Luis Alberto Lopez vs Reiya Abe

Chibi

 

Lopez by KO 5th rd

 

Last chance for a world title for the Japanese Reiya Abe, who is ranked number 1 IBF since his unanimous decision victory against Kiko Martinez, 9th by the WBO and 2nd by the IBO, 6th on Boxrec

Reiya Abe still hits quite hard despite a low KO rate, here is the face of Kiko Martinez after the fight:

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But the Mexican champion's preparation is impressive for this fight, I favored him. I find that Luis Alberto Lopez is even strangely underestimated, probably because he spent most of his fights far from the spotlight.

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Luis Alberto Lopez is more enduring, more powerful, more physical. In terms of boxing, Abe's style is interesting but he still takes a lot of punches and often keeps his guard low despite getting into his opponent's guard.

Physically he is less imposing Luis Alberto Lopez, but he will be able to impose his volume of blows on the Japanese and therefore impose himself physically. He is the champion but he will fight like a challenger, to compensate for that the only real advantage of Reiya Abe is his footwork and if he is patient he could be better on the counter with his straight right or his right hooks.



The best thing for Reiya Abe would be to keep Luis Alberto Lopez at bay and continue his stick and move. Problem we saw with the Japanese Shingo Wake against Yonathan Guzman, that this style of boxing is suitable if you are only more physical than your opponent and especially if you have a good defense.


I don't blame Reiya Abe who is a worker and a courageous boxer, he must have great resistance to have taken the full brunt of Kiko Martinez's best punches. I put Luis Alberto Lopez by TKO late round 10 I would say.

 

The fight will take place on March 2, 2024 in Verona, United States.

 

Should set this up for the same card as Inoue/Nery and winners fight each other.

 

Not the same weight category and Naoya vs Nery it will be another card. Naoya still has plans planned for the Super Bantamweights, notably beating Luis Nery and John Riel Casimero.

 

The manager of Luis Alberto Lopez :

<<After Abe we want Rafael Espinoza for unify>>
https://boxingnewsnow.com/alberto-luis-lopezs-manager-after-abe-we-want-rafael-espinosa-to-unify/

 

Espinoza vs Lopez is a great fight

 

The problem is that everyone underestimates Abe. Certainly Luis Alberto Lopez is a 60-40 favorite for me. But Abe remains a boxer with good movement, great intelligence in the ring, a good blocker and above all a left-handed boxer. It reminds me when Delakian defended his title against Seigo Yuri Akui, everyone believed that the Ukrainian was going to beat him before the limit.

 

Lopez is a diamond in the rough, went totally under the radar but fought himself to be the best featherweight in the world imo.