Brit Forum's Mexican Tribute Thread......**Pipino Cuevas**

I'm still not 100% sold on Mares.

Can swing a bit wild at times but has showed the ability to stay focused down the stretch. I like that. Good win over Perez, quality fight with Vic, but Vic at 118 previously had not looked too good (against King Kong, admittedly a good fighter, and Barcelona, a solid journeyman) and had more than enough moments against Mares.

I guess the fight with King Kong will show us more about him. I wasn't hot on him beforehand, but since he has stepped up his competition he's impressed me a lot more than I thought he would.

Still, he's made for Nonito IMO; he'd get blasted out. I do like Mares now though, never thought I'd say that, I once considered a massive hype job.

 

he did. I had it close but on second viewing I felt Mares edged it.

 

I've got the Ruiz/Arce fight downloaded, just need to find some time to watch it now

 

Is George/Jorge Groves an honorary Mexican?

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiB72qKDiLg[/ame]

Cuevas getting splattered.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VLRS_Zdxw0[/ame]

El Diamante's most recent fight, against Nicaraguan Carlos Rueda. From a fans perspective, it's a bit frustrating that he was left with Rueda, both Bouziane and Raul Martinez would've made for intriguing match-ups, but unfortunately both pulled out. If he hadn't of taken this as simply a marking time fight, I'd be a bit worried. Mijares won just about every round, but wasn't particularly impressive, he didn't make Rueda look as much out of his depth as he was. Then again that could be because he was forced to lead for a lot of it, which is a distant second in terms of his most effective way of fighting. Rueda mostly just moved around before lunging in with uneducated, unbalanced burst of winging punches, which will never trouble someone as defensively adept as Diamante, even if he is taking it easy.

Hopefully a fight with Tomas Rojas(who, incidentally, has stopped Rueda before) comes off. That'll be a good indication as to where both are now, or, more to the point, sort out just who is the best at super-fly. Omar Narvaez is where my money is at the moment, but a win for either Mijares or Rojas against one another puts them top for me.

Mijares needs to get fighting regularly now though, no big breaks, especially after fights like this which don't really mean much except for giving him some added sharpness. I hope he can rack up some good wins before he calls it a day though, he still has the ability to do so, which many thought he didn't after his three successive defeats. The first one, to Vic Darchinyan, did put a massive dent in his career. Stylistically though, Vic was a nightmare for Mijares, his brand of awkward agression just didn't allow Cristian to find any rhytem, which is something that's always imperative for him when he fights quality opposition. He unravelled when he couldn't find Vic, and that, coupled with the fact that Darchinyan is one of the hardest ever punchers at 115 spelled disaster really.

The back-to-back with Nehomar Cemeno seemed like it spelled the end of Mijares' career full-stop. Though it appears as though it was actually the fact he moved up in weight that did that. Someone of Mijares' class, no offence to Cermeno, shouldn't be losing to a fighter like Nehomar, especially not twice. He looked sluggish at bantam for me, his reflexes slowed, he was much slower and nowhere near as sharp.

But from watching him in his defining comback fight against Topo Rojas, I still think he ain't too far off his best. He's slowed a bit in terms of speed and reflexes, but other than that, he's still got a lot of what made him successful in the first place. He is still very clever(one of the best ring IQ's in the sport without doubt) and has good ring generalship. And he still sets traps and employs a lot of subtle little movements to avoid oncoming punches. The range-finding jab and the laser-straight counter left are still evident, as well as that he's incorporated a lot more sustained body punching, particularly blows to the liver. Rosas was a perfect opponent for him, just the kind Mijares likes to fight. It was not only a world title fight but also a confidence builder, his handlers did very well in that respect.

I think Mijares might be the best at 115 right now. He's a class above Cazares IMO, and is better than Tomas Rojas, but Gusano is improving that steadily I'm not sure how much better, or, at least, not confident enough to make a guess. I'd love to see him in with Narvaez, that would be a dream come true for me. Maybe not the most entertaining fight you could conceive, but in terms of technical brilliance being on show, there isn't many better fights out there.

I love the third round of the Topo Rojas fight, the sheer number of shots he slips at such close range, often backed against the ropes, is exceptional. James Toney himself would be proud watching this, it's absolutely immense. You can count on one hand how many punches Rojas lands, if Cristian doesn't slip them, he's blocking them. I'm so glad that this guy didn't retire, he epitimises just what a pure, intelligent boxer is.

Topo fight:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hvUqrVUqVI[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00kUvPUcMdY[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zInrfnD2tc[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVkknUIsfMM[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orhmbsDsdnE[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3KXzuofvZc[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjWSzqY2qD0[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKErcjQpNNE[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6E7BSf52bY[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAB46hZFFEk[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpDU6ASW6Ks[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apaHZg1fNdg[/ame]