On his A game, sure he has a chance. His skill level was on par with any of the Bantam greats. He was a strong puncher and durable as well. Not as proven as Jofre in the latter areas, but stylistically Orlando had the ability to box rings around him for spells. That seems obvious. The danger for anyone against Jofre would be in getting too comfortable there, but that wasn’t Orlando’s style. If anything, his flaw was the opposite. Letting guys off the hook after a successful attack rather than going all out. Some might even see him as a guy who fought in spurts. I just think he fought with a style that was extremely difficult to maintain for the full 3 minutes of every round. We’ve seen guys with similar footwork, but how many of them were also full conviction combination power punchers? The energy it would take to sustain that output round after round is crazy. So, he took little breaks and coasted here and there. And if he came in anything less than 100% he did more of it, which led to him being ran much closer than necessary by far lesser talents like Billy Hardy.
It's hard to know with Canizales. Bujia makes some good points. Many of the flat efforts he gave don't fill me with confidence when he gets matched up with the level of fighter he never faced or defeated. He was just too nice and lacking in constant focus and drive. But yeah, I've always had the vibe that he had enough tools to beat just about any bantam if he were able to circumnavigate the '**** or get off the pot' scenario and apply what he showed in the Hardy rematch against the likes of Jofre and Olivares, which is easier said than done.
