I think Olivares stops him late. Uses that beautiful lead hand and dynamic footwork to box with Zarate, Zarate's length makes it difficult, but Ruben delt with that against Arguello. I think it's a battle of two sublime ring generals. Zarate's power is troublesome, but Olivares to me has the bigger punch, better chin and faster hands. He should be better suited to a shootout, but who wants a shootout with Carlos Zarate? I think Olivares would be far better suited to box and eventually, set up the shot which ends things.
Hard to say who was a bigger puncher. Olivares' left hook probably carried the most power of the two, but Zarate could end a fight with either hand, whereas with Olivares it usually came from the hook. And was Olivares quicker handed? Yeah, but Zarate threw straighter, more compact, more accurate shots.
What Olivares had over Zarate is that he was that he was successful at higher weights. I dont see much separation between them at 118.
When I say Olivares had more power, faster hands and a better chin, I want to clarify that I don't think that's by massive amounts. His hands were noticeably quicker, but that's not to say Zarate was pondering and slow. I think the handspeed advantage is what led to Olivares having more power, by virtue of being more explosive. And I tend to think Zarate's chin was less tested than Olivares'. Even in Olivares' losses, he mostly showed a decent chin. Lopez and Arguello, for instance. But I'm not saying Zarate's chin was particularly bad, as he did beat with Zamora.
Hard to decide since Olivares wasn't always the most consistent fighter as shown by his losses to Herrera and Castillo. At his best though he was a monster, especially from his performance against Rose. If we took the best Olivares against the best Zarate I would pick Olivares by stoppage. Much more versatile and just as powerful offensively.
Olivares was at one point 61-0-1, I think it's unfair to say he wasn't consistent. Those losses came to two extremely talented fighters, both better than any Zarate fought at BW.
Tough question. I tend to think he'd beat Herrera but lose to Castillo. I really like Herrera's performance in the Olivares fights. He showed a good chin, and his ring IQ is really underrated IMO. His strategy for Olivares was as good as it can get. He took advantage of his tendancies and took full advantage of his weakened state to completely overwhelm him. He moved towards Ruben's right hand, knowing it wasn't half the threat his left was, and stepped in with the jab after working the fence. He used straights to beat Ruben to the punch, then stepped out and kept moving to his left. Building off that initial step-in with the jab just let him start to break Olivares down, and I think it's an awesome display. However, it wouldn't work with Zarate. Carlos was far too long for it to work like that, as he'd have to step in much deeper to cleanly land the jab, and moving towards Zarate's right hand sounds like a terrible idea Zarate was also incredible at cutting the ring off, and a prime Zarate's ring generalship is far better than the version of Olivares which Herrera beat - though I'd argue not quite as good as a switched on Olivares. I think Zarate forces Herrera back and grinds him down. He'd get countered a lot, but he'd walk through them and find Herrera's chin. I'd say Rafa was tough enough to see the twelfth, but not the full fifteen. Then again, an earlier stoppage isn't out of the question as Martinez and Castillo managed it. I do pick Castillo to win, though. Such an amazing technician, isn't he? I love how he works sequences with his cross and how he just finds the rhythm to slide it in over the jab. I just love how he works off the ropes, and how great his jab was. Being a natural pressure fighter with a granite chin, bags of bravery and massive heart just made him even more horrible. I think he'd jab successfully with Zarate, and as he steps in to do so, come over the top of Zarate's jab with that cross. Working the body and when called for, play counter-puncher off the ropes. I see a pretty similar fight to the Pintor fight, but with a higher workrate being forced from both. Chucho was more talented and had better skills than Lupe IMO.
Zarate would beat both Castillo and Herrera. Castillo was a superb technician, but no, nothing about him suggested to me that he could handle Zarate over 15. The way Zarate looked in the Martinez and Zamora fights, I would say only Jofre is a solid bet. Post-Gomez Zarate was clearly not the same. Not that Gomez gave him a career-ending beating, because the fight didn't last long enough, but Gomez clearly shattered the aura of invincibility Zarate felt, and sometimes guys never recover from that. I think the Zamora fight version of Zarate would beat the living fuck outta Lupe Pintor.
The post Gomez thing is cope. He didn't seem to have anything wrong vs Mensan, and Pintor was hardly known as the elite talent we know him as going into it. What changed was the calibre of the opponent. And Zarate lost. No version of Zarate beats the living fuck out of Pintor.
