Yeah, Ebihara was a skilled southpaw pressure fighter / banger. Very entertaining. Very good resume too. And the fact those fights were close (McLarnin in his 3rd!) shows the ridiculous class LaBarba had when he immediately went pro. Also, the fact there is no footage of Newsboy is criminal. Winning over a prime Wolgast would be a sight to behold, not to mention how he fought Panama Al Brown despite the comical height and reach disadvantage. On that note, Panama fits in on this pre 40's list.
Yeah, Brown is super good. Top 10 Flyweight with room to spare IMO. If Villa hadn't got that tooth problem, there probably would've been some of the most ridiculously ententaining, legacy-defining fights ever. Imagine if Villa took on LaBarba, Davis, Brown and Wolgast? Who ever won, there'd be some great fights.
Villa is very interesting stylewise, since a lot of his technique came from the Filipino knife martial arts and bare handed ones like suntukan etc, as well as Boxing. You can also see Elorde use those techniques in his smooth style.
The more I watch of Laguna, the more I think Elorde's win over him can't be overstated. I had Laguna beating Buchanan, and I'll have to rewatch the Saldivar fight but I thought that was super close too. Obviously combined with the rest of Laguna's great wins too. Villa looks awesome on film, I think he has the style to near enough beat any version of Wilde (although I wouldn't favour him). I doubt anyone beats him easily.
Elorde is extremely underrated on this forum. He did beat Saddler once, and the other time Saddler had to foul him in order to get the win. Very skilled fighter. And Villa was awkward, skilled and, most importantly, extremely tough. I'm surprised Wilde didn't break his hands on his elbows but that was definitely not the best version of Wilde, who was close to shot imo. His footwork surprised me with how sloppy it was, compared to the agility of his pomp.
