As good a seek and destroy performance as you'll see against a mobile opponent: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwLsPFXuRnQ[/ame] Brutal stuff.
Nothing up until Gomez looked as though it could ever faze Zarate imo; he was as cool and measured as ****, as much as he was brutal. This reminds a bit of that Danilo Batista footage you posted ages ago McGrain, though more drawn out. Hernandez, like Batista, didn't have many top names on his ledger but still looks like a top boxer who ends up being ruined from here on after, again like Batista. Even in the opening couple of rounds when Zarate looks occasionally languorous in spite of the odd sneaky dig coming from Hernandez, there isn't a minute where Zarate doesn't look as though he isn't in control despite the good movement of Hernandez (who seems to think that he has things sussed a bit despite it never being the case). Zarate was just so good at reading the space and anticipating movement that it only takes a shunt or two in comparison to Hernandez's constant motion before the latter ends up being cut off with nowhere to go next. Even when Hernandez jumps in to attack you can see the wheels moving in Zarate's head as if saying something along the lines of 'Nice one but I've got you all worked out son. Try again.' And the punches so well timed, mixed, set up and executed that they do increasing (if not instantaneous) damage. Much like Davila iirc, if you couldn't match Zarate for firepower and resolution so as to exchange blows with equal effect or more, as Gomez did, no amount of craft or textbook skill was going to get you out of the woods. I reckon of nearly all the bantams I've ever watched a fair bit, only Jofre imbues me with any real resolution that he could step in and do this effectively. Beat Zarate at his own game and have the physical fortitude to break him (though it would have been interesting to see what the likes of Harada and McGovern could have done too). Zarate was a very good parrier and slipper of textbook punches, so the dynamic approach and effect of Harada would be interesting imo. Nice video man. Like you said, about as good an example of seek and destroy against a mover as you're likely to witness. I might go and rewatch him against Davila, Zamora, Martinez and the like.
Good stuff.Like against Olivares, you really needed to to have a decent dig and offensive output to deter Zarate at that time, certainly if you were going to try and fight a cute textbook fight with movement...and weren't some sort of defensively/physically gifted freak. You watched Michael Watson vs Craig Trotter before, McGrain?.I watched it the other day after picking some DVD's out at random.I know you like Watson, it's similar stuff to this, if less brutal mind you.
This is how I see it too. Zarate's punches look messy and they probably are when his man is on the move for real, but I get this awful impression of a fighter who is just shaping the opposing fighter for his punches. Like you know how Michelangelo said David was already in the stone? Zarate says, I may be missing now but you'll be available for most of these punches in 6 rounds, and nearly all of them in 10 rounds. No man. I've never seen that fight. Would love to.
Must really suck for a boxer to know that,not only can you beat the man in the opposite corner,but you can't even survive without absorbing quite a sustained beating.Hernandez got off to a positive start in the opening round but he and his punch output was pretty much nullified from the second round until Richard Steele pulled him out.A pretty gutsy effort in the seventh where he planted his feet and traded with Zarate on the inside,but he was really running out of options at that point. Zarate wasn't a particularly gifted athlete,nor he did possess exceptional foot speed - but he was great at cutting off the ring and,while I'm not convinced he was the devastating puncher that others have claimed and that his record shows,he's still one of the most technically sound pressure fighters that I've seen on film.Sustained,consistent pressure,but utilized at a steady pace - no mindless bum rushes,just a controlled aggressive technician picking apart his opponent in a methodical manner.
