Jeff was excellent at closing the gap and, true to his name, mauling his opponents. He was great at corning and beating up classy boxers and running over dangerous punchers. He had endless stamina, hand speed to burn, good mobility, an uncrackable chin, and he was impossible to discourage. Lionel Rose was great, and beating Harada is a beautiful crowning achievement for a stellar career, but I've got Fenech.
Additionally, I recall Rose blaming his lose to Olivares on weight troubles. There's no reason to doubt him. But I can't help but juxtapose that against Fenech who endured hellacious weight struggles for most of his career. This was most conspicuous against Marcos Villasana when a rib injury made that those weight troubles more dire than ever. Early on he suffered an additional injury, a broken orbital bone, as well as his desperately fragile hands, early on, and then endure a constant barrage of low blows from the notoriously dirty Villasana, who was very heavy handed and plenty dangerous with legal punches too. Fenech still managed to dominate Villasana throughout the fight. Of course he soon had his famous post fight meltdown and retired for the first time.
Either call is reasonable IMO, and Fenech probably takes it more times than not, as Rose could be very inconsistent and drained, as he was big and young for a Bantam. However, I think I may take the Rose, who burned a short, bright fire against Harada, to take a close decision.
Fenech would completely maul Rose at 126. You should have this for 118, where it's an excellent matchup that Rose could actually win.
