If you could give a fighter two attributes, to make him the best ever in his weight, who and what would they be? I find it easier to keep it simple and use fighters at or around their weight, but if you want to get creative and use a sort of pound-for-pound scale, go for it. For instance, if you have George Foreman the stamina of Fighting Harada, it'd be on a P4P basis. An attribute can be a certain area of their game, a punch, a physical talent, chin, toughness, something like that.
These are the kind I expected, but they're fun. How about some more obscure ones though? Alberto Davila with Olivares' power and Wayne McCullough's chin?
Give Wlas a chin and a fighter's heart and he's probably the best hw ever. In fact, I'm thinking he might just need the latter
I believe there was a Brazilian guy with the skill of Davila, the power of Olivares, the chin of McCullough.
I certainly don't. Somebody with McCullough's chin wouldn't have been badly hurt by Medel, Harada and Legra. And Olivares' power was just flat out better than Jofre's. Eder is for some reason pegged as a top three/five puncher at bantamweight and it's just not the case.
I tend to think that about Olivares tbh. Always thought he was more of Gomez-esque puncher both in style and statistic. Terrific obviously but the with the ko percentage slightly flattering and more reflective of all round offensive ability than true one punch ko power. Zarate the same. I'd have to rewatch a lot of both of their fights in close succession but I sort of have the idea that Jofre had more kos at world level that were one punch stoppages or closer to it. Or hurting opponents out of nowhere or only requiring a clean punch to get them going. Not by much mind. I dunno. Obviously Olivares was effortlessly heavy handed and accurate and a great finisher. He was a bit more aggressive than Jofre against boxer types though, a shade quicker on his feet and quicker out of the traps where Jofre was a slower starter and a bit more patient and content to box. His kos of Aoki, Caldwell, Caraballo, Medel, Sanchez etc look as crushing to me as anything that Olivares did imo. The one incredible outlier is Olivares stopping Ramirez, which I haven't seen. I feel maybe as though Jofres punches had a shade more compact force and crack upon impact where Olivares looked a bit more fluid. It's all subjective though, highly. I do think Jofre was more two handed though, definitely. I'd definitely have them both as a similar bracket of puncher at the least. That's just me though. I think that the idea of Medel being a slightly harder one shotter than Ruben has legs as well. Obviously less dynamic, consistent on the front foot and such.
Most of the ATGs with tremendous knockout records had more to their game than just power. I mean, I've never seem a more concussive puncher in my time watching boxing at any weight than Julian Jackson but nobody is going to confuse him as an ATG or on the level of guys already mentioned in this thread. Olivares could really bang (was watching his KO of Efren Torres a couple of days ago) and so could Gomez (poor old Royal Kobayashi, watched that one the other day too) but they both had so much more to their offensive games. Guys like Jackson and Earnie Shavers (and maybe Jose Medel too) p4p hit harder but they weren't the all-round fighters that Olivares and Gomez were, obviously. Not trying to refute anyone's points by the way, just adding my thoughts.
I think Olivares' left hook was the single most devastating punch between the two, but Jofre was an even-handed puncher who could end a fight with a cross or a hook. Olivares' right hand packed heat, he wasn't one-handed like Oscar, but his power was by far more concentrated in the hook.
James Toney with the dedication and discipline of Marvin Hagler Terry Norris with the chin of Julio Cesar Chavez Kid Gavilan with the punching power of Thomas Hearns
I would give Happy Lora consistency and longevity, because on his A-game he looked about as good as any bantamweight in history. Lora had enough talent that we SHOULD be mentioning him alongside guys like Gomez and Olivares. He just lacked that "it" factor to make him great.
Rose had toughness. What I think he was lacking was great durability. Lora didn't seem as mentally strong as Rose. Physically he had all the tools.
Gomez and Olivares was a stretch though, I admit. Those are generational talents. Lora should have been a lower top 10 bantamweight in history though.
Gavilan with Hearns' power is probably up there with Robby for the GOAT. Robinson was a smoother and smarter though, even if Gavilan did have devastating power.
