Who was the best bantamweight ever?

Sorry for the ignorance here, im just not informed, but who's your old man?

Just curious?

 

I think some people forget just how good Ruben Olivares was at his best. He was so hot and cold and came in so lazy and unprepared at times.

His two round demolition of Chacon was phenomenal stuff. Skill and power in spades.

Think about it. Limon failed to put Chacon away in, what, over 40 rounds of them trying to kill one another?

Olivares did it in two short rounds.

 

Bobby was horribly weight drained for the return though, it was only a matter of how many rounds it was going to take Ruben to put him away and as it turned out two short rounds was all he needed. You can`t come in drained and listless against a motivated and in-shape Olivares and expect to walk away a winner, and speaking of Ruben he is my #1 choice for the top spot. Sure, he was inconsistent and his own worst enemy and lost many fights he ought to have won, but that can be chalked up mainly to his own out of the ring excesses. At his peak Ruben was a monster and a very versatile fighter, he could brawl, box, counterpunch you name it he could do it and make it look effortless, and his resume is litered with quality opponents from beginning to end. Jofre would be a close second followed by Manuel Ortiz and Fighting Harada, but top spot goes to Rock-A-Bye Ruben imo.

 

Funny enough I was in Liverpool last week and I asked my dad who he thought would win, Harada or Olivares. My dad by the way is not one for excuses but I know his preperation wasn't great for the Olivares fight. He reckons Harada could of given Olivares trouble because of his strength and swarming style. Although not a great puncher he didn't give his opponents the room to get their big shots off like against Jofre and he wasn't easy to catch cleanly.
Olivares on the other hand was a better boxer than given credit for and was a massive puncher. My dad said that he'd never really been hurt in the ring till he fought Olivares, and he'd been in with good company. I got the feeling he favoured Olivares with what he called his equaliser. The peak Olivares as far as he's concerned could of knocked knocked out anybody.
My dads top bantam that he didn't fight, Manuel Ortiz.

 

I was guessin Rudkin, im from Liverpool by the way Al. Your old man would no doubt be a champ today (not like you didnt know!)

 

Yeah, right at the top

 

It's great to see him remembered by people who know their boxing.

 

Not being a suck-up here, but when i first read about him, can't remember where, i always thought he was the prime example of a fighter that would have been a champion if not for his era. (I dont mean in the case of guys beng dodged, obviously), moreso than Herol Graham, any of them.

 

Are you Alan Rudkin's lad? :shock:

 

He is, i bet you know his old man MDWC?

 

Funny you should say that, even now, people refer to me as Alan's lad or Alan's boy when I'm in london. I'm 44 years old now lol.

 

Éder Jofre