ATG BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNIE: QF 2 - CARLOS ZARATE RTD13 CHUCHO CASTILLO

A technical thunderb@stard of a contest this, Zarate fresh from his pulverising points victory over Pal Moore, Castillo having desperately edged out Manuel Ortiz.

Chuch Castillo (seeded 15) was a blank-faced box-punching genius mixed with a level of competition equal of any who appear in this tournament. He served a desperate apprenticeship among the massed banditry of the exceptional and crowded bantamweight ranks in 1960s Mexico, breaking out in 1967 and winning the Mexican bantamweight title. This was no normal national level belt and was held at that time by none other than Jose Medel. Castillo, had now broken onto the world scene, but and continued to duke it out with the best on the Mexican scene even as his assault upon the world championship began.

“He would fight a bull with a fork,” as one promoter put it, and truly, Castillo left no stone unturned in his mission to become the world’s best.

Before he could reach the champion he needed to best the division’s boogeyman, Jesus Pimentel. This, he did, upsetting the odds and wowing a big crowd at The Forum in Los Angeles on his American debut, handing Pimentel a one-sided pummelling. The great Lionel Rose held the title and, once more at the Forum where he had succeeded in making himself something of a fan favorite, Castillo got his shot.

Ringside reporters were, according to The Press-Courier, split evenly as to the winner; the judges, too, were split, but the heavy end of the decision went to Rose. The LA crowd rioted and two-hundred police officers were dispatched to place them under control. Castillo continued to riot, too. Just four months after his failed title shot he knocked out the all-time great Rafael Herrera, as though he were nothing, in just three rounds. Another title shot, then, was inevitable. To take the championship, all Castillo had to do was defeat perhaps the single best bantamweight ever to have boxed.

Ruben Olivares was riding a thirty fight knockout streak but found himself on the ground looking up after just three rounds against Castillo. Olivares was very far from being a fighter reliant upon his power, however, and he ground down Castillo for the decision. In the rematch, he dropped Olivares again his right hand, by now perfected, the best in the division’s history for me, and it makes him a technician of the highest order as well as the tank he is reputed to be. Olivares was stopped on a cut, a single point behind on a single card, in the fourteenth round. Castillo was the champion; not a great one, but one of the greatest contenders in boxing history.

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Carlos Zarate’s story is told in blood and punches.

My favorites landed – detonated is likely a better word – in 1975. Zarate was just another contender then, for all that he was one with violence painted upon every canvas he ever stepped upon, thirty three fights and thirty-two knockouts in his terrible wake; his opponent, perhaps was not even a contender. A gatekeeper marked with the name Orlando Amores, he troubled Zarate early, not unusual, many lesser men tested him while he sought them, but when he found them. In round three Zarate countered an increasingly frenetic Amores to the ropes and parked two neat uppercuts followed by a neat hook upon his opponent’s chin. They were not violent punches – they were hardly even flamboyant. They were thrown a little like a drunk emptying two full ashtrays into his garden. But Amores was gone, capable only of rolling onto his stomach, face pressed to the canvas, gloves either side of his head as though in devout prayer, heaving in oxygen.

In 1976 Zarate (seeded 10) deployed said violence against the superb Rodolfo Martinez, cracking him to the canvas in the fifth and breaking him down with those extraordinary, long, luxurious punches, finally terminating his resistance with a right uppercut in the ninth.

The tough Italian Paul Ferreri lasted a little longer before Zarate opened up his face for him. The unbeaten Alonso Zamora, the world’s other outstanding bantamweight, lasted only four before being blasted into the same netherworld Amores had been sent to. When his corner threw in the towel it landed across their fighter’s eyes and he raised himself, more defeated barfly than professional fighter.

Even Alberto Davila, one of the toughest bantamweights ever to live, could not survive him, succumbing in eight.

Zarate’s punches changed men. He introduced them, briefly, to their own mortality.

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Who wins this dead man's chessmatch under the following ruleset?:

15 round fight.
1950s referee.
8oz boxing gloves.

Cast your vote and explain yourself in a post below! You have 3 days.

 

@ChrisJS, @George Crowcroft, no explanation offered for your vote, not like you? What gives?

 

Could be.

On the other hand, Pintor was able to deal with Zarate pretty aggressively and force him to counter-punch more than we might normally see and while i'm not saying Pintor won that fight, I had it to him by a single point - by the knockdown.

Aggressive technical boxing, coupled with "sheer bollocks" and a great chin. Sound like anyone we know?

I think Castillo has a very good chance her to pen Zarate and stop him landing that second punch, something else he struggled with against Zarate. Meanwhile this is the guy to take minor chances against huge punchers to score big. The guy. I'm going for Castillo by decision.

 

Big shouts!

 

I had it worse than that, I had it 7-7-1, literally the single point from the KD the difference. I thought that Zarate got out-prodded coming square, and I mean a lot. He got out-jabbed while Zarate tried and failed to get wait-and-hop going.

Thought he chuntered in, too - thought he really struggled with the championship rounds, looked a bit goosed to me.

ZARATE:3,4*,5,8,9,11,12
PINTOR:1,2,6,7,10,14,15
EVEN:13

 

Drew101, speaking my language.