Has there been a better overall h2h bantamweight since '88-'94 Orlando Cañizales?

MAB biggest win is (Hamed), himself a smaller Bantam.

You are right MAB can't deal with speed-pace of Bantams he was better off at Feather, although the 30-0 undefeated Bantam record looks nice at face value. Canizales also had a proven iron chin, so we can't expect Bantam Hamed to KO him.

Carlos Zarate remains the only Bantam we can favor over Canizales, I rank Inoue/Pacman highly but not sure how they will deal with someone like Canizales, they didn't fight long enough at Bantam

 

Yes. Guillermo Rigondeaux.

 

Not convinced of it at all. I just loved watching him back then. He’s still beautiful to watch at his best. Believe it or not, my reservations on him these days are precisely because of that style I so loved to watch. Not his resume.

He proved his level against prime versions of Wilfredo Vazquez and Junior Jones, despite being shopworn and above his natural weight class, so that argument isn’t one I take seriously. Those fights showed at the very least he was far from ever being some flashy mirage that looked great against nobodies and folded against the elite.

 

Couple of Bantams can be favored over Rigo, starting with MAB, Pacman & other names on the list

Inoue should fight Rigo at 118 Asap, to help answer this better...

 

Regarding my earlier point, his flaw wasn’t something readily apparent like a fundamental error or lack of power or anything like that. He had all of that in spades.

What stopped him from being an all time great was a concoction of little things that compounded over time.

He had little to no “edge” in the ring, first off. No mean streak. He took opportunities as they came instead of looking to consistently create them. A 15 round decision win seemed just as good to him as a savage knockout. Now, compare that passive mentality to the truly great ones like Gomez and Duran, guys he was probably on a par with as a technical marvel and puncher (and that’s only slight hyperbole). That difference in killer instinct set him back potentially a long way, you see.

It also meant he was in a tighter spot if he came in flat, overtrained, out of shape, etc. He didn’t have the depth in his bag to make up for slacking off in those areas. That’s probably why occasionally he’d have a Billy Hardy type performance.

In order for his physically taxing, highly kinetic style to remain effective over the potential 15 rounds to come, everything had to be on point come fight time. Otherwise the right challenger would’ve exposed him.

 

Over at the place of the check hooks, there's a chess tourney being warmed up.

Word is you fancy yourself a bit of a big shot on the old 8x8 board.

Maybe worth a ponder.

 

Yeah whatever judge scored that fight for Canizales is a disgrace.