The 10 Greatest Bantamweights

Flea, the bantams have always been such a rich division and I look forward to reading your next nine picks. But in defense of your #10 pick I will add in my own only to demonstrate that every single one of us has their own opinion, not to mention criteria. I have always picked on a head-to-head basis. Whom, I think could beat whom. Some had longer primes, thus longer championships, but should never detract from how one could perform in that magical peak form. Anyways, before I bore myself, this is how I view the 118 pounders.

1) Ruben Olivares
2) Carlos Zarate
3) Eder Jofre
4) Rafael Herrera
5) Fighting Harada
6) Panama Al Brown
7) Chucho Castillo
8) Rodolfo Martinez
9) Jeff Chandler
10) Jose Becerra

My next six on this list are constantly fluctuating, but they are Manuel Ortiz, Albert Davila, Gaby Canizales, Alfonso Zamora, Lionel Rose and Lupe Pintor. Looking at my own list objectively, I would say this person was heavily influenced by the south of the border bantams, and one would be correct.

Not to stop here with my ramblings, I find this division so deep and so mouth-watering that I just have to mention the contenders who did not win that title. Because they were so awesome in their own right. Not ranked, but in chronological order I would have my top 10 as

-Leo Espinosa
-Toluco Lopez
-Jose Medel
-Bernardo Carraballo
-Jesus Pimental
-Alan Rudkin
-Famoso Gomez
-Rogelio Lara
-Venice Borkorsor
-Superfly Sandoval

Honorable mentions go to: Peter Keenan, Baby Casanova, Teddy Baldock, Johnny King, KO Morgan, Eijiro Murata, Chamren Songkitrat, Harold Petty and Aurel Toma. I'm missing a bunch, but some of these are off the top of my head.

Again, some of my picks can raise an eyebrow, but what the hell, we are engaging opinion. Looking forward to your next piece, Flea.

 

Pleased to see I was wrong, but also pleased to see the guy I would pick at 9 Zarate was the call. I think that is spot on, but think you might get some push back. Zarate’s power tends to push him farther up some lists than I would...either way good read...and good writing

 

I don't think any of these guys are or were really good, besides Donaire who is old. Then again I have not seen half of them.

Inoue has 16 pro fights, and only one of them was vs a non Japanese fighter. Most of his fights were at super fly.

We'll see.

 

The boxing business is full of 15-0 to 20-0 types. I don't see any deep resumes here, outside of the guy who's 35 that I am pulling for.

The judgment I'm passing is many of these regional whirlwind types fall flat when they travel abroad to fight.

But you're right, I haven't seen half of these guys. It has to be a significant bantamweight fight to get my attention, and we have it here. We'll see how Inoue does soon! He's facing a 34-year-old who can't punch. With age and youth on his side, this should be an easy win for Inoue. If he's shaky vs. Payano it will show his ceiling.

PS: Zarte at #9? A little low. He was robbed vs Pinto! Did you mention that? Too bad, boxing takes away a legacy win on paper again. With just one ' real " loss at Bantam vs an excellent opponent I think he's a bit better than #9. Not listing him at all would be a big mistake.

 

Just dropping in to say how much I have enjoyed reading this thread and also the love for Lionel Rose. Gracias Flea and everyone who has posted on the thread.

I reckon Olivares, Jofre and Panama Al Brown would be my top three. In what order I am not sure.

Lionel was a shooting star but at his peak he shone very brightly. His title reign was a very good one and he lost the title to an absolute legend in Olivares. Rose was also just an absolutely lovely bloke. I have never heard a bad word about Lionel from anyone who knew him personally. Like nearly every teen prodigy that has reached world championship level Lionel was finished at a relatively young age. I reckon those types sacrifice their teenage years to the sport when most of us are partying and having a good time so when they get the big money they tend to train with less than maximum effort. I also wonder how much damage their brains take when you consider that the human brain isnt actually fully developed until the mid twenties.

Cheers Everyone.

 

Zarate's only loss at BW was the highly questionable decision to Pintor. Otherwise, undefeated and only one of those wins went the distance. Not the deepest resume of wins, but Zamora certainly was good and there's a few other decent names on his record like Davila and Martinez.

 

I personally would have put Zarate a little higher. Probably top 5. He’s probably the second best Mexican Bantamweight in my estimation.

Rafael Herrera may be about the most underrated. I think he’d be in my top 10 also.

 

I like Zarate higher too but a couple of good lists have him in the lower bracket now so maybe i am wrong. Big fan tho.