Interesting that Rosario reached southpaw Hector Camacho with his hard punches. Going with Rosario, behind early on scorecards, KO-ing Pacman ala the Marquez fight in round 8.
How impressive he looked against an average fighter in Diaz, but more than this, how impressive he looked near 140 (he'd be TBE there IMO) and 130. I feel like his home would've been at lightweight. Instead he chased greatness.
I think it's reasonable to believe he would be the best ever at 135 for the reason I stated in this thread.
Its a tough fight for Manny. Valero had a short career and left us with many questions, we never saw him tested at the top level and one thing for sure was that his offense was dynamic. That power was for real and he appeared to have a mean streak in him stalking with the intent to stop opponents being his priority. Valero was aggressive but there was some layer to his ability beyond power punching. He could pop that jab (it wasn't perfect) and had good vision in setting up his offense and knowing when to go push the pace. Valero fought with his chin high in the air, parrying and head movement were not a focus in his defense. Valero did howerver seem to be a bit of a head hunter and his straight left followed by right hook combo was often rinse and repeat throughout many of his wins (not much variety there but it sure was effective). Manny made subtle changes in the second Morales bout at 135, namely punching to the body and his offense variety changed a lot from vs from Marquez 1 to Hatton at 140 where he seemed very complete. Based on the wars Manny had at 135 with Morales (That second fight with Morales was so impressive, Manny's offense was just wow) and his brutal drubbing of David Diaz I think Manny goes to war early and it becomes a shootout which he weathers and stops Valero in the 10th round. Manny wins but faces a big test, especially from a southpaw who punches and had handspeed close to his own. Its a big assumption to favour Valero given Manny's historic body of work rising up to 147. Valero has technical flaws but sometimes being ultra tough and believing in your own power can take a boxer very far regardless.
Manny would trouble Rosario because of his high workrate. Remember all the trouble Edwin had with another strong, busy lefty - Jose Luis Ramirez. I think, though that Edwin could catch Manny coming in with a big right hand and take him out at some point. Manny didn't have the resilence that the iron chinned Ramirez had. Edwin by ko somwhere in the middle rounds.
