Opinion on modern little guys

I'm interested in seeing responses here too.

I'm a big fan of Donaire. He's the best young talent in boxing that i've seen in some time. Throws his hands very well, moves well, shows ring intelligence..... very excited about his future. Like you said too, he just needs to fight some more names out there.

I was letdown by Mijares' lack of smarts against Darchinyan.

 

Hasegawa is awesome. He was beating Montiel up before his jaw got broken. He's a very quick, tall and rangy southpaw. He had a good run at 118 before that though. Very interested to see what he does at featherweight.

I'd say he's japan's best boxer right now along with Nishioka(**** you Kameda family).

 

Of all these guys, I'm highest on Donaire...I'm still very impressed with that dispatch of Vin Darchinian, or however you spell his name.

 

I liked Too Sharp, Mijares and Calderon looked good but this has also to dow ith the lack of competition. History-wise they are average. It will interesting to see how Montiel´s and Donaire´s careers unfold. Hasegawa looked good in his last fight, wonder if he can turn it around again. He maybe too small for the better guys at fw though.

 

Mark Johnson was *not* average

 

I was talking about Mijares and Calderon.

 

I really like Hasegawa based on what I've seen of him; there seems to a bit of Gushiken in him stylewise, especially after he started to develop a bit more of a punch. I've got four youtube windows up at the minute cross-referencing him with Gushiken, Seki and Watanabe. He's at an interesting point post-Montiel, pushing 30 as he is and in a new division with a couple of 'big hitters' in it. He looks good enough against Burgos but I'm unsure as to whether he's lost a slight step or two.

I disagree slightly with Swarmer in that he was beating Montiel up although he was winning fairly clearly. He was always going to give Montiel trouble in the h2h sense, but that ko was sick and Montiel really does have a big, big punch on him when he lets go despite not being all that on the technical side. He seems to have an almost disproportionately long reach in comparison to his height and a deceptive level of handspeed that catches opponents out when they think that they have him - and the optimum distance - worked out. He's quite straight-backed and outboxable, but I like and respect him as much as any active fighter today and as much as a few retired ones too. He's been at the top for a decade now and has built a pretty noteworthy career for himself with some impressive wins despite stumbling against Johnson and Gonzalez. It'd make my day to see him beat Donaire - a man who seems to have been pegged down by a few to potentially become a great.

Speaking of Donaire, I'm not nearly as warm on him as some are although I expected him to turn up a few more trees post-Darchinyan. He's a well-rounded boxer-puncher type with good technical form by today's standards, but people seem to be jumping the gun a bit (as they did with Mijares). He'd better take Montiel very seriously if he wants to get by him unscathed. The Concepcion fight at times showed that there could exist potential holes to be exploited by the right fighter. Whether or not Montiel is the man to do it remains to be seen.

I might chip in a bit more on a couple of the other little men later on....

 

Trawling back through Montiel's record I've just remembered the Pedro Alcazar incident. Very sad.

 

Everybody remember Tim Austin? Course you do. Impressive specimen of a bantam he was and pretty dominant up until the point of coming across this chap.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAEYjJ8AFXw[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXxxGj9Wqw&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLlNy4keoeE&feature=related[/ame]

On a different note, I don't mind the look of Roman Gonzalez although I haven't yet seen enough of him to form a clear opinion.

 

Well, a beating might be a bit much but he was certainly dominant imo.

 

Montiel was a bit of a choker for a long time as well.Not a big fan of him, as you say he doesn't seem to quite know his own style or capabilities.

Mark Johnson was an excellent talent, but he's a '90s fighter at his best really.

I'd warm to Donaire more if asero would drop stone dead.