Whom would you pick in this showdown of bantamweight standouts? At first glance one would immediately veer toward Zarate I suppose, but is it really that simple? The more I think about it, the more I want to pick Castillo. He was quicker than Zarate and had the power to make the taller man respect him, perhaps even hurt him. His movement was purposeful and despite looking like a midget compared to even his bantamweight foes, he could probably hang with Zarate on the outside. I would go toward Castillo perhaps mostly because of how he took care of business on the inside. There aren't many more well-rounded fighters than Castillo in terms of being able to fight effectively outside and inside, but Castillo was a little marvel in the trenches, slipping, blocking and countering beautifully. Check out his second fight with Raul Cruz for evidence of that. I'm thinking he could run roughshod over the slower Zarate, whose punches had a little more of an arc to them. The key to this fight is Castillo going inside I think. He would be head and shoulders above anything Zarate saw at that weight during his heyday. Zarate was great too, but I think I have to go with Castillo here.
Zarate should win. I think he's a little bit neater than Olivares and that would work for him here. Can't get that bombardment of uppercuts he threw against Amores out of my head, so neat and so little effort expended on them. I think he would find Castillo too often in a way Olivares couldn't. Assuming best for best.
Gotta go with Zarate. The key to beating him appeared to he pressure and power rather than slick boxing. Look at his losses. The only one that I would call a stylist is Zaragoza and that's a very old Zarate. Chucho would give him hell though and I can see him 'winning' like Pintor did at least once in a series.
Yeah, the way in which Zarate ground down and stopped a technician like Davila leads me to believe that Chucho might have his hands full. Wouldn't be easy and Chucho would have his moments, but I think Zarate gets to him eventually.
