Carlos Zarate?

He's up there as an all time great bantam alongside Jofre, Olivares and Ortiz. Not the same depth of record, but a high level of dominance. The complete package as a boxer puncher: perfect textbook technique and great ring generalship fused with toughness and brutal power. There are some similarities with Arguello, with Zarate being better at tracking an opponent down IMO, although he didn't face Arguello's level of competition in a p4p sense. I'm not sure if he was a left-handed though.

I'd rank him behind Jofre, Olivares, Ortiz and maybe a couple of others. But he's right up there, even if Gomez did take him out at super bantam, a sign of Gomez's quality rather than any deficiency on Zarate's part. Wonderful fighter.

 

i need to see more of Zarate

I thinkhe is morerigid than Arguello and Arguello is smoother an dmore fluid but they are similar.

I need to wathc the Zamora fight again

 

I suppose you could say he was more rigid in a sense. But his stance seemed more relaxed than Arguello's to me, which isn't a criticism - just a rough observation. He did well with opponents who allowed him to fight at his own pace as well as aggressive opponents, which is why I can imagine him using his height and range to track down and beat someone like Rose.

Arguello was the greater fighter over the course of a fight though: stronger in the championship rounds and with slightly better timing and punch selection. A greater champion all in all.

 

H2H, Zarate would've been a tough task for any bantam. However, as someone else said, he lacks the depth of resume/achievements as some of the other great bantams, which makes him a bit difficult to rank. For example, I think he had a good style to beat Olivares, but if you rank them based on actual achievements, Olivares would probably rank higher.

Zarate's defining moment was his explosive win over the long reigning KO artist Zamora. However, he also milked his title against a number of undeserving/undistinguished nobodies, and his championship career came to a very sudden and anti-climactic end. I do believe he probably should've gotten the decision over Pintor, but it was a close fight and a disappointing performance from both fighters. Personally, I've always suspected that the Gomez loss took some of Zarate's confidence and will, as he seemed somewhat gun-shy and reluctant to trade against Pintor - unusual for Zarate. I suspect that, more than the "bad" decision, may have been what persuaded Zarate to retire, right when he still should've been in his prime.

 

I've always thought that Zarate had a good style for tackling Olivares. Castillo and Herrera were both able to press the unmotivated, half-arsed version of Olivares, therefore you'd expect Zarate to be able to do the same thing. His power and composure under fire could well give a new meaning to 'Rockabye Ruben'. Then again, Olivares being Olivares, it wouldn't surprise me to see him either outmanoevre Zarate as he did Arguello for long periods, or even blow him out of the water like Gomez did.

 

Great avatar Addie. You know i like him h2h. He could be countered in the pocket but it was rarely that he was at a disadvantage there. His power was thudding with even brushing shots sometimes, and his finishing was great. Good technical skills and for box-punching/box-fighting he is top level possible. You can detract from his legacy with depth of resume though, and that can be justified. To rank him above some of the usual suspects you need to establish a criteria set unless you are ready to come under criticism. His ko ratio was 95%. Could cut off a ring a bit like the Joe Louis way, little shifts followed by bombs landing. Maybe a bit more comparable to Arguello in that respect.

His fight with Pintor was at 118 though i thought. It's one of the toughest fights to score of all time, i had an absolute nightmare first time round, lost count of score around round 13, and just left it for about a year before doing so again. I can't even remember who i had but i really think it was Zarate. If you have him beating Pintor then you've got a platform to build your argument for him rankings wise.