43 years later, I'm still obsessed with Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez
Legends produced an all-time great featherweight title fight and one of my favorite fights ever. So, of course, I've collected stuff from the bout
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For decades, I’ve obsessed over the epic Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez fight, which Sanchez won by eighth-round knockout to retain the WBC featherweight title on Aug. 21, 1981 — 43 years ago on Wednesday — in the headliner of a Don King-promoted bout dubbed “The Battle of the Little Giants” at the famed Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas.
It was a truly great fight between future Hall of Famers and the greatest battle in the history of the legendary Mexico-Puerto Rico boxing rivalry.
Mexico’s Sanchez, who was just 22, was making his sixth title defense on his way to nine before his untimely death in a car accident at age 23 a year later. Gomez, a 1972 Puerto Rican Olympian, was the long-reigning WBC junior featherweight champion moving up in weight. Since a draw in his pro debut, Gomez, was riding a 32-fight knockout streak, including in all of his 14 title defenses (before returning to 122 pounds after the Sanchez fight to score three more and run his record in junior featherweight title defenses to a division-record 17-0, all by KO).
Sanchez nearly stopped Gomez in the first round, when he knocked him down in the first 30 seconds. But Gomez made it out of opening round and fought back hard to make it a highly competitive all-action fight before Sanchez finally triumphed.
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In my vast boxing collection, I have several items from this fight, one of my all-time favorites. (Two things I do not have are a ticket and press kit, so if you’ve got either and are interested in selling or trading, hit me up!).
On the anniversary of this epic and historic fight, here is the stuff from it in my collection.
The program
The program is extraordinarily hard to find even in beat up condition. I have seen maybe three or four over the years and I am not sure why it’s so scarce. Several years ago I found one in superb condition and did not hesitate to buy it, even getting it a price I could happily live with.
The posters
There are two posters from the fight, one in English and one in Spanish. They were issued folded and are quite scarce, especially in high grade like the ones I am pleased to own. As I understand it some of them were distributed as part of the press kit issued to media during fight week.
I spent literally 25-plus years looking for them in top shape. I scoured eBay, auction houses, talked to dealers and fellow collectors to no avail. Then, amazingly, within about a three-week span several years ago I found both and from different sellers. They weren’t cheap. They are among the cornerstones of my poster collection that numbers well over 5,000.
The credential
A few years ago I obtained an unused press pass from the fight. They are actually not that tough to find relative to the poster and program. I would have loved to cover this fight but, alas, I was only 10 years old!
The sticker
Another item from the fight I also bought several years ago, which you don’t see too often, is a very large site sticker. I am not entirely sure how it was issued or with what (maybe in the press kit?). Regardless, it is super cool and I am thrilled to have one.
The rookies
While these are not specifically from the fight, Sanchez and Gomez both have their rookies cards in the 1981-82 Panini Sport Superstars multi-sport sticker set from Italy. The set is loaded with great fighters of the era, including rookies of several other Hall of Famers, including Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Wilfred Benitez and others, and the second-year Roberto Duran. I also have of them in my collection.
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That was an amazing fight and atmosphere . i was in my early 20s at that time of gomez -sanchez. There are two other fights that have stuck with me forever . ruben olivares - alexis arguello1974 : i was about 12 years old. i cried because olivares was my hero as he was knocked out in the 13 th rd. --------- Alxeis Arguello vs Aaron Pryor 1982 -. I was about 20 years when arguello, who later became one of my favorite fighters, was knocked out by Pryor. I cried that night also. I am now in my 60's and i still remember those 2 fights and their effect on me , even though i have watched hundreds of fights .
I understand why one could be obsessed with that fight, me included. It took that fight for me to truly appreciate the greatness of Sanchez. Originally, I resented Sanchez for beating up Danny "Little Red" Lopez twice. Sanchez was able to avoid Lopez's power in both fights and out box him until the accumulation of punches caused both fights to be stopped in the later rounds. In retrospect it was a perfect game plan for Sanchez, but at the time I was heartbroken for Lopez, who lost his championship and the rematch but handled both defeats, as I recall, with grace and dignity.