In the first half of the fight, a young Olivares shows astonishing footspeed and judgement of the range. Forgive the terrible commentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOl5aoDEq6Y&feature=related And in the second half he finds another gear, abandons the world class footwork and looks to handspeed and pressure. Rose is an elusive target though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhUuZtgjdns I think this is an absolutley wonderful fight. Great, sustained body-punching, wonderful controlled aggression. Which title-winning efforts do you think are better than this one? What do you make of of his footwork? How do you rate Olivares as a body puncher? How do you see him as a puncher overall? Where do you see him at bantam?
olivares was one of the great body punchers but rose made it easier for ruben by smoking his pipe in the corner.smoking is not good for you
This is a peak Olivares before his lifestyle caught up with him. He looks the complete package and shows that he wasn't just a puncher. This version gives any bantam in history a fight including Jofre. Full marks to Rose who went out on his shield. He took some crunching shots and tried to make a fight of it. You talk about range, when my father fought him he said that he had problems keeping Olivares off him and was forced into a war.
For those unfamiliar with Lionel Rose, he battled with making the Bantam limit well before this bout. In all fairness, Jack Rennie took the fight, with a purse of US$75,000, making Lionel the second highest paid champ at the time, second only to Ali. For the Olivares fight, Lionel had spat into buckets, cut his hair, cut his FINGER NAILS and lacked fluids and food, purely to make the weight. Take nothing from Olivares, what a sensational fighter, with an incredible record leading up to this fight. Unfortunately, Lionel Rose walked around as a Welterweight in between bouts. He should have moved up a division, to Feather, post Sakurai.... IMO.
Of course the flipside, Flamengo, is that Olivares has to contend with a much bigger man who does not belong at the weight.
I cant argue your point McGrain, just to excuse Lionel for his lack of strength and endurance. He was never in with a show against Olivares... 3 years prior... a better chance. As it is, Lionel is not expected to see this xmas, due to severe ill health. He is an icon here, a great bloke all round, and a true fighting man. Will personally visit him inside the next month for a clearer perspecive on his health. Cheers mate.
Well given that Rose's best chance was seen as dragging Olivares into the deep water of the later rounds, I think it was a serious handicap. When you visit Rose, be sure and tell him that there are plenty of guys elsewhere in the world who remember and admire him. I am very sorry to hear he is unwell.
My dad is Alan Rudkin and was next up for Olivares. He'd boxed at the highest level including title shots against Harada and Rose that same year. He said that Olivares hit him harder than anyone, didn't even feel them. In his own words it was just "boom". I've asked my dad how he thinks Harada would of went agaist Olivares. He thinks he might of given him problems with his swarming style. He said that he may of taken away the room for Olivares to get his punches off. Having said that, he feels that the peak Olivares could of knocked any bantam out with what my dad called the equaliser (that punching power). By the way, my dad was only ever stopped by Ruben except for a cut eye in his second fight and was never really hurt by anyone in his career. Later on he was hurt in a fight for the European title against Augustin Senin but the experience of the Olivares fight kept him in it. Interestingly he thinks Senin could of given Olivares a fight and with the experience of being hurt against Olivares would of fought him again, there was talk of a second fight in 1971 in London. Kazuyoshi Kanazawa gave Olivares a war in his second fight after been stopped in 2 the first time. As for Senin, he retired to go into a monastry with an unbeaten record of 42-0-1.
Your pa had 50 fights and was only stopped twice, once in his second fight and once by one of the greatest. What a cracking fighter. Is he still in good helath? He must have had balls of stell if he was up for taking on Olivares for a second time!! Lovely detail about Senin, thank you. In fact thanks for this entire post, great insight, especially the Harada-Olivares speculation, I mean the man was in with both of them. I can't find anything by your old man on YouTube - he must have copies of his fights? You should see about trying to get one or two things up there my man.
So sad to hear that news. I'd heard that he was bad. My dad met up with him in Melbourne a couple of years ago. My mum bumped into him in a bar outside Melbourne as well about 10 years ago, talk about a small world. He was very emotional and sent my dad a video message calling him Champ. They fought a great fight. My dad sent him a message back and he also got quite emotional, they'd formed a bond that night in 1969. Can you pass on best wishes to Lionel from the Rudkin family.
Cheers, I'm going to put a bit up on Youtube, probably a bit of the Harada and Rose fights. Maybe a couple of others.
Mate... had this fight been at Wembley, your father would have taken the decision.... no more to say. Boxing silly man, Ray Mitchell gave Lionel every round.. something extraordinary when veiwing footage. Again, Rose struggled to make weight, and 15 rounds were too much for him... 'Kooyong' may be famous for Tennis, Lionel Rose vs Alan Rudkin is famous for Kooyong!!! Your Old man is a revered figure here, dont ever discount that. Being a Melbourne bloke, and keen fan, I can tell you that I've never heard a negative word said about him. If you like, I'll 'PM' yourself, prior to seeing Lionel, as it may provide a chance for both parties to speak again.
That would be great. I've got the fight and yes, it was that close. Don't know what Ray Mitchell was thinking about. Thanks for the kind words about my dad.