30 Seconds With Ruben Olivares

[marbleheadmaui]

Olivares is arguably the greatest Bantamweight of all time, Rose held off Castillo and no matter what anyone might think, he actually beat Castillo more than what the controversy shows. Olivares was a different beast altogether. Rose was weight drained, but the early rounds show he had great evasive skills and landed many shots himself. Olivares was just relentless, he just kept moving forward, throwing punches, not wildly or recklessly, he was measured, he had purpose, he was incredibly accurate. Rose was doomed.
The one fight i would've liked to have seen was Olivares V Eder Jofre. Jofre made a comeback in 1969 and took out former featherwieght champion Vicente Saldivar in 4 rounds, what a fight it would've been against Olivares, both fighters were fighting at Featherweight in 1973.
How about a dream match at 118 Olivares V Zarate?

Nice post.

The Jofre-Olivares one is particularly interesting. My initial thinking was Jofre was too technically sound and quick for Olivares to track down and he handled another skilled banger twice in Jose Medel. Then I remembered that the one man who beat Jofre was an unrelenting pursuit beast like Olivares, but without the punch, Fighting Harada.

That's a pick'em in my view. I could argue either way.

Olivares-Zarate seems clearer to me. Puas went ten rounds leading the great Arguello up at 126. Arguello was a bigger, harder punching version of Zarate it seems to me. Both tall and long and classic stand up fighters, both adept at picking off punches with their gloves, both excellent technically but not overly quick, both preferred to pursue rather than retreat, both had excellent chins and lethal power with both hands. My guess is if Olivares could do that at 126? At 118 he wins a decision over the great Zarate.

I'd give my left arm to own a time machine that allowed me to see a 1962 Jofre or a 1977 Zarate against a 1969 Olivares.