Battle between 2 talented southpaws at Flyweight. Could Zapata give "Too Sharp" a tough fight with his height and reach and boxing skills or would Johnson find his mark with his speed and power?
Too Sharp all day. His offensive tools will keep Zapata at bay and Hilario never had the aggression to walk through shots and force a fight with anyone of Mark's talent. I expect a Hearns-Benitez type fight where Zapata won't take anything too damaging, but stylistically will never be in it to win it.
Zapata has shown to be aggressive from time to time in some of his defences, mainly before his KO loss to Armado Ursua. I'm not sure if Johnson would be able to deal with a physical freak like Zapata, especially with that height and reach, not to mention his boxing ability and slickness. Of course if Zapata goes into his "I don't give a ****" mentality then I can see Johnson KOing him. If Zapata is at his best then I think he would have given Too Sharp a run for his money.
It's tough to say imo. I'm not as certain as Sweet is of a Johnson win, but i can certainly see that kind of Hearns vs Benitez scenario. Too sharp never fought a top-notch cutie though and he wasn't the quickest on his feet.He might end up a bit frustrated, having to reach for his shots and getting potshotted for too long.Unlike a lot of fights where defensive fighters were undone by superior overall athletic\offensive talent or a more physically capable, more focused boxer-puncher(hearns and leonard vs Benitez, Curry vs Starling, Perez vs Lora, Ortiz vs Locche etc), he doesn't hold the clear physical advantages here. 50\50 imo.Though a best vs best would be the younger 108 zapata vs 112 Johnson.The later 112 Zapata was past his best imo, if more so mentally than physically.He just didn't seem to have the more consistent focus or intent of the pre-Chang fights version.That one i could certainly envisage being too enamoured of his defensive skills and dropping a competitive decision.
I can see where Sweet is coming from. I do rate Too Sharp highly as an operator, but don't feel entirely comfortable with him at fly just because he fought no one. Abysmal level of oppo' there really but agree he isn't goin to allow Zapata to do what he does. And he was clearly very capable so I could see him winning on points just be not getting overly involved, working at mid-range and not giving Zapata much to work with. Nice Hearns-Benitez comparison and I agree with lora wholeheartedly; Zapata was always a step off his best form at 112. I think it would be a horrible clash and terrible to watch so I can't really envision it so won't really make an analysis of pick someone to win it. But Zapata is the greater fighter down here IMO, and far more proven stylist. Too Sharp's best scalps came past prime against Rafa' (could've won IMO) and Montiel (always a hot and cold performer) and Zapata faced far, far better fighters at light fly than Too Sharp did at fly. Really, Zapata even faced better oppo' at fly when he was past his best but depends where you lean on some of his closer bouts there as to where you'd rank him compared to Johnson. A far more interesing matchup would be Too Sharp Vs Bassa IMO.
I think Zapata blew his chance to be remembered as a genuine great with his lackadaisical peformances against laciar and to a slightly lesser extent Bassa, so i can definitely see where sweet is coming from, but all in all i find it a tough one to figure out. Too sharp is probably one of the the biggest question marks in h2h discussions around htese weights.Not that i can't make a stab at how fights would look, but he's less of a known quantity than most other great\excellent Fly's for me.Similar to wondering how prime Canizales would do against the field at Bantam.I sometimes have the feeling they could surprise and do better than might be expected against the more established greats, but am far from certain. Bassa's chin and decent but not great power would probably cost him against Johnson imo.Again not a strong opinion, but i would bet on Mark there.I think Fidel is sort of the Kalule of the Flyweights.Similar style, strong technique-if more inconsistent with it-very sophisticated fighter, but questionable durability and ability to stay at his sharpest in there if a fight starts to boil down to a lot of exchanges.He'd do better against the lighter-hitting stylists and fighters in general than he would the angrier, more offensively powerful boxer-punchers imo.
Exactly how I see it but saying Zapata was 'greater' than Johnson is more about how I pretty much only rate Johnson for his apparent ability. Being 'one of the greatest light flys' does not an ATG make. Zapata loses out more for giving up the ghost worse than he did against Laciar, who was great. Unmotivated, smacked up, past prime, whatever, he could drop the ball (Bassa II, dropped him early FFS) or just totally fall to bits. Erratic career but did enough at light fly pre-Ursua to be more proven than Too Sharp. As I said earlier though, Johnson did show he could hang with a calibre of fighter a notch above his best weight and past prime, so it's not a massive stretch to think at fly, at his best, against much better operators than Rafa' and Montiel that he wouldn't hold his own. Not enough for me to be really comfortable though, like yourself. Laciar Vs Too Sharp anyone? Anyone saying Johnson will need to come with the big guns.
Well, I'm slightly more confident in picking flat-footed Johnson over mini-Galindez than him over glass Whitaker if that's what you're asking
Zapata still looked impressive even as a flyweight, as shown in his fight against Dodie Boy Penalosa. That Zapata may have given Too Sharp some problems and would make it a close match up IMO.
