Olivares of the Kanazawa rematch, vs the Pintor who beat Zarate (and he did beat Zarate). Can Pintor beat the other premiere Mexican bantam?
IMO, Olivares was slowing down at the time of the Kanazawa rematch, but he may have still had enough firepower left to beat Pintor on points. Incidentally, I question whether Zarate was still in his prime when Pintor, er, "beat" him. IMO, his performance in that fight is reminiscent of Foreman's post-Ali performances, in which he seemed to lack his former confidence and was struggling to find a new stylistic identity.
I think Olivares was on the down here, a little, but nothing crazy. I think he may have took Kanazawa a bit light due to how he thrashed him before. I imagine if he knew how dangerous Pintor was (which isn't a given, I'm fairly certain Pintor wasn't highly regarded before Zarate), he should win this. Pintor seemed to give bigger punches their respect and flew through fighters he didn't like they were nothing. I think Olivares would let him taste that power and use his left hand to out-box Pintor. Olivares probably feints Pintor into hesitating before stepping for the left to the body, letting him find that cross-counter. If Pintor was too active in the late rounds, I wouldn't be too surprised. Although, I do think Zarate was prime for Pintor. Maybe not quite as good as he was for the Martinez or Zamora fights, but definitely close enough to be consider a great win for Pintor and/or for Zarate to be held accountable for it. Actually, I think he was probably at the same stage as Olivares was for Kanazawa.
