Gonzalez. His record is almost identical to Lopez' but he went up two more weight classes and has better victories.
When I watch Lopez on video I've never thought "perfection." I think "good technique" not even "the best technique." Marquez has better technique. Mayweather has better technique. Eder Jofre had better technique. Lomachenko has better technique. Joe Louis great technique. Ray Robinson wonderful technique. Harold Johnson, Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, Gene Tunney, Freddie Steele, Benny Leonard, Jimmy McLarnin, Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, etc. Lots of guys had as good or better technique than Lopez. And a lot of them were faster and stronger too.
Technically, Roman Gonzalez hasn't either. His amateur record is 88-0 vs Lopez' 39-0. Lopez was 51-0-1 when he retired and Gonzalez was 46-0 plus 1 robbery and should still be undefeated.
Robbery isn't harsh at all. It's one of the worst robberies in the history of the sport. Check this out. Fighter Landed/Thrown Result Fighter Landed/Thrown Punches Landed Edge Troy Dorsey (620/1365) L 12 Jorge Paez (340/697) 280 Lennox Lewis (348/613) D 12 Evander Holyfield (130/386) 218 Roman Gonzalez (441/1013) L 12 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (284/940) 157 Dave Tiberi (439/905) L 12 James Toney (290/919) 149 Jose Armando Santa Cruz (246/801) L 12 Joel Casamayor (129/502) 117 Mike McCallum (332/849) L 12 James Toney (232/714) 100 Oscar de la Hoya (263/648) L 12 Felix Trinidad (166/462) 97 Oscar de la Hoya (221/616) L 12 Shane Mosley (5) (127/496) 94 Manny Pacquiao (253/751) L12 Tim Bradley (159/839) 94 Pernell Whitaker (311/790) D 12 Julio Cesar Chavez (220/637) 91 Ali Funeka (248/903) D 12 Joan Guzman (163/493) 85 Manuel Medina (273/1466) L 12 Johnny Tapia (193/722) 80 Brian Vera (176/734) L10 Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (125/328) 51 Felix Sturm (234/541) L12 Oscar De La Hoya (188/792) 46 Jose Luis Castillo (203/506) L12 Floyd Mayweather (157/408) 46 Erislandy Lara (224/530) L12 Paul Williams (200/1047) 24 Mauricio Herrera (221/695) L12 Danny Garcia (204/675) 17 I scored the fight twice using different feeds. He won 8 to 4. Some people just can't tell the difference between a blocked punch and a solid connecting punch and were giving Rungvisai way too much credit.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the agenda behind their motives and often times it's clear as day. There are a whole lot of folks on this forum that have long been silently hateful and resentful of Roman Gonzalez.
That said, I ride with Ricardo Lopez (I assume this would be at 105). I view Ricardo as a hands down "top 50 p4p fighter ever."
I don't think anyone has an agenda against Gonzalez. I just think some people don't understand and appreciate his style and what he's doing in the ring. Pernell Whitaker and Juan Manuel Marquez both lost about 4 fights they should have won because people didn't understand what they were seeing. I think people in Whitaker's day had a bias against defensive boxers and I think that people in our day might have a bias against aggressive boxers. There was also the problem of Whitaker and Gonzalez both landing with great frequency but not appearing to significantly hurt their opponents. That's sort of what happened with Tiberi against Toney too.
People forget that Lopez had 2 tough fights with another Nicaraguan which was Rosendo Alvarez who was similar to Gonzalez in a way. Alvarez should have won the first fight and you can also make a case in the second fight also. Gonzalez was much better and I really feel he would have posed an even bigger problem against Lopez. No disrespect to Ricardo Lopez, who is one of my all time favorite boxers, but he was not a perfect fighter. Aesthetically pleasing style but lacked inside fighting skills and mostly fought the same was. He didnt have that great of a competition, which is why he always looked good at what he did. I'll even go far and say that Gonzalez has already achieved more than Lopez has in the lower weight division.