Bam! Bam! Ruben Olivares Had Mucho Power in the Lower Weights
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
If ever there was an Ernie Shavers of the lower weight classes, Ruben Olivares was it in terms of raw power. Olivares, like Shavers, was a fine technical boxer. Precisely how many fights he had, we cannot be precisely sure, as the Ring Record Book, BoxRec, and other sources have conflicting numbers. For certain, Olivares fought at least 105 professional bouts between 1965 and 1988 between 112 and 133 pounds, with 79 knockouts in his 89 wins, 13 losses and three draws. The living legend, nicknamed ‘El Puas’, hails from Mexico City, Mexico and was born in 1947.
Ruben Olivares Knockout Highlights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAJFitx1sRY
After getting stopped in the twelfth round of a World Boxing Association World Featherweight title bout to Ruben Olivares in Houston, Texas, in July 1979, Olivares became quiet. Between 1980 and 1988 his record was two wins, three losses, and one draw. Olivares, 41, saw his career end in obscurity with a fourth round knockout loss in Mexico City to Ignacio Madrid, a fighter, ironically, like Olivares, who would never win again.
Olivares knocked out his first 52 opponents, with one disqualification win, and one ten round draw followed with a fifth round knockout of the same opponent less than a year later. Olivares knocked out Lionel Roses in the fifth round to win the WBC and WBA Bantamweight world titles at the Forum in Inglewood, California in August 1969. He knocked out Alan Rudkin in two rounds, then decisioned Chuchu Castillo in 15 rounds to defend his title twice. In the 1970 rematch, Castillo stopped Olivares in the fourteenth rounds on cuts with the cards even. Olivares knocked out Kazuyoshi Kanazawa to win back his titles in the fourteen round in Nagoya, Japan in October 1971.
After defending his title against Jesus Pimentel by eleventh round stoppage, Olivares lost twice to Rafael Herrera, by eight round stoppage and ten round majority decision, then got knocked out in the fifth round by Art Hafey after stopping 19-0 Bobby Chacon. Winning a 12 round split decision over Hafey in a rematch, Olivares knocked out Zensuke Utagawa in the seventh round at The Forum in Inglewood to win the WBA World Featherweight title vacated by Ernesto Marcel in 1974, only to get knocked out by Alexis Arguello in the thirteenth round to lose the WBA title alter that year.
Olivares knocked out Bobby Chacon again to win the WBC World Featherweight title in 1975, then lost his title by 15 round split decision to David Kotey later that year, and also got knocked out by Danny ‘Little Red’ Lopez. Olivares later lost a WBC eliminator to Jose Cervantes, lost a rematch to Bobby Chacon, then knocked out Jose Luis Ramirez in the second round, long before Ramirez became a world champion. Olivares, along with Carlos Zarate, was named by the Associated Press as Bantamweight Fighter of the Century in 1999.
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