Quote Originally Posted by Gallegos Boxing Gym View Post
But if you think Olivares' work outside the bantamweight division was compelling nough to nose him ahead of Zarate in an all-time sense, I can definitely see that.
I hadn't watched the Zarate-Rodolfo Martinez fight in in maybe 30 years. Very high quality fight. Little clinching, short punches, good movement, complex punching choices etc. The things that jumped out at me were (in no order)

Did Cuyo Harnandez EVER train a fighter who didn't have a magnificent left hand? Jab, hook to the body, hook to the head, uppercut?

I had forgotten just how physically strong Carlos was. When he didn't like Rodolfo's distance? He simply shoved him (like George Foreman did) and boom! Three feet of distance.

Zarate was also pretty damned ring savvy. The first time Martinez turns southpaw he lands a sweeping left hand. When he tries it again in the fifth round Zarate lands a booming left hook, batters him all over the ring and puts him through the ropes. When Rodlfo makes his final, gallant stand in the eighth Zarate recognizes it for what it is, weather's the storm, digs repeatedly to the body and lets the strom dissipate.

Finally, Zarate had every punch in the book. What he didn't have was a pattern of combinations. Matinez never knew what the NEXT punch was going to be. Carlos could throw any combo he wanted. The KO shots, left to the belly and a right uppercut may have been the first time he threw that all night. Before a left to the belly either ended a combination or was followed by a straight right hand or a hook to the head.

Marvelous!