The southpaw French-Moroccan boxer-puncher has, at 32, finally met with professional success to match his stellar amateur run. As of January, when he beat Rau'Shee Warren for the vacant bantamweight title, his trophy cabinet includes the storied green belt of the WBC to complement his pair of bronze medal from both the Olympics and the AIBA world championships. The view from the mountaintop is breathtaking. His name has been linked with the following litany of names for possible fights in 2019: fellow southpaw Luis Esteban "Panterita" Neri Hernández of Mexico, the WBC's former 118lbs champion, stripped when popped for steroids. arguably emergent p4p king Naoya Inoue, the Japanese monster himself, provided he first gets past Emmanuel Rodríguez Vázquez in the semis of the WBSS in May. the interim WBC titlist, and Naoya's kid brother, Takuma Inoue, currently undefeated and technically, as interim champ, ahead of even mandatory contender Panterita in line. ...not to mention, the option remains open for him to stamp his passport for the dual purpose of a huge road payday and possibly avenging himself over a pair of amateur rivals that always got (slightly) the better of him: Michael Conlan of Ireland, or Zou Shiming of China. In either case, however, one party would be required to leapfrog a couple of divisions south or north: Shiming is campaigning two down from Oubaali at fly, and Conlan two up at feather. Or, perhaps a compromise might be struck to meet in the middle and have Oubaali vs. Shiming at super fly, or vs. Conlan at super bantam...although it would then lose the luster of being a title fight to lure them in. Whoever ends up his next opponent, it will be a must-watch affair. This jewel has plenty of sparkle left and I can easily see him being effective at this high level into his mid-30's.
Not gonna lie, I picked Warren to UD him, though that was based more on hope and want than actual objective analysis of both fighters. Id forgotten how highly touted and accomplished an amateur he truly was, and on the international scene at that. I really overlooked him and thats on me and my ignorance/arrogance. He really is a jewel of a fighter, hope he gets the big name and money fights in the future that hes earned and I got no doubt that even if he doesnt win he'll put his $.02 in and then some. Good call IB, someone would be hard-pressed to find a fighter as underrated and deserving of a thread paying respect and bringing attention to than Oubaali.
I was very impressed with him v Warren and he is an entertaining fighter whatever comes from now on. I look forward to his first defence.
Oubaali's a beast, and probably one of the most underrated fighters in the sport. One of my favorite fighters to watch. The Shining Jewel is pretty badass nickname. Although I like my nicknames a little better. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...don-bantamweight-bahamoot-of-bagnolet.617784/
So is Takuma going to be his biggest challenge to date, or not? I can see rating him anywhere from third best to best opponent yet, depending on where you rate him compared to Warren & Villanueva.
I didn't make it up though, as the ones in my threads are usually researched to hell and if none turn up I reluctantly throw my hands up and leave the name plain ...it was either from a reference to him in Moroccan or Arabic speaking French media, or taken from a hashtag on his social media implying a self-appointed nickname (although DAMN, that would be megalomaniacal ), but I can't remember exactly. Doing a reverse-engineering search for that phrase, all I can find is that "الجوهرة المشعة" (also translatable as "Radioactive Gem") is also the nickname for King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah.
