Baby Jake Matlala whoopin Michael Carbajal's ass

It wasnt a robbery it was a very close fight but i thought jiminez edged it by a 1 point. That being said i dont think Chang would have beat Johnson in fact i cant think of any modern day flys beating Johnson at his best. Jimenez had the style to give Johnson fits but i cant think of any one else. Id have to see more footage of Harada,although knowing his history it wouldnt surprise me that he would be capable of doing so. Ive seen Mark fight on his toes before, he seemed to be more flat footed when he moved up in weight. Chang couldnt punch as hard as Jimenez but he was definitly a super busy infighter.

 

Chang was a much better fighter than Jimenez imo.At least if you are comparing prime for prime.A young Chang vs Jimenez would be a decent fight i thnk.

That was a good early fight for Johnson, but you could also argue( i'm not sure i would btw)it was an indicator he would not have looked so good fighting good solid fighters instead of the limited guys he usually fought, and i include the overrated Arthur Johnson in there.

 

Dont forget he also beat Fernando Montiel and he was already at the end. He also fought a Rafeal Marquez to a split decision loss and had 2 points deducted for hitting low, meaning he would have gotten the win over a much bigger Marquez. Also i dont know if you are aware of many of the top Mexican flys that he fought at the forum who were world class

Cecilio Espino ko 1 a guy who regularly fought at bantam but got kod by a fly weight Johnson.

Jorge Lacierva
Alejandro Montiel
Enrique Orozco
all top contenders and good fighters also guys like

Francisco Tejedor ko 1 who gave A prime Danny Romero all he could handle in a title fight

Ratanopol Vorapin former champ with good wins
Luis Bolano who was heavily hyped

Arthur Johnson ko 1 was not overated he fought Tapia on even terms


Also Jung koo Chang was far more accomplished than Jiminez but to think a fight with Jiminez would have been a gimme is false. Jiminez also hit harder than Chang.

 

Yeah, the fights at the end of his career against MArquez and Montiel are good indicators that he would have stepped up well had he got bigger fights in his prime.

I don't like judging a lot of the contenders on the hype or expectation at the time though especially as it can be tough to see some of the more obscure ones fight a lot, unless you are local.It's worth mentioning of course, but i tend to just rate whoever impresses me when i see them and discard everything else.

Romero is a good example of that.Never saw much in him to be honest, just thought he was a decent serviceable fighter, not the potential top man i was being told he was.

Johnson certainly did have some nice blowouts of fighters who gave other guys tough fights as you said, and you can ad Raul Juarez to that, as i thought he may have done enough to beat an out of form Arbachakov.

However in this case i see it as more flaws being shown from the tapia's, Arbachakov's etc rather than Juarez, tejedor etc being particularly good fighters.Always good to have another perspective though.

 

My trainer's mate trained with Pat Clinton. When Baby Jake fought Pat Clinton my trainers mate was boxing so my trainer was there, he said when Baby Jake came into the arena he was wearing a normal sized trench coat and they normally go down to your knees with Baby Jake it was scraping the floor. The guy was about 4ft 10. Absoloute midget. Also the only ever person to take a World Title of two different Scottish champs, when he beat Paul Weir.

 

Good fight against Regan I seem to remember.

 

Danny Romero was pretty awesome at Fly and JB, especially Fly he had big time power and was very fast. Only thing he seemed to always come at you in a straigt line. IVe seen ROmero Many times in his prime and i just cant think of any flyweights that could bang like him.
Although at Bantam and Jf he was just a decent serviceable fighter like you mentioned. I get the feeling those are the fights you seen him.
He also blew out Harold Grey in 1 round for the JB title who was suppose to be a tall slick boxer that would give him trouble. In his prime Danny was PFP regarded as one of the top puncheres in the sport. Physically strong too this kid was buffed out for being a smaller weight fighter.

 

I liked Romero too but Im always a sucker for a puncher. He was like you said pretty one dimensional in his approach which came out as he moved up.
As far as Matlala, I got the chance to see him fight live on the Rahman Tua undercard years back and its quite spectacle to see this little guy. I had some friends with me who werent boxing fans and they couldnt believe how good he was for being so small.

 

Yey you couldnt help but like a guy like Matalala, he was like a cute little kid About the size of your average 9 or 10 year old, and he could scrap so fast in out side to side threw so many punches in bunches. I remember my Uncle watching that fight with me and he was so amazed that Carbajal was getting whupped by such a tiny dude.

 

What do you think of Pascual Perez, Anarci? Where would he be on your top 100?

 

Maybe the greatest 112 ever somewhere around 80 but thats just a guess could be a little higher or a little lower. I havent done a list that big yet.

Definitly a top 4 flyweight

 

I'll score and give my thoughts on this one later on today.

 

Would you say that Flyweight is historically deeper than Strawweight and light-fly? And how would you rate Perez in terms of ability?

 

Yes it is and much a much longer history i think you know that. I know what your agenda is here buddy:yep And yes i do think Ricardo Lopez was a better fighter than Pascual Perez. I havent seen much footage except for his fight with Yonekura and he reminds me of Chiquita a little bit. Ability wise he looks good but not as amazing as Lopez or some other modern Greats like Mark Johnson. But his longevity and mark as one of Boxing best little guys have to be taken into consideration.