Ranking the best Dominican boxers of all time

[BoztheMadman]

I gave up on ranking the best Cuban fighters-too damn difficult! So instead I took upon myself the Dominicans, who are much easier to rank. Dominican Republic has had the least world class boxers of the biggest Caribbean island nations, but they still produced some worth talking about. The reason to them not having so many is simple-baseball is much bigger than boxing there. Still, Joan Guzman was one of the best boxers of his time and won world titles at two, almost three different divisions. Carlos Teo Cruz was the first Dominican to win a world title. Etc. Let's go.

 

1. Joan Guzman

 

This guy was as slick as slick gets, yet wasn't afraid of coming forward and mixing it up. Actually, he liked doing that rather than boxing defensively, like so many of his slick contemporaries. Guzman, also known as "Sycuan Warrior or Little Tyson" was a very hard puncher at super bantamweight, but as a super feather and lightweight he was more a guy who had pop but primarily won by outboxing and outworking his opponents. He was a star amateur and won the 1993 and 1995 Central American and Caribbean Games, as a light fly and fly respectively. He also won the 1995 Pan American Games but in the Atlanta Olympics he lost in the first round to Omar Narvaez. His record here is 310-10! He turned pro in 1997 and first won WBO super bantam title in August 2002, knocking out Fabio Daniel Oliva in 3 rounds. He didn't defend it until February 2004, when he beat his national rival Agapito Sanchez by TKO7. Next year, he made one defense by UD against Fernando Beltran and then vacated it. After first winning the WBO feather eliminator by UD against Terdsak Jandaeng, in September 2006 he beat Jorge Rodrigo Barrios for his WBO super feather title, by SD. He again made 2 defenses, decisioning Antonio Davis and then Humberto Soto, both in 2007, before vacating the title in May 2008. He beat Ammeth Diaz by UD in December that year and then fought the 6'1 Ali Funeka in November 2009 for the IBF light title. The fight ended a majority draw and they had a rematch on 27 March next year, but Guzman came in over the weight limit and so, despite winning by SD, could not get the title. He became a light welter after that disappointment and after scoring 3 knockouts, on 30 November 2012 he fought the up and coming Khabib Allakhverdiev for the vacant WBA title and Allakhverdiev's IBO title. Guzman was down in round 3 but came back to make it a hard fight, however he injured his knee and the fight went to the scorecards after 8 rounds. Guzman lost by the scores of 75-76, 75-76 and 76-75. He only had one more fight in 2014, against a total bum, winning by TKO5, before hanging them up. His record is 34 wins, 21 by ko, and 1 loss.

 

2. Carlos Teo Cruz

 

The first Dominican world champion, Cruz shocked everyone by defeating legend Carlos Ortiz and taking his WBC and WBA titles from him. He reportedly started boxing at 20! He was 21 when he started his pro career, after only 17 amateur fights. Early on, he didn't do so well and lost 7 times in his first 2 years. In June 1964, he was stopped for the first time agaisnt hard hitting Carlos Hernandez, by TKO2. His first noted victory was when he decisioned Frankie Narvaez, after first losing to him by SD, in Narvaez's Puerto Rico, in May 1967. After a few more victories, he suddenly got to fight Carlos Ortiz, but was fortunate and got to fight at home in Santo Domingo, 29 June 1966. He shocked everyone when he sent Ortiz down in the first round and won the first 4 rounds, while Ortiz came back and started dominating. After Ortiz tired in the 10th, Cruz came back and took control of the fight. He also cut Ortiz over the eye in round 4. In the end, he got a split decision victory. In his first defense, he scored another great victory when he beat Mando Ramos, one of the best young lightweights back then, by UD. This time, the fight was in L.A. As the fight had been close, Cruz gave Ramos a rematch, which happened 18 February 1969, again in L.A. Cruz was unlucky this time, as he suffered a bad cut in round 8 and had to forfeit the fight in round 11. The scores were all divided at the time of stoppage. Cruz was amidst a comeback fight trail and was scheduled to fight Rodolfo Gonzalez, when he died in a plane crash on 15 February 1970, along with his wife and two children. He was 32. His record is 42 wins, 14 by ko, 13 losses and 2 draws. He was a true dark horse who emerged from obscurity to become a world champion, but sadly it didn't last too long. He had very good skills and was durable and tough.

 

3. Agapito Sanchez

 

This guy sometimes gets overlooked by boxing historians on account of his dirty ring tactics. Sanchez surely never was a "clean" fighter, but he nevertheless belonged to the elite. Standing only 5'4, he was a very aggressive and fast, as well technically strong fighter. He started fighting professionally at 19, in 1989. His boxing alias was "El Ciclon", for obvious reasons. In 1994, he won the USBA super bantam title against Max Diaz by UD and next year he challenged the WBO champ Marco Antonio Barrera, on 22 August in South Padre Island, USA. Sanchez was outboxed for most of the fight but never stopped attacking and put Barrera down in the 12th round, losing by a wide decision. He also fought Juan Manuel Marquez for WBO NABO feather title in 1997 and lost by UD. After getting stopped by Cesar Soto due to a cut and losing on points to Freddie Norwood, he achieved his first bigger victory when he beat future IBF lightweight champion Javier Jauregui by UD in February 1998. In October that year he scored another significant victory, stopping the 2-division champion Oscar Larios due to a cut in 5 rounds. It was on 23 June 2001 that he finally won his only world title, the WBO SB one, by stopping Jorge Monsalvo by KO7 at the MGM Grand. Less than 4 months later, on 10 November, he got his biggest fight when he fought Manny Pacquiao, who had just taken the IBF title, in a title unification fight in San Francisco. This is where Sanchez's dirty reputation really came under the spotlight, as he lost two points for low blows and then butted Pacquiao twice, once unintentionally, forcing the fight to go to the scorecards in round 6. Sanchez still did well enough, surprisingly well, against the new star on the rise, and the scorecards were divided, making it a draw. After that, he was diagnosed with cataracts and had to relinquish his title. He came back in 2004 and fought Joan Guzman, as already mentioned, getting stopped in 7 rounds. He last won the USBA SB title, the first one he ever won, by TKO5 against Artyom Simonyan, in July 2005. Just 4 months later, he was dead after getting shot by an off-duty airforce officer after getting into a dispute with him. He was 35 and he left behind a record of 36 (18)-11-3.

 

4. Hector Acero-Sanchez

 

Another clever and tough fighter, Acero-Sanchez's greatest achievement was beating Tracy Harris Patterson by SD to win the WBC super bantam title in 1994. He was a hard hitter at bantam, where he first started and racked up 23 wins without a loss. In his first fight at super bantam, he was stopped by Jose Garcia by KO11, He continued fighting at that weight and first won the New York State title by UD against Darryl Pinckney in 1993. Despite starting 1994 by losing to Frankie Toledo by UD, he was chosen as the opponent of reigning WBC-champ Tracy Harris Patterson and fought him 26 August in Atlantic City. The Dominican underdog shocked everyone by winning by SD. He made his first defense by beating Julio Gervacio by UD before fighting Daniel Zaragoza in his second defense. The fight ended a majority draw, with Acero-Sanchez getting the nod from one judge. They had a rematch, on 6 November 1995, at the Forum in Inglewood where Zaragoza liked to fight, and this time Zaragoza won by SD. A-S fought Erik Morales and lost to him by UD in 1996 and he also lost to Kennedy McKinney that same way in 1997. In October 1998, he fought for the interim WBA title, but lost to Carlos Barretto on points in Caracas, Venezuela. His career unravelled after that and he ended his career in 2002 after losing to Rocky Juarez by UD10. His record is 41 (22)-9-3.

 

5. Julio Cesar Green

 

A very capable fighter who could box and punch and liked a brawl, Julio Cesar Green won the WBA middle title in an upset over William Joppy, in 1997. Green was first a super welter and in 1995 he challenged Carl Daniels for the vacant WBA title, losing to him by an uneven UD. Previously, he stopped Lonnie Beasley by TKO12 and Wayne Powell by TKO7, to win the NABF title. He fought Joppy on 23 August at MSG and dropped him in the second round and was himself dropped twice in the third, but in the end he won by a close but unanimous decision, thus becoming the first Dominican world middleweight champion and the first one above lightweight. However, he lost the title in his first defense, in a rematch with Joppy, by UD. After winning the interim WBA title by TKO9 against Darren Obah in February '99, he fought Joppy again for the full WBA title in September, but the fight got stopped prematurely in round 7, after Green got a bad cut over his left eye. In his last attempt to win another world title, Green went up to 168 and challenged the taller and hard-hitting Byron Mitchell, on 27 July 2002. He at first had success and sent Mitchell down twice in round 1, but got cut again, this time on his left eyelid, and lost by a TKO4. In March 2004, he fought Mikkel Kessler and was stopped in 1 round. His record is 27 (19)-6-1.

 

6. Leonardo Cruz

 

The much younger brother of Carlos Teo, Leonardo Cruz had a pretty good career and tangled with many of the best at super bantam from the late 70s to mid 80s. He challenged Wilfredo Gomez for his WBC title in September 1978 and was stopped by TKO13. In April 1981, he fought the WBA-champion Sergio Victor Palma and lost by a wide UD in Palma's hometown Buenos Aires. They had a rematch in June 1982, this time in Miami Beach, and Cruz won by another UD in what was described as a "sensational brawl". Cruz then made 3 successful defenses, first knocking out Benito Badilla in 8, then decisioning Soon-Hyun Chung and Cleo Garcia, both by UD. He lost the title in February 1984, fighting Loris Stecca in his opponent's hometown of Milan, and getting stopped by a TKO12. He retired after one more fight and came back in 1989, but got stopped by TKO4 against a poor fighter and hung em up for good. His record is 40 (18)-8-3.

 

7. Merqui Sosa

 

Although he never won a world title, his talent and fighting ability was such that he deserves this ranking. Sosa simply fought in the wrong divisions at the wrong time, especially as a middleweight and super middleweight. In 1989, he decisioned the very clever Sanderline Williams by UD10 and then stopped the Nigel Benn-challenger Jose Quinones by KO1 to win the WBA Continental Americas middle title in February 1990. On 13 January next year, he fought James Toney and despite going down in round 3, he gave Toney a tough fight and got the nod from one of the judges in the end, losing by SD. Toney later said he hit harder than anyone else he had faced. In January 1992 he drew against Steve Little and then in October he was stopped by Frankie Liles by TKO12, after getting 4 points deducted for fouls. On 18 December 1993, he had his only world title fight, losing to Michael Nunn on points for the WBA super middle title. In 1995, he won the NABF light heavy title by KO10 against former IBF-champ Charles Williams. On 12 January next year, he was wronged in a premature stoppage against Roy Jones, in only 2 rounds. He made one defense of the NABF title by UD against Fabian Garcia and then lost it controversially to Kenny Bowman in March 1998, by SD. He went back down to 168 to fight Thomas Tate for his NABF belt and despite outlanding the smaller Tate, he was down three times and stopped in round 10. He retired in 2000, after stopping Segundo Mercado by TKO6. Sosa was a hard-hitting and aggressive fighter who was physically very strong and tough.

 

8. Javier Fortuna

 

Despite being still active and seemingly not close to retirement, I had to include him as well. Fortuna is one of the most talented Dominican boxers yet, but he has also suffered a surprise loss when he was stopped by Jason Sosa in 2016. He is a hard hitter and a complete boxer, but perhaps discipline isn't his strongest side. He first won the interim WBA feather title in December 2012, after beating the 27-0 Patrick Hyland by UD. He then lost the title on the scales before his next defense, which he won by KO1 against Miguel Zamudio. He therefore became a super feather. After beating Abner Cotto by KO5, Fortuna won the vacant full WBA title at 130 by UD-ing Bryan Vasquez, then 34-1, in May 2015. After stopping Carlos Ivan Velasquez by TKO10, Fortuna lost the title in an upset to Jason Sosa, fighting in Beijing, China, 24 June 2016. Fortuna scored a knockdown in round 5 and was ahead on the scorecards when he tired in round 11 and was hit by two hard left hooks and put down. As he rose on unsteady legs, the ref stopped it. He then jumped up to 135 and on 20 January 2018 fought Robert Easter jr for his IBF title. However, Fortuna once again came over the weight limit and could not win the title, which was just as well, for he lost by a questionable split decision. Fortuna himself thought he deserved to win. 2019 was a good year for him, as he first beat the solid Sharif Bogere by UD10 and then won the WBC Continental Americas light title by TKO2 against former WBA feather champion Jesus Cuellar. His record is currently 35 (24)-2(1)-1.

 

9. Argenis Mendez

 

Mendez looked very good for a while, but his peak-time didn't last long. A super lightweight who was mostly a technician but still could knock you out, Mendez won the IBF title in 2013, after first failing to win it in 2011, losing to Juan Carlos Salgado on points. He then beat the same man by KO4 to win it in the rematch. He defended it first against the underrated Afghan Arash Usmanee and retained his title with a majority draw. On 3 January 2014, he fought Rances Barthelemy and was knocked out in 2 rounds, but the punch was later deemed to be thrown just after the bell, so the result was changed into a no-decision. On 10 July that year, they had a rematch and this time Barthelemy won by 115-111 on all cards. Mendez moved on by beating the former IBF-light champion Miguel Vazquez by UD10 in 2015, but next year he got stopped by Robert Easter jr by TKO5. Later that year, he also lost to Luke Campbell by UD, after knocking him down once, in a fight for the WBC Silver light title. Mendez's last noted victory was over Ivan Redkach, by SD, 2 May 2017. He now has a fight coming up on 28 November. His record is now 25 (12)-5(1)-3.

 

10. Elio Rojas

 

A very good featherweight who wasn't a very hard hitter but was game and tough and possessed good skills, Rojas won the WBC title in 2009 by beating Takahiro Ao by UD. He defended it by decisioning Guty Espadas jr, also by UD, before losing the title to Jhonny Gonzalez by UD in 2012, also getting dropped once. He still fought well and won several rounds. Rojas' last fight was against Mikey Garcia on 30 July 2016, and after winning the first two rounds, he was down twice in round 3 and then again in round 5 before it was over. His record is 24(14) and 3(1).