Olivares vs Inoue

@roughdiamond , very good posts mate. I remember now it was you who I was talking to Inoue about way back when. I agree that he's a good intuitive fighter mostly with a decent judge of distance and whatnot. By and large at any rate. I do think he can look ragged but mixed with very good form at times, like most fighters tbf.

 

The talk above about pitting Inoue against other Japanese fighters that aren't Harada is interesting actually, even just from that era. Sakurai, Seki, Saijo, Shibata, Numata, Aoki, Kanazawa, Kosaka etc. Running that type of gauntlet of ability without losing is probably earning greatness actually, especially if in clear fashion. That's what Olivares did that Inoue probably won't have the chance to try to do.

Coming forward, Inoue and Hasegawa would have been one entertaining fight.

 

What you thinking? Something like the Olivares from the Art Hafey rematch? He stuck to his boxing through the whole fight, and for him, that was a pretty disciplined performance, sticking with the plan even with the audience getting a bit testy here and there with it too as we're talking West Coast Mexican boxing from the mid 70's

 

I think Olivares at bantam would be more aggressive. He really had respect for Hafey’s power. I know a lot of people think Hafey deserved the decision in that one. Olivares was a bit inconsistent above bantam.

 

I remember reading about that on the fights boxrec entry and in a interview with Hafey looong after the fact, before I ever got the chance to watch it closely myself, that a lot of people felt they saw Hafey win the fight. Myself though, I saw Olivares outbox Hafey for the majority of the fight. I will grant that I am likely biased though

 

I felt Olivares shaded it by like a point.

 

Good post pal, woulda gotten back to it a bit sooner but I don't have the endless amounts of time that I had when I was in school. I do agree with your basis of both Inoue and Donaire. Very skilled in their own right but nothing off the charts or unseen before, but augmented with ridiculous athletically talent (particularly Donaire, here) making them elite and atop P4P charts.

I do also agree that the pair of them have benefited from the amount of titles there are, and that they wouldn't have the world wide, best-of-the-best notoriety that they got in this era in that era, but I do still think that he (Donaire) would be above these guys' level. Although I don't think he'd be beating them decisively, there's lots of style differences to consider and these were the type who you didn't beat decisively, no matter who you were. I also have little doubt that Donaire would lose badly to Saldivar, Laguna, Elorde etc, and most major 126-130 players at the time.

I tend to think Caraballo does well, but ends up getting caught. I also think that the severity of Donaire's counters and the passivity that would potentially cause would mean it'd be close on points at the time I see a stoppage. I like Rudkin but I've long found him overrated by a few, lots of good info, and fun fights fights, but IMO, his style plays right into Donaire's hands. KO or not, I think Donaire's quick heavy counters, slick defence (when needed) and size/strength advantage means Rudkin loses this one. Should be a damn good fight though. Sakurai would be a really hard fight. If I remember correctly, he made Rose lead really well and his quick feet (as a southpaw) would be extremely problematic and potentially fight-winning for him. I think Donaire doesn't have the smarts to make Sakurai lead, buy I do think he has the fight ending power and application in landing to pull out a win. Not sure on this one, I can really see Donaire timing him with a left hook over one of Sakurai's jabs, or it going a bit similar to the Rigo fight where Donaire just can't get set long enough into a rhythm.

I think Donaire would be solidly seen as an equal to Rose/Castillo/Medel. Actually, I'd pick him to go 1-1-1 there (beats Castillo; Rose beats him; unsure on Medel). I know a lot of those guys split series/arguably beat or should be seen on a level with those guys, but I think it's plain that the three above are better than the likes of Rudkin, Sakurai and Caraballo. I would also like to admit, that you've undoubtedly seen much more of both Donaire, and those three than I have. There's a couple key Donaire fights I've yet to see (Walters, Narvaez, Vasquez, Mthalane, Martinez &c.) and I've only seen one or two a piece from Caraballo and Sakurai. I have seen quite a few more fights from Rudkin and Medel, though.

It's only Medel which I think is on a similar level to Donaire, and tbh, it's one of those non-committal answers where I can see arguments both wins.