This would have been very interesting. 2 entertaining fighters who weren't afraid to mix it up and also didn't mind showboating for the crowd as well. Tapia did have some success at Featherweight when he knocked out Cesar Soto and even manage to win a title at Featherweight from Manuel Medina before losing it to Barrera. How does Tapia do against a fighter like Paez who also showed some speed and unorthodox movement?
Two fighters I love to watch fight — Johnny with his heart ever on his sleeve and El Maromero with one foot in the circus ring and the other in the boxing ring — but I can’t for the life of me imagine how their styles would mix should they have been paired. Ultimately, Paez is an aggressive guy who was much bigger naturally and I think his edge in strength would be the decider. He fought in spurts but when he did so, he really cut loose. Not a huge puncher but a respectable one, and I don’t think Tapia could avoid him or keep Jorge off him enough. Johnny did have a few decent showings at feather, but his natural weight class is a couple divisions (or more) below. I’ll go with Paez UD 12 as his strength shows over the last four rounds or so.
Love Tapia but he wasn't that good at 126, he was flabby and his power punches were pretty much non existent. Paez fought as high as 135 and had some pretty good wins and was competitive against guys like Whitaker which shows he was a pretty damn good fighter in hindsight. I think Paez wins a close decision, as much as it pains me to say. Tapia is my 2nd favorite fighter of all time.
