[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOp5ttxStrQ[/ame] One of my favorite offensive fighters of all time. He had an absolutely devastating left hook, and you will see in the video, but his right hand was also a leading weapon in his arsenal. Oscar De La Hoya alluded to it being very similar to Alexis Arguello's and I see what he means. Just as Alexis did, Carbajal commits to the right hand fully, and drives it through, and fully extends it. Wonderful shot, but it has to take a back seat to his left hook, with shut down many contenders during his reign. More often than not, the fighters occupying the lower divisions never get that signature win that people will remember them by. Same cannot be said about Carbajal, as he unified his division by dethroning the equally great Humberto Gonzalez in 1993 after recovering from two knockdowns. Perhaps the greatest fight of the decade. What are your opinions on Michael Carbajal? Where does he rank in the all time rankings at Light Flyweight?
I thought he was a bit too flawed to be considered a truly great fighter, but he did put together a good run of wins at his peak and had an impressive "comeback" win over Jorge Arce at the end of his career. Too bad the fight with Ricardo Lopez didn't come off. It's a strange twist of fate that Carbajal is probably more celebrated today than Gonzalez despite losing 2 out of 3 to him.
I thought Carbajal was a great fighter, but he fell way short of all-time great status. I'm not surprised he's more celebrated than Gonzalez either, their rematches were stinkers and the second one was a really closely contested fight that could have gone either way I felt. People will always remember their first fight, and Michael had the charisma that Gonzalez lacked.
I liked Carbajal in his early days when he set his shots up well behind a nice jab and generally took his time to break down opponents.At his best he was a good basic boxer-puncher with sound offensive skills and great power.The Kittikassem performance was terrific, but Muangchai improved a lot after moving up. Weaknesses for my money would be..quite slow of hand and foot, totally one-paced, dentable chin, leaky defence and generally regressed technically as his career went on. He's comfortably in the top ten light flyweights because of the lack of depth there, but integrating them into a general Flyweight ranking and i wouldn't moan about anyone leaving him out of a top 30 altogether. He would have a punchers chance against most of the other light flyweights at least, but i'm almost certain he would get soundly dismantled by Gushiken, Chang and Zapata.Yuh would be 50\50, but i'd give the edge to the Korean as he had a great jaw and throws far more punches.It was generally technical boxers and fighters with notable height/reach/speed advantages that bothered YUh. I'm not sure he beats German Torres at the weight either.Carbajal is the more skilled and quicker there, but Torres is steady as hell, very tough and a viscious puncher himself.
I think was indeed a great fighter and I have a lot of good memories of exciting fights with him. It's nice to hear anyone else even mention him these days. I couldn't have been happier for him in regards to getting that Arce win before retiring. That was a great way to go. This content is protected
I've voiced my opinions on Carbajal many times. To play devils advocate on Mantequillas post despite his lack if blinding speed he had a bang in either fist, a strong will to win and was hard to keep down :good If you look through the threads I've started Addie I describe my reasons for why I believe Carbajal MAY have beaten Lopez at light-fly. I'm very fond of Carbajal, no genius but tough, could bang and after the first Chiquita fight it's hard not to have a place in your heart for him. Agree wholeheartedly with Mantequilla on the way he regressed as his career went on. Bar the two rounds he dropped Arce he looked terrible (even taking into account how much he had slipped at that time)
Not from my knowledge. Lopez didn't even attempt to move up before he was past his best, and Michael had long fallen. I don't point the blame at anyone, I just know the fight never happened.
Carbajal wasn't the kind of fighter to avoid anyone. He was all business, and fully believed himself to be among the best in the sport. At one time, he was. When Carbajal was good, he was really good...but often times he was taking to many shots against no name fighters, and he didn't have the capacity to move through the gears. His power though...unbelievable.
Carbajal was a very good fighter. In fact I would rate his comp better than Ricardo Lopez. He was all action and one of he first little guys to be on TV in the main event. His first pro fight was against Will Grigsby who was a future title holder himself.
he was more celebrated at the time as well. Humberto Gonzalez somehow managed to pass through the halls of time, gaining little or no publicity as one of the world's best flyweights. The first of their three meatings, ( and the only of which that Carbajal won ) was by far the most talked about of the trilogy. I remember that fight as vividly as if it were yesterday, and what a magnificent war it was. It was the first and one of the few times that I would ever see Gonzalez in action, and although he lost, his efforts gained my respect.
:good So unfortunate was it that Lopez didn't move up through the divisions and demonstrate his skills against great fighters like Humberto Gonzalez, Michael Carbajal, and possibly Johnny Tapia, and Danny Romero.
