Nicolino Locche

[Steak]

Do you not consider him an ATG and do you consider Locche an ATG?



Yeah, he was a marvel, like BI mentioned I'd love to see the first Cervantes fight.

I consider them both ATGs, but because of the subjective nature of 'ATG' status I prefer to simply say they were HOFers since thats not arguable.

[RubenSonny]

I consider them both ATGs, but because of the subjective nature of 'ATG' status I prefer to simply say they were HOFers since thats not arguable.

Ahh okay fair enough, I think so too, it just annoys me a bit because I've seen people claim Locche as an ATG and not Cervantes.

[chiguy91]

he is deff an ATG and one of my favs...
imagine if talent like his was disciplined.....
at his weight class, he is top 5 imo.

[Steak]

Ahh okay fair enough, I think so too, it just annoys me a bit because I've seen people claim Locche as an ATG and not Cervantes.

Its because people only see him as 'the guy that Benitez beat to be the youngest titleholder ever'.

they just ignore the fact he beat the **** out of a lot of very good fighters, like Gonzalez, Jana, Frazerx2, Locche, Gimenez, Ortiz, DeJesus, Montillax2, Blackmoore and Thompson.

could have fought Arcari and Muangsurin though. dont know why the WBC unification never happened. maybe Columbia didnt recongnise it...?

[RubenSonny]

Its because people only see him as 'the guy that Benitez beat to be the youngest titleholder ever'.

they just ignore the fact he beat the **** out of a lot of very good fighters, like Gonzalez, Jana, Frazerx2, Locche, Gimenez, Ortiz, DeJesus, Montillax2, Blackmoore and Thompson.

could have fought Arcari and Muangsurin though. dont know why the WBC unification never happened. maybe Columbia didnt recongnise it...?

Duran and him could of fought too, that would've been a sick fight, I think hes clearly greater than Locche.

[Steak]

Duran and him could of fought too, that would've been a sick fight, I think hes clearly greater than Locche.

yep, overall I would also say Cervantes was the better fighter,(not by a huge amount since Locche has some underrated wins) but Locche's defensive ability was just unbelievable, so I prefer to watch his fights a little more.

Do you think prime Cervantes would have beaten Pryor?

[RubenSonny]

yep, overall I would also say Cervantes was the better fighter,(not by a huge amount since Locche has some underrated wins) but Locche's defensive ability was just unbelievable, so I prefer to watch his fights a little more.

Do you think prime Cervantes would have beaten Pryor?

I think it would be an amazing fight, with Pryor outlanding him quite a bit, but with Cervantes tagging him with harder counters, Cervantes laying on the ropes countering quite a bit with Pryor constantly throwing, I think Pryor gets dropped a couple of times but does more work than the lower worker in Cervantes, I don't even know who I'd pick its such a difficult one, both have styles that mesh really well, I think they'd split a series, you?

[Steak]

I think it would be an amazing fight, with Pryor outlanding him quite a bit, but with Cervantes tagging him with harder counters, Cervantes laying on the ropes countering quite a bit with Pryor constantly throwing, I think Pryor gets dropped a couple of times but does more work than the lower worker in Cervantes, I don't even know who I'd pick its such a difficult one, both have styles that mesh really well, I think they'd split a series, you?

I actually think Cervantes would have beaten him, after going through hell. He did quite well against Pryor despite being near the end of his career in their fight, and was able to drop him solidly...Pryor was never amazing when it came to defense. I think prime Cervantes was a bit more durable than Arguello as well, so he would have the ability to go late.

still, an unrelenting guy like Pryor almost always has a chance through sheer offensive assault and grit.

[Spray_resistant]

One of the few old timers I really like to watch and think could best a top fighter in any era, I wish I could find more vids of him though. even without much power he was still very entertaining.

[TheGreatA]

I believe Ray Arcel said that Locche had the best defense of any fighter he saw including Willie Pep. This doesn't mean he's greater than Pep though, who remains the greatest defensive boxer of all time alongside offensive fighters such as Armstrong and Robinson. But Pep had a lot more going for him than just his defense, he was faster and even had a better punch.

There's actually a fair bit of footage on Locche, by no means have we missed out on his career. It's difficult to acquire anything than just short highlights though but his fights are occasionally shown on Argentinian TV. Anyway, the Fuji and Hernandez fights show that he could rip into his opponents with punches as well when he felt like it. First let them get tired missing, and then started opening up. He always came on strong in the late rounds, a testament to his great pacing if not his conditioning.