Carlos Zarate - Thoughts?

I think this is a ridiculous statement. Zarate was an all-time great, often considered one of the best bantamweights of all time. An all-time great will usually have a chance against any fighter.

I've seen the fight many times and Zarate was caught with a good punch, was stunned and never fully recovered. It also didn't help matters any that as a follow-up Gomez clobbered him when he was on the canvas.

I see it this way. Gomez, although unbeaten, was still an unknown quantity at the time. He hadn't proven himself yet. Zarate may have been overconfident and took the kid lightly. Also factor in that Gomez was sky high with adrenaline fighting in front of his home crowd. Reportedly, Zarate was also under the weather with the flu. True or not, that was how it was reported. Combine all that and I can see how Wilfredo pulls off the surprise KO.

A rematch on neutral ground or even in front of a rabid Mexican crowd would have been interesting. Zarate would have been highly motivated, better prepared and would have been seeking to avenge his loss.

Joe Louis was destroyed against Schmelling the first fight but came back to KO Max easily in the rematch. Floyd Patterson was destroyed by Ingo in the first fight but came back to KO Ingo in the rematch. Weaver was KO'd by Dokes in the 1st round but came back to give him a tough fight that went the distance in the rematch.

Fighters, especially great ones, can come back from crushing defeats.

 

:huhIs this the same Gomez who was 21-0-1 (the lone draw coming in his very first fight) with every single win coming by way of knockout? Who had taken the title and defended it 5 times in spectacular fashion? That Gomez? The Gomez that was reigning a weight class above Zarate? You think Zarate "took the kid lightly" because he was still an "unknown quantity"? I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there.

You're making it out to have been some kind of show-case/stepping stone bout for Zarate, when it was actually a highly anticipated Mexican/Puerto Rican showdown battle with plenty of hype.

From what I recall, Zarate was the narrow favourite. That's it. This fight wasn't as big a surprise as you're making it out to be, except, of course, for how one-sided it was in Gomez's favour.

The flu/weight-drained excuse may hold some merit, but Zarate didn't perform well enough for me to believe he'd have fared too much better even in peak condition. Gomez had his number. He was simply the better all-arounder.

I think it's clear that the Gomez and Pintor fights took a lot out of Zarate. If he fared better in a rematch it would've been more due to Gomez's slow decline after their first fight than anything to do with Zarate. I'd still wager on Zarate being KO'd at some point, though.

Louis, Patterson, etc. did come back from crushing defeats. They proved they could do it. Zarate got destroyed, moved back down in weight, lost a controversial decision and retired. So you're just speculating based on nothing right now.

 

Look at his fight with Alfonso Zamora,,,,

I cringe every time Carlos lands one of those vicous body shots.

The unfortunate thing, he did have more than a few easy title defenses against
the so-called 'mandatory challenger'.

But, on the overall, a great fighter.

 

Zarlos Carate

 

I have Zarate as my number 1 H2H Bantam ever.