far better competition than Serrano. Norton was active for most of a decade against many of the best fighters in his weight class, which is a lot more than can be said for Serrano.

 

exactly

he picked the wrong Puerto Rican!!!

Alfredo Escalera is more deserving of this fawning praise than Sam Serrano is!!

Shit, Escalera, Esteban DeJesus, Edwin Rosario, even CAMACHO-- all superior to Serrano

 

Exactly

Norton was tangling with Ali, Holmes, Quarry, Young, Shavers ( to his everlasting dismay-- OUCH) , Foreman (same) and was sparring with Joe Frazier

Just beating Ali ONE TIME (when it still really meant something) eclipses the career of 5 Samuel Serranos

 

:::::: Ok, Mea culpa! LOL I just started this whole "Serrano appreciation-posts" just to see if any of you guys knew anything about him and cdogg187 has graduated with honors in my book for having a wonderful memory.:bears: Serrano was indeed a boring ass fighter and even us boricuas didn't gave much shit about him at the time. He and Saoul Mamby at 140 lbs were the veteran champs with the less exciting boxing skills, but at least Mamby fought a few good opponents like DeJesus, Blocker, Barnes, Castillejo and even was a Duran victim! But Serrano was the John Ruiz of the 70's: he won fights in the most ugly and boring fashion and the only 'name' he fought (Mayweather) was the one that practically send him to retirement (well he went to jail for drug dealing...he was not a damn role model either).

I apologize if I went too far in my "Serrano-apologetics":: but I had to sound convincing.:mj:

 

:bears:Great! Now lets move on and discuss how the hell Tito is still leading in this poll!!!!!!!!!!:doh:

 

Can I change my vote? I want to vote for Tito now.:crafty:

 

:doh:::

 

I was gonna say...:bears: