In one of the more escoteric fantasy fights that I can think of, I've been mulling over how a fight between two of the better japanese jr. lightweights and lightweights in history would play out. Numata, by far and away fought the better fighters throughout the course of his career, with wins over the likes of Elorde (past his best, of course, but still a damned good win), Raul Rojas, Lionel Rose, and a few others. He looks to be the more skilled of the fighters, too. And yet... Hatekayama's advantage in power and size, plus the fact that Numata seemed a little bit chinny at times makes this fight a toss-up in mind. Who takes it?
I think Numata would take this, he was the better boxer and he would have been wary and respectful of Hatekayama`s power and would have fought accordingly by not getting into any prolonged exchanges with Takenori. Numata could always get sparked though if Hatekayama gets through with enough heavy leather, but I feel comfortable picking Numata at his best to outpoint him.
