Comparing the skills, technique, and resume of Ricardo Lopez & Carlos Zarate

I think it’s hard to say. Zarate was a very accurate power punching technician with great IQ. His shot selection was second to none, and he mixed in body punches. López may be more eye catchingly flashy, but also generally needed the other guy at the end of his punches. His inside game was not as strong as Zárate’s.

Zarate is the greater fighter. There’s almost no question there.

 

Good comparison, Flo. Stylistically similar, for sure. Lopez had the ability to KO fighters but was never a real banger whereas Zarate was a killer power wise but tended to use his boxing skills rather than just go looking for a KO. Agree that Lopez was more of a range fighter, keeping his opponents on the end of his jab. Zarate, despite his height, would fight inside as well.

Zarate is greater and I think his competition is largely better. His signature win is better than anything Lopez achieved. As much as I like Lopez stylistically, he really didn't test himself when he had the opportunity to by facing Carbajal or Gonzalez in the early-mid 90s when that would have meant something and elevated him to another level. That's a black mark against him historically, I think.

 

Both are great- and among the best of what they chose to employ. You cannot get much more prettier punches then what they threw.

 

Zarate for me, for reasons already mentioned by others.

I think the real dark horse, skills wise and for overall effect, is Lupe Pintor. I recently re-watched the Zarate bout and I thought he was fantastic at negating his power. Great defence (particularly his parrying) and distance judgment.

 

Zarate was less prone to being clipped by the sort of straight and overhand rights that Lopez struggled with against Alvarez imo, it always seemed to me that it was a punch he was a bit blind towards when well-timed and threaded.

Zarate gets a lot more points from me for taking on Gomez, Fenech when old and Pintor even though he lost. I thought he beat Pintor anyway and was actually starting to warm up and find success somewhat against Fenech before the cut halted things. The gap in CV between him and Finito is quite big for me even without any subjective bias or credit as suggested above.

 

I found an excerpt from myself on an old mexican fighter thread

'Zarate, like Olivares, was another picture of power punching, representing the Cuyo Hernandez school. Out of this list, he is the one with the most physical advantages for his weight. And didn't he make it work! Those compact, torquing shots from long range were absolutely devastating and are extremely pressing issues to get past. Solid, underrated defense kept him mostly safe whilst his power deterred opponents, and his length kept away the less skilled. Of this list, he probably has the least 'developed' footwork, but he was also the one who needed it least. Pretty serviceable.'

I remember Morlocks stating that Zarate would've KOd Fenech if it wasn't for the 'corrupt verdict'. He'd get very animated about that fight - it really was an odd, unfortunately inconclusive ending. As you said, Zarate was having success but I don't really see a lot of people mention it.

I personally thought Pintor won the fight against Zarate but I don't think there was any basis to the robbery talk. It was very close imo.

 

Fenech was winning the fight while Zarate was killing Fenech to the body before the stoppage. Each had a good chance of stopping the other imo

 

I think the WBC really wanted López to validate the straw division and Don King didn’t really have a ton of use for him hence the lack of quality matches. I suppose him and Chiquita was not gonna happen due to both sharing trainer and manager. Funny thing is, Finito and Chiquita hated each other and still hold a grudge to this day. They had them go into the gym at different times. Chiquita thinks it stems from jealousy since he made a lot of money and had those big fights. Who knows?