The Greatest Filipino Boxers of All Time: A List & Appreciation Thread

[acb_]

Here is my list based on both skills and accomplishments: Please post yours or just discuss discuss the boxing tradition from this part of the world.

1. Flash Elorde
Great southpaw boxer, holds wins over Sandy Saddler and Ismael Laguna. Fought in an era of stiff competition.
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2. Manny Pacquiao
Tremendous wins over Barrera, Morales, Marquez... don't need to expand on this.

3. Pancho Villa
One of the first great champions out of the islands. Beat an ATG in Jimmy Wilde.
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4. Ceferino Garcia
The real inventor of the bolo punch, participated in the first title fight in the Philippines. A rare breed of Phillipino boxer who became middleweight champion.
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5. Louie "Luisito" Espinosa
Bantamweight and later beat Medino to become Featherweight champion. Footage here is of his win over Khaokor Galaxy (brother of Khaosai Galaxy for the WBA bantamweight championship.
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6. Ben Villaflor
Yet another southpaw fighter out of the Philippines. Started his career young, was a rare boxer that didn't get KO'd in his career.

7. Rolando Navarrete
Super featherweight champ. KO'd Boza-Edwards (this is supposed to be a great scrap) and later lost title to Limon.
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8. Gerry Penalosa
Everyone has seen Gerry, skilled southpaw who knows his craft and is still boxing.
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What about Dodie Boy Penalosa and Anthony Villanueva? Anyone know anything about these guys?

[acb_]

Come one RB and others, give me a hand here with this.

[CJLightweight]

i haven't constructed a list myself, and i'm in a hurry today but great thread for appreciating philippine boxing.

i do agree on elorde being on the top, win/loss against elite level competition was the best, that era where he fought in was the most deepest of lightweights imo, his competition was the best although he lose to most of them like ortiz and saddler

pancho villa - i think wilde wasn't the only guy notable on his resume..i've read this somewhere, although i have no time to look up on it at the moment, i remember reading about it somewhere on the net

and i think penalosa is a hell of a lot better and more accomplished than other of the guys rated above him. He stop boxing for about 2 years and decided to come back and i was surprised he could still be on top despite the age

anyways i'm off got a date

[Illmatic]

I think Pacquaio is the clear #1. Gomes, Bizarro and Laguna are great wins for Elorde, but damn, the holy trio of Morales/Barrera/Marquez, not to mention pretty good wins over Sasakul/Ledwaba/Solis/Larios/Battery...Pac's resume is impeccable.

[acb_]

Originally Posted by Illmatic

I think Pacquaio is the clear #1. Gomes, Bizarro and Laguna are great wins for Elorde, but damn, the holy trio of Morales/Barrera/Marquez, not to mention pretty good wins over Sasakul/Ledwaba/Solis/Larios/Battery...Pac's resume is impeccable.

You are forgetting the Saddler win on Elorde's resume. He beat him once, and in their second meeting was ahead on the scorecards until the cut made the ref call it a day. I'm not sure that Barrera, Morales, and Marquez are any greater than Saddler, Laguna, and Gomes. Now on top of that he presided over the Jr Lightweight division for seven years. His resume is deep.

To be honest I expect to have Pac as the #1 by the time he retires but he isn't the clear # IMO.

[CJLightweight]

i was looking up an old article about philippine boxers of the past and i stumbled upon this guy

Little Dado Zapanta
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acb, do you have any idea about this guy? his record looks pretty good in a span of 7 years, only lose thrice and those 3 loses coming from only one fighter. Has good wins, and had a draw with manuel ortiz too


btw, anthony villanueva only made his name in the olympics, never did anything at pro

[acb_]

Originally Posted by CJLightweight

i was looking up an old article about philippine boxers of the past and i stumbled upon this guy

Little Dado Zapanta
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

acb, do you have any idea about this guy? his record looks pretty good in a span of 7 years, only lose thrice and those 3 loses coming from only one fighter. Has good wins, and had a draw with manuel ortiz too


btw, anthony villanueva only made his name in the olympics, never did anything at pro

Don't know anything about him, have you found any footage?

Tanks for the tip on Villanueva. Why didn't he turn pro? Or was it just that he wasn't good at that level?

[CJLightweight]

Originally Posted by acb_

Don't know anything about him, have you found any footage?

Tanks for the tip on Villanueva. Why didn't he turn pro? Or was it just that he wasn't good at that level?

villanueva was robbed of the gold by a russian in the 1964 olympics as they said, he did turned pro 11 years after that and loss on his first bout
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i don't have any footage of little dado, i've been curious about him myself.

[Illmatic]

Originally Posted by acb_

You are forgetting the Saddler win on Elorde's resume. He beat him once, and in their second meeting was ahead on the scorecards until the cut made the ref call it a day. I'm not sure that Barrera, Morales, and Marquez are any greater than Saddler, Laguna, and Gomes. Now on top of that he presided over the Jr Lightweight division for seven years. His resume is deep.

To be honest I expect to have Pac as the #1 by the time he retires but he isn't the clear # IMO.

I can see that. I know I may get a ton of flack for this, but Ive tended to see Saddler as another Iran Barkley,....someone who made their name by having a great fighter's number. I personally throw up a little when I see Saddler over Pep in some ATG lists.

[acb_]

Originally Posted by Illmatic

I can see that. I know I may get a ton of flack for this, but Ive tended to see Saddler as another Iran Barkley,....someone who made their name by having a great fighter's number. I personally throw up a little when I see Saddler over Pep in some ATG lists.

Have you watched a good amount of Saddler's footage? I haven't watched enough personally.

[Sweet Pea]

Originally Posted by Illmatic

I can see that. I know I may get a ton of flack for this, but Ive tended to see Saddler as another Iran Barkley,....someone who made their name by having a great fighter's number.

You're done.

[kg0208]

Pacquiao is going to pass Elorde over time I believe. It may not take much more. It's Elorde's skill level that keeps him over Pacquiao for me now. Resume is very very close, and Pacquiao has actually accomplished more as far as titles go.

[McGrain]

Originally Posted by Illmatic

I can see that. I know I may get a ton of flack for this, but Ive tended to see Saddler as another Iran Barkley,....someone who made their name by having a great fighter's number. I personally throw up a little when I see Saddler over Pep in some ATG lists.

Jaysus.

[CJLightweight]

Originally Posted by kg0208

Pacquiao is going to pass Elorde over time I believe. It may not take much more. It's Elorde's skill level that keeps him over Pacquiao for me now. Resume is very very close, and Pacquiao has actually accomplished more as far as titles go.

i believe so too..especially if he wins against DLH, resume is close but skills go to elorde plus i really like elorde's resume. His competition win-lose(i do think the loses should be credited cause he fought great fighters and last the distance with them) is better than pacquiao atm