Top 10 122lbs(Junior featherweight)

[Adaptation]

Im not exactly sure when the weightclass started, but i went from 1960 and up and so far i got

1.Wilfredo Gómez
2.Erik Morales
3.Marco Antonio Barrera
4.Israel Vázquez
5.Vuyani Bungu
6.Kennedy McKinney
7.Oscar Larios
8.Daniel Zaragoza
9.Celestino Caballero
10.Daniel Ponce De Leon


Am i forgetting anybody? Its my first draft, so i still need to give details for everybody. Obviously, Caballero is likely to go up in the future if he beats JMLopez or Vazquez/Marquez.

BTW edited the two no.4

[AlFrancis]

I think it's a good top 3.

[PowerPuncher]

Ability wise Naseem Hamed was a beast at 122 and only moved to 126 as their was a Brit belt holder in Robinson

Wilfredo Vasquez? Patterson? Junior Jones? Does Fenech count?

BTW there is only one number 4 :D

[AlFrancis]

Ability wise Naseem Hamed was a beast at 122 and only moved to 126 as their was a Brit belt holder in Robinson

Wilfredo Vasquez? Patterson? Junior Jones? Does Fenech count?

BTW there is only one number 4 :D

Or Manny Paquiao, not top 3 because he wasn't there long enough.

[teeto]

I think Pac could make top ten possibly somewhere though, in a certain light. Up to the compiler of the list. I think Zaragoza should be above Larios though. But Larios was very very good at this weight.

Sorry to just comment on your list mate, i h8 it when people do that!!!

[la-califa]

Wifredo Vazquez, Jaime Garza & Agapito Sanchez deserve mention.

[PowerPuncher]

Or Manny Paquiao, not top 3 because he wasn't there long enough.

Forgot about him, also beat 3 of the names on the list

[Bill Butcher]

Forgot about him, also beat 3 of the names on the list

Yes, but he (Pac) didnt beat them at 122 lbs & in the case of Morales would definitely not beat him at 122 lbs


IMO :D

[good right hand]

i thought antonio cermino was a pretty good fighter.

[JohnThomas1]

Fenech would cut a swathe thru most of that list, but of course didn't have much body or work there.

[My2Sense]

Does Fenech count?


He should. He was at his peak at jr. feather, and was easily one of the best ever at this weight (maybe even the best). The only one I might put over him would be Gomez.

A better question is, is this list restricted only to titleholders? For example, could someone like Fighting Harada or Ruben Olivares qualify for this?

[WhataRock]

Thats a list with a pretty modern bias.

I dont think guys like Callabero, Larios, Ponce De Leon should be in there over blokes like Wifredo Vazquez and Ncita.
Guys like Ledwaba, Gaza and Cermeno deserve a shout but I would really have think about where everyone is slotted.
Tracy Harris Patterson is a difficult one...many forget he had a decent reign at the weight.

Gomez at no1 is spot on though.

122 can be a hard one though because so many fighters only used as a quick stop off on their way to feather or to supplement their reigns at bantem..if you were to include the guys that did this it gets even more difficult.

[Adaptation]

Im trying to stick mainly to the weightclass(hence why Pacman was not included). Forgot some keynames, shame on me. So far changed it too

1.Wilfredo Gómez
2.Jeff Fenech
3.Erik Morales
4.Marco Antonio Barrera
5.Wilfredo Vazquez
6.Israel Vázquez
7.Oscar Larios
8.Antonio Cermeno
9.Vuyani Bungu
10.Kennedy McKinney
11.Daniel Zaragoza

[WhataRock]

Certainly a better list there Adapt.

But I want to discuss with you why you have Larios so high..

I think you cant really put to much weight on Larios' win over Vasquez, as at that stage Israel wasnt really coming into his best form. Even without that I think Israel gets quite overrated because of his 3 fights with Marquez (much like how Gatti did with his fight against Ward). Though they were classic fights that history will remember, I dont see how they were that big in the scheme of things.
It wasnt that long ago that Vasquez was just a slightly above average scrapper who seemed destined for no more then to be a titlist. His amazing will and durability have seen him change that destiny, though against a bantamweight who was slightly overrated himself.
The main point is however Larios' win over Vasquez should not see him shoot up the ratings to dramatically.

I would not rate Larios' reign at the weight any better then Zaragoza and Bungu. In fact it was a lot shorter and didnt really have that many decent names on it. It was packed full of unimpressive japs and I reckon he didnt really take on a dangerous challenger until Hussein which was towards the end of it. He best one of the more overrated fighters of the time in Jorrin to get the title and his wins over McCullough shouldnt count for much, if anything the first fight should count against him because it was competitive.

Zaragoza on the otherhand was a dedicated superbantam who was at the top of the division for over 10 years, with over a dozen defences.

Both Larios and Vasquez would struggle to beat any of those guys in your top 10 and I could probably name more.
Just my take on it though.

[teeto]

Yea, i really want to stress again that Zaragoza was a greater super-bantam than Larios. Larios was very very good though. Also, Pac's best wins never came at the weight, but he was immense there imo, not sure if it warrants a spot, i'll leave that up to you guys!

[AlFrancis]

Yea, i really want to stress again that Zaragoza was a greater super-bantam than Larios. Larios was very very good though. Also, Pac's best wins never came at the weight, but he was immense there imo, not sure if it warrants a spot, i'll leave that up to you guys!

Lupe Pintor wasn't a champ at that weight for long, when he was past his best but I reckon that the Pintor who fought Gomez would of given any Super bantam a good argument.

[AlFrancis]

Sorry Teeto, that wasn't a response to you. It was just a comment.

[Ezzard]

Callejas was underrated at this weight, deserves a mention

[Adaptation]

Lupe Pintor wasn't a champ at that weight for long, when he was past his best but I reckon that the Pintor who fought Gomez would of given any Super bantam a good argument.

Pintor is defenitly hot stuff in my post60's bantamweight top 10 list. But at super, i cant really include him.

Iv done some more research. I dont think Larios's win over vazquez should be made smaller then it is - an incredible fight that was. But i will look up some zaragoza fights, because looking at boxrec he has a really nice string of Defenses. I will check a few of his fight(zarate&McCullough), and i might change my mind - just with his amount of title defenses i might bump him up over Vazquez, that his if Vazquez dosen't go on to have a few more great matches at 122.(in that case, he would certaintly go down the list).

[Mantequilla]

Pintor could be included, it's not as if the division is flowing with talent.

[WhataRock]

Pintor is defenitly hot stuff in my post60's bantamweight top 10 list. But at super, i cant really include him.

Iv done some more research. I dont think Larios's win over vazquez should be made smaller then it is - an incredible fight that was. But i will look up some zaragoza fights, because looking at boxrec he has a really nice string of Defenses. I will check a few of his fight(zarate&McCullough), and i might change my mind - just with his amount of title defenses i might bump him up over Vazquez, that his if Vazquez dosen't go on to have a few more great matches at 122.(in that case, he would certaintly go down the list).

Vasquez at least potentially has more of a future to carve out at the weight. He could beat Callabero and Juanma, that would help out his legacy.

For me though Larios has done his dash and whilst he has a good record there, I would say he is struggling to make it into the top10 with a resume like his.

[Drew101]

Something like this:

1. Wilfredo Gomez
2. Erik Morales
3. Marco Antonio Barerra
4. Jeff Fenech
5. Vuyani Bungu
6. Daniel Zaragoza
7. Antonio Cermeno
8. Wilfredo Vasquez
9. Junior Jones
10. Kennedy McKinney

[Quick Cash]

Something like this:

1. Wilfredo Gomez
2. Erik Morales
3. Marco Antonio Barerra
4. Jeff Fenech
5. Vuyani Bungu
6. Daniel Zaragoza
7. Antonio Cermeno
8. Wilfredo Vasquez
9. Junior Jones
10. Kennedy McKinney

Hey, what's your criteria? Could you tell me more about the fighters in your 5th and 7th place? I'm eager to learn more about these smaller guys; 122 isn't exactly my forte.

Wilfredo Gomez
Marco Antonio Barrera
Erik Morales
Wilfredo Vazquez
Israel Vazquez
Jeff Fenech
Tracy Harris Patterson
Daniel Zaragoza
Sergio Victor Palma
Kennedy McKinney

[Adaptation]

Little Resume so far... This should round up the division's history. The records next to the fighters is the record they have fighting at that weight. I think im starting to get the division right. I gotta say though, the divisions is very likely to change with Caballero, Vazquez, Juanma Lopez, Marquez... the clear champion of these 4 will get in the top 10(or move up in the case of vazquez).

1.Wilfredo Gómez 40(40KO)-0-1 : I think just his record speaks for itself. At 122, he won every fight by knock out, and he blew out very strong opposition racking up 17 defenses.
Notable Wins: Dong Kyun Yum[50-2-6], Carlos Zarate[52-0-0], Lupe Pintor[49-5-1]

2.Erik Morales 31(23KO)-0: ''el terrible's'' best weight, he dominated this weightclass in the 90's and gave us one an ATG fight when he faced MAB.
Notable Wins: Daniel Zaragoza[55-7-3], Junior Jones[44-3], Marco Antonio Barrera[49-2]

3.Jeff Fenech 7(7KO)-0 : Had he stayed at that weight for longer, he could have become much better. Unfortunetly, Big Jeff ate too much for his own good. Still, like Gomez, he dominated this class everytime by KO.
Notable Wins: Daniel Zaragoza[28-3], Carlos Zarate[66-2]

4.Marco Antonio Barrera 16(12KO)-3 : MAB's second best weight, where he had a good run of 10 defenses. However, losing twice to Junior Jones hurts his credit at the weight.
Notable Win: Kennedy McKinney[28-1-1]

5.Wilfredo Vazquez 23(17KO)-3: Wilfredo had a good string of defenses after avenging his first loss to Raul Perez to get an ABC belt.
Notable Wins:Orlando Canizales[38-1-1], Raul Perez[49-2-2],

6.Daniel Zaragoza 24[11KO]-5-3: He lost to the very best, but was still a very competent fighter. He had a solid string of defenses, and kept a belt till the very end of his career.
Notable Wins: Carlos Zarate[66-3], Wayne Mccullough[20-0]

7.Israel Vázquez 18(13KO)-3: Other then giving us ATG fights and trilogy's with Oscar Larios and Rafael Marquez, Vazquez is building up his legacy as a superbantamweight. His stock is likely to move up some more as he fights more opposition.
Notable Wins:Rafael Marquez(twice)[37-3], Jhonny Gonzalez[33-4], Oscar Larios(twice)[56-3-1]

8.Antonio Cermeno (no record for now sorry!) Credit for beating Wilfredo Vazquez, and following with 6 defenses before moving up in weight.
Notable Wins: Wilfredo Vazquez[42-6-2]

9.Vuyani Bungu 36-2[18KO] Once he got his belt, was undefeated until he moved up in weight to fight Prince Naseem.
Notable Wins: Kennedy McKinney[27-0-1], Danny Romero[33-2]

10.Oscar Larios
Notable Wins: Israel Vazquez[32-2], Willie Jorrin [28-0-1]