More often than not, I’d pick Rose to prevail but that’s tough. Both these fighters were dramtically inferior after their brutal losses to Zarate and Olivares. Zamora was about as big a puncher as there was at bantam so I would give him a very good shot though I think Rose’s smooth boxing should be favored to get the win on points. Pure boxer vs. puncher matchup. People forget how good Zamora (and Rose for that matter) was after his crushing loss.
I would expect Rose to outclass Zamora, but I'm definitely not certain about it. Zamora would have been very live, and might have very well flattened Rose.
Zamora is a bit short on the resume side of things for me. Great puncher, good to very good fighter. It's a Rose decision or late stoppage for me.
Rose should win a decision, should he be smart about things. Zamora could level him, but I tend to think he's out-classed.
With Rose there is always that elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. And by that I mean his chin. It just wasn't the best. During his championship days he was dropped by Sakurai, Medel, Castillo and Cruz. Even before his title days he was dropped by Ray Perez. I won't count his KO losses to Fernando Sotelo and Raul Cruz too much against him as he was past his best after the Olivares slaughter, despite the fact that he was still very young at 22. This is a scary matchup for Rose against Zamora. Rose would have to be his very best to get by those scary rounds which would be from 1-5 and still not let his hair down from 6-10 when Zamora was still very dangerous. Zamora was a bit of a front-runner, so Rose would have to take him deep. I think skill-wise Lionel is head and shoulders above Zamora, but Zamora was that kind of a scary puncher that I would have to go with him over Rose's shortcomings.
