I was thinking about all of the fights that could've been made if he hadn't have died, and I realise he was talking about moving up and a long stay at flyweight was basically out of the picture, but suspend your belief. Say he's at his best, and so are the guys trying to take his title, how would he do vs the following? Guty Espadas Martin Vargas Shoji Oguma Antonio Avelar Venice Borkhorsor Erbito Salavarria Miguel Canto Chan-Hee Park
I think he'd be clear favourite Espadas, but it'd be a great fight. Same with Salavarria and Vargas. Good fights, but Oba was too good to drop these. I don't know how Oba did vs Southpaws, which means Oguma has an outside chance. I pick Oba though, with confidence. Avelar vs Oba would be a war, which gives Tony a good chance. Avelar could lower the boom on Oba, who's chin I'm not sold on. But he could also get jabbed to fuck and ripped to pieces. I think Oba is the safe bet, but Avelar could be one of those wildcard, underdog picks. Chan-Hee could be a damn good fight. His ridiculous speed gives anybody issues at some points. But ultimately, I think Oba figures him out and has the physicality to keep him at bay, or beat him in exchanges. Not the grit, but the strength and power which Canto lacked. Oba should be able to push Park off him, and win those crucial exchanges with his superior offense. Canto is an interesting chess-match, but I've said before that I think high-level movement is Oba's weakness, and Canto has the jab to fuck with Oba. I think a Canto close decision is the result here. Venice Busstop was a fucking brute. He could absolutely crush his way toward a win here, by just bulling through Oba's jab, counters and any of his stinging shots he'd put together, and bulldoze him to a stoppage. I don't see Oba having much success stalking Venice, and I don't see him having the ability to out-box him at range. I think it's possible, but I'm going Venice on the proviso that he's as good at the weight as his results would suggest and that he fights how he did vs Herrera.
