Ruben Olivares Discussion

He's fantastic, of course. Beating Castillo two of three, treating a fine boxer like Rose the way a baby treats a diaper..........being the first to beat a streaking Chacon at 126, and then stopping him again later. Pimentel, Torres, Rudkin, these were all really high-quality fighters.

He couldn't seem to get past Hererra at 118, and once he got to 126 he started getting a little spotty with the losses.

 

There is no argument against him being an ATG. He's the second greatest Mexican fighter of all time after Chavez.

Burruni was an aged top fighter who knew he had no business against a near prime Olivares. Once Olivares made his legs wobble, he immediately waved to the referee to call it quits.

Rafael Herrera took the very last of Olivares' prime away.

His resume has a lot of awesome wins, although he did beat a few ageing champions. He still beat the likes of Bobby Chacon and Jose Luis Ramirez when he was shot.

 

He has to be top 4 at bantam, great little fighter!

 

The great "small fighters" from the late 60's - 70's duking it out and making LA a fighting Mecca.
And Olivares was right there at the top.

 

Great fighter, Top 5 bantam or better.

 

Pimentel was hardly obscure, pretty much the ko king of the 60's but he didn't have it any more by the time he fought Ruben. Herrera met a slightly past his best Olivares who was having trouble at this stage making weight and considering how close the first two Castillo fights were its not a suprise. The second bout came close to a stoppage win late for Ruben, one more right hand on the button might have done the trick but alas.

 

Ruben Olivares was a force of nature at 118 and consistently in most everyone's picks along with Zarate and Jofre as one of the top 3 bantams. I loved the way he cleaned up the division before winning the title with wins over Julio Guerrero, Sal Burruni, Famoso Gomez, Joe Medel, Kanazawa and Sakurai. And then continued cleaning house after beating Rose for the title with wins over Castillo, Pimental, Torres, Galeano and Rudkin. Yes, weight-making took its toll on him, but his position at 118 is solid. However, its his tenure at 126 I find most intriguing and what I would like to discuss. I really believe he is grossly under-rated at this weight, but let's face it, he brought that upon himself. He would whip himself into sterling condition for an important fight, but then train in a cantina for an 'unimportant' one and paid the price for his indifference towards an opponent. He was in full party mode by the time he was a feather, but let's try to look at some of his fights.

Against Walter Seeley he was intense. Seeley was (almost) never stopped in his career or ever down. The ropes kept the latter record intact, but the ref had to intervene in only 2 rounds for the only stoppage of his career. Outstanding win. In both Chacon fights Ruben was the underdog and his two KOs were brilliant. He pays no mind to Hafey after the Chacon win and paid the price getting stopped in 5. But then whips himself into outstanding condition (perhaps his best) and actually turns boxer and wins a 12 round masterpiece over Hafey. I didn't think much of Utagawa (the Hafey fight should have been for the vacant title) but I was still impressed they way Ruben slowly broke him down to the body before turning to the head. And lets not forget the Arguello fight. Alexis will always be regarded as an all-time great, but one always has to remember, at 5'5, Ruben was well ahead on points and beating the hell out of the 5'10 Arguello before running into a shot in the 13th.

He only lacked the discipline of his earlier years when he was at 126. If he still maintained his desire, he wouldn't have taken a day off with some of his non-titles or been sleep-walking (or hung-over) against Kotey and could have lengthened his reign considerably at the weight. Still, I feel on his best nights at 126 that he is a top-tenner at the weight.

 

Terrific post.

 

Sal and Russ, thanks, guys. Love the subject.

 

All time great at Bantam! My wife came to the US in 1988 and remembers what a killer he was when she was a child in Mexico. The other posters have already mentioned his big wins. My wife told me his downfall was every fighter's downfall; women, jewelry, bucks. But my late good bud and I thought that Herrera had the tools to dismantle him in 72 and he did. (Saw Herrera against Castillo a year earlier, triple left hook! jeez o peet!) Perhaps a Herrera thread is warranted but he probably went down the same road as Rueben.

 

Complete opposite. Herrera was a clean living, religious family man. Not to mention an outstanding fighter. That was Ruben's last fight at bantam.