Teddy Atlas. Carlos Zarate

If you dont know Zarate, watch the Alfonso Zamora, Albert Davilla, Orlando Amores, Lupe Pintor, Wilfredo Gomez, Rodolfo Martinez, these fights should show you how great Zarate was

 

Who were the top 4?

 

I can't see much wrong with the ranking.
Chavez
Olivares
Sanchez
Saldivar
Barrera


Zarate fits pretty well in there imo.

 

Armstrong said Arizmendi could take punches all night,he ascribed it to his abnormally large head and neck.

 

Cant argue too much with that list. Mexico has had so many great fighters that won and never won a title and are relatively unknown here. Great boxers like Gilberto Roman, Miguel Canto, great punchers, Zamora, Romeo Anaya, great fighters, Alacran Torres, Jose Medel, Chucho Castillo, Rodolfo Martinez really too many to list.

 

Forgot Canto ,he has to be there imo.

 

Zarate was a huge puncher at bantamweight, probably underated on pound for pound punching lists. Blasted out Zamora and was robbed against Pintor. Gomez toppled him at 122 but he was a killer , bantams don't fight very long

 

He was on my list. Those were the days every Saturday a show from Mexico, Canto defended his title many times on those shows. One of those was vs Antonio Avelar a relentless brutal puncher. Ck them both out on youtube

Canto vs Avelar

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Avelar vs Tae-Shik Kim

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The way Zarate cut off the ring was awesome. He could look a bit ungainly in the early going before he'd found his range and accuracy but he was very cultured and precise once he did. Just kept moving forward throwing those long swooping shots like someone with a scythe chopping down acres of corn. Great wins over Davila, Zamora, Martinez and Ferrari and was robbed against Pintor imo, post-Gomez disaster.

Also, on a slight tangent, it's been ages since I watched the Gomez fight, but I recall Gomez being very dirty and underhand once he had Zarate hurt. More or less kept him from recovering illegally.

 

The Zarate vs Gomez fight was in San Juan, PR. Both fighters had problems with weight and maybe a "cold" or two. Gomez hit Zarate solidly when Zarate was down, and under the "rules", Gomez should have been disqualified. But, Gomez was a WBC "favorite" fighter, so no "disqualification". But Zarate never asked for a "rematch".