I think Zarate's boxing skills always get overlooked because of his reputation as a big puncher. In terms of technical skills how good of a boxer was Carlos Zarate? His stance looks very stiff and robotic but I think he's shown high level skills in a subtle manner.
Good but not spectacular IMO. He had good poise and shot selection. He was fairly basic without making that many mistakes and having incredible power which is what made him a great fighter.
I think it is better than given credit for. He is a power puncher that wows certain fans. His technical skills are very solid and underrated. Due to his power and level of opposition some times it gets lost in the way people remember him. We just rescored Pintor vs Zarate and while most of us thought it was close we all (or most) scored for Zarate. In this fight both he and Pintor show better technical skills than I attributed to them previously.
What made a big difference in Zarate was when they taught him to throw a right hand. Before that he was hook happy and front foot heavy and it affected his balance and movement, as it does for everyone. If my memory is correct, the change was made between the James Martinez fight and him fighting for the world title. Or the Martinez fight was when he first unveiled his new right hand, I forget. Been years since I studied it.
Yep - that's more or less my take. Looked to have good fundamentals; a bit upright, a bit stiff; not big on head movement and he tended to fancy shortening the distance, rather than maximize on his ranginess (for a bantamweight, that is). However, it made for putting on effective pressure.
Would like to hear more opinions on Zarate’s skills. To me Zarate still doesn’t get enough credit as a technician. How would you guys describe Carlos Zarate’s style in general? I’d categorize Zarate as more of a pressure boxer-puncher.
