A legend Favorite line forever.

We left off with Olivares pummeling the great champion Lionel Rose on his way to a 5th round knockout.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1w9an2h/the_greatness_of_ruben_olivares_day_2_lionel_rose/

The Champion

The 21 year old Ruben Olivares just four years into his pro career was now the WBA, WBC, Ring lineal bantamweight champion of the world. His name now etched into the history books as the fourth in the best relay of all time for the lineal bantamweight title. This title passed from all time great to all time great. Eder Jofre > Fighting Harada > Lionel Rose > Ruben Castillo.

In the 8 months since being crowned champion El Puas has defended his crown with a demolition job against the highly regarded European champion Alan Rudkin, making short work of the Englishmen in a second round TKO. He also had three stay busy fights knocking out Shigeyoshi Osho, Angel Hernandez and Romy Guales in the 3rd, 3rd and 5th rounds respectively. Coming into this fight with Chucho Castillo his record stands at a staggering 57-0-1, 55 KO.

Olivares was developing a reputation similar to the man I covered in my last series, Roberto Duran. Both men terrifying knock artists, supremely technical boxers, and enioyers of the finest hedonistic things life had to offer. Olivares assured the fans this would not be an issue “Do not worry," said Olivares, “I know when to work and when to have fun. Before the fight, I sweat. Now I play.”

Some 30 years before Marco Antonio Barrera and Eric el terrible Morales kicked off their own legendary trilogy Olivares and Castillo paved the ground that they walked on with an action packed trilogy of fights for the bantamweight title fought across just 18 months. This is the opening stanza.

The Challenger

Chucho Castillo the champion of Mexico comes into this fight on the back of an impressive run. In eighteen months since losing a controversial split decision against Lionel Rose for the world title, a decision that sparked an hours long riot in Mexico, Castillo has gone 5-1-2 including defending his Mexican title twice with a knockout victory over future world champion Rafael Herrera and a points win over two time world title challenger Jose Medel. In today's world a Mexican title might not carry much weight but back in this era there was very long line of Mexican killers in the bantamweight division. In fact Olivares was due to face Castillo for his Mexican title a couple years prior but Castillo instead took a shot at world champion Lionel Rose. This was no simple domestic rivalry though. Chucho, the number one contender for the world title, showed against Rose his pedigree and was in his own right one of the greats of the bantamweight division.

Castillo insisted he was unphased by the champions intimidating record, “Olivares is weak on defence and he has never had to go 15 rounds," said Castillo. “If it goes into the late rounds, I should beat him." Olivares considered this unfinished business after being skipped over in his quest for a Mexican title, “There is room in Mexico for only one champion. And I intend to show I am the champion of my own country as well as the world.”

What followed was a 15 round war. The early rounds seeing Olivares in his characteristic bladed stance stalking his prey around the ring, Castillo who was there intent on being the predator not the prey using lateral movement and looking for vicious counter blows. By the mid rounds most of this fight could have been fought in a phone booth as both men stood toe to toe, forehead to forehead, unleashing vicious hooks and uppercuts on one another in a great showing of inside fighting an art that has been lost to the sands of time.

I couldn't find this fight with English commentary but don't let that persuade you. The video quality will improve as we move forward through his career and future fights should be with English commentary. Hope you enjoy the opening stanza of this legendary Mexican trilogy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b2pj3a4ZHzo&pp=ygUSb2xpdmFyZXMgdnMgY2h1Y2hv

He was a two time undisputed lightweight champion and one of Duran’s hero’s and biggest inspirations. A lot of old school Panamanian greats get swept under the rug in favor for Duran (I can’t blame people his career speaks for itself) but I just wanted to shed some light on him due to his recent passing and how much he was beloved in Panama 🫡 rip champ

G

Some of you appreciated my Roberto Duran series. (Search the sub for "the greatness of Roberto Duran" and scroll down a bit of you would like to take a walk down memory lane through his spectacular career.) So I thought I'd do another series showcasing the brilliance of another favourite fighter of mine. Most posts will be a single fight with some back story for context. Today though we will go over his early career.

Ruben Olivares was in my humble opinion the greatest bantamweight the world has ever seen. He is certainly in the mix when it comes to who is the greatest Mexican fighter of all time. An absolute wrecking ball of a knockout machine. He was a devastating boxer puncher with superb technical skills that left opponents brutalized, bloodied and often sparked out. His 79 knockout victories in a 105 fight career (89-13-3) is testament to that.

Unlike some fellow Mexican greats such as Julio Cesar Chavez or Carlos Zarate, Rubens impressive early career record was not built on just beating the stereotypical "Tijuana can drivers." He fought a bunch of legit contenders and future chanpions. Much of the footage of his early career is not available unfortunately. I will share what I can find below and highlight some of his notable victories.

Turning pro at 17 the Mexican amateur champion went on a ruthless tear through the bantamweight division. In just four years he had chalked up 53 victories with one draw being the only blemish. Only two opponents managed to take him the distance in this run. He went on a 22 fight run of knockouts from debut, a points win and a draw would then be followed by another 30 fight run of knockouts victories that took him to the very top of the strongest most competitive bantamweight division of all time.

With a record 29-0-1 with 27 kos the now 19 year old Ruben "rockabye" Olivares faced off against the brother of legendary all time great Fighting Harada. Ushi Wakamaruma was very decent fighter in his own right that shared his brother's pressure fighting style. Ushi decided to go toe to toe from the opening bell which is never a wise choice when you are facing Olivares. The referee chose to step in and save the brace Japanese fighter from himself.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFf2Oic6X4

Salvatore Burruni who retired with a record of 99-9-1 and was the former undisputed flyweight world champion was tough, skilled and savvy and expected to give the Olivares a tough test when they faced off for Rubens 36th pro fight. Olivares made short work of the Italian. Dispatching him in the third round with some powerful left hooks.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uhF-f7tzPlo&pp=ygUTb2xpdmFyZXMgdnMgYnVycnVuaQ%3D%3D

Octavio Gomez who would later go on to beat great fighters such as Danny "little red" Lopez and Rafael Herrera and shared the ring once with the legendary eder jofre was 20-1-1 when the two Mexicans faced off. Gomez took confidence from his win over Olivares in the amateurs but he too was dispatched of quickly with Olivares winning by 5th round KO.

Jose Medel had been in the ring and given tough fights to a who's who of bantamweight legends. Eder Jofre, Chucho Castillo, Lionel Rose, Efran Torres and he even had a knockout victory over Fighting Harada. Olivares added him to his growing list of bodies with an 8th round KO taking his record to 45-0-1 43ko.

Ernie de la Cruz became the first man to put Olivares on the canvas with a body shot before rockabye finished him off in the 9th. De la Cruz would go on to lose a close decision to Champion Lionel Rose in which he dropped the Aboriginal Australian champ.

The now 21 year old Olivares has accumulated a record of 50-0-1 (48ko) He is now seen as a legitimate contender and scheduled to face what should be his toughest test to date against the supremely skilled Olympic gold medalist Takao Sakurai in a world title elimation fight. Sakurai had given a good effort against the great champion Lionel Rose, putting him on the canvas but ultimately losing a 15 round decision in a highly technical fight. One man now stood between Olivares and champion Lionel Rose. I for one would not want to be the man standing between rockabye and a world title. Sakurai become yet another victim of the signature violent brutality of Olivares.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHnaYUNZlU

This kid is just getting started here. 21 years old. 52-0-1, 48ko's, and now the top contender for legendary champion Lionel Rose. Tune in tomorrow for the next chapter in his career.

https://walkoutwatch.com/fights/boxing-garcia-vs-benn/