Anyone got any info on this guy? Seems like a very skilled southpaw. Very unlucky to have to challenge against Rose and Olivares. Seems like he'd be a champion today. Very skilled amateur to boot. How good was he?
I've only seen the Rose fight and the existing snippet of the Olivares fight. I thought he looked great against Rose. Extremely fast sharp and well-schooled stand up technician, clearly a very talented fighter but not a big puncher and like many Japanese boxer types not much of an infighter. He was geared to do well against Rose but probably less so against a quick-footed, offensively gifted dynamo like Olivares who he didn't really have the punch to deter. That said he did put Olivares down and sting him with straight lefts, and the fight was supposedly close before Olivares's power and body punching broke through. Olivares spoke highly of him as an opponent and so did Rose; Ruben, not exactly known for his modesty, said he was surprised at being able to stop him with relative ease because of his experience, smarts and durability. He managed to win the Orient bantam title post-Olivares and also beat the very good former flyweight title challenger Takayama, so I'm not sure why he didn't remain in the title picture other than assuming because of the strength in depth of the bantamweight contenders of the day. I believe the Korean fighter he defeated to win his Olympic gold was very accomplished- the Asian games champion in '62 - and the favourite to win that fight.
It's only a few minutes, but it's very good quality. It's a shame as fighters like Sakurai definitely have a more extensive library out there, it just isn't released to the public.
