Carlos Zarate- how good was he?

there are guys on here who are much more knowledgeble than me, and much better at articulating a fighters style...

But I love his fight w/ Pintor, Davilia, Batista & Martinez outside of the 2 you mentioned. He was probably at his best in 77-78, but I will differ to some who know him and his era better.

 

One of the best bantams of all time.

Great technical stalker.

He could fight off the back foot too - Pintor fight.

His knockout ratio is a bit misleading - he wasn't a Julian Jackson-type knockout artist.
Zamora hit harder than him.

He was rated as the best fighter in the world in 1977 by Boxing Illustrated.

Ahead of Duran, Monzon and Arguello.

Check his fights against Martinez, Ferreri, Batista and Davila.

I wouldn't call Zarate fights very exciting though - he was patient, unflashy and very dominant.

Check Amores fight too if you're looking for a good quick KO.

 

He was one of the very best bantamweights ever, clearly. He usually looked so much bigger than his opponents, with his long limbs and all. Guys like that tend to move and use their long reaches to spear opponents from a distance, but Zarate loved to get in close and rumble too, though he could box quite well when he wanted to. He reminded me of a farmer using a scythe, just cutting down acre after acre of wheat.

His body attack was typically Mexican, god bless him, and the way he went through Zamora and Davila proved he belongs on a top tier.

I also really like watching the Pintor fight, as we see there just how well he could box when he wanted to. I thought he overdid the boxing a bit there that day, but impressive nonetheless.

 

Admittedly, I don't know a great deal about Carlos Zarate, but I have watched plenty of his fights and I've never been overly impressed with what I've saw. The likes of Martinez and Davila really didn't look up to much when they fought Zarate. That might have either been because Zarate was simply that good and made them look like B level operators, or maybe they were just that - B level operators. I remember thinking he was a little one-paced, and I rarely saw him punch with his opponent. He needed to set himself before he could go on the offensive.

 

I haven't seen anything of Martinez other than that bout, so can't comment there, but Davila was a very solid fighter. Excellent little boxer-puncher and as well-schooled as they come.

 

ESB classic did a survey 2 years ago....he came in as the number 6 ATG bantamweight....not sure how much discussion is about him though????

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205064&page=5

 

I thought Johnny Boz would be a good candidate to ask, Whos the greatest fighter of all you saw.
Answer was Carlos Zarate!!

 

He was fantastic. Imagine a similar style to Alexis Arguello, technically sound hooks and uppercuts with right crosses too. He was a devastating puncher, he had his technique down, turned the punches over at the optimal moment and also had natural power so didn't have to rely on technique. He was brilliant at cutting off the ring also, better than Arguello in that sense.

One of the best bantamweights in terms of pure effectiveness that has ever lived.

 

I think they made a documentary about this. I forget the name of it. Something like blood in my stool...

 

My face is so red right now. My mind wanders, BE like a poorly written sentence. My bladder is full.

 

You've still got it, B.