Where do you rank Danny "Little Red" Lopez?

He was beaten pretty badly by Sanchez both times, due primarily to a lack of hand speed, when he was still only 27, and seemingly at the top of his game. He got stopped twice on cuts. Chacon was more talented.

Little Red could take out anybody he could get to, but his lack of hand and foot speed, along with that susceptibility to cuts, would always place a clear ceiling on how high he could go. Azumah Nelson would have gotten killed by him though, and I have serious doubts about how well the chin of Gomez stands up to his power. Lopez-LaPorte would have been 15 completed rounds of fun. Lockridge would have been annihilated like he was by LaPorte.

I'm not comfortable rating him on an all time featherweight list, but he's clearly a more than worthy HOFer who's also a head to head nightmare for anybody who trades with him. Saddler would have been a spectacular war.

Arguello definitely stops him on cuts, if not producing a clean knockout. Alexis had the toughness, skills, height, reach, slipping ability and straight punching that would have made it difficult for Danny to break through.

 

I LOVE Little Red,but he was not better than Azumah Nelson.

 

I did a all time fw list on here not to long ago and had him number 10. BUt that was only for my pops that was his favorite fighter so i threw him on there. In all reality i think id have to rank him 12th. PFP though was one of the greatest punchers ive ever seen.

 

When Danny retired the now defunct Boxing Today magazine did a big article on Danny's career. They succinctly titled the article, Danny "Little Red" Lopez: Knock him down, he'll get up and kill ya!" Red was the most exciting come from behind winners in boxing history. He was "Gatti" when Gatti's momma was still changin' his diapers.

Little Red hit guys, and made 'em go down like ya shot 'em in the head! There are very few highlight reels of Danny Lopez, because every freaking fight was a highlight reel! He won big, or lost badly. I'm not really sure how you rank a guy who was a dominate champion, scored 39 knock outs, only won two decisions, only lost one decision, and got stopped 5 times.

I am a nurse. I've spent most of my career working with the geriatric crowd. If you ask little old ladies in nursing homes, "Do you remember Danny "Little Red" Lopez?" nine out of ten will get a big grin and say, "Oh yes, of course I remember Danny!"

He's one of the most famous, and most exciting fighters ever, and I was extremely happy to see the IBHOF finally induct him. However, I hesitate to call him an all time great.

 

I don't know if he cracks the top ten, but he was certainly the most entertaining of the bunch.

 

Lopez was better than Gatti. It wasn't Danny's fault that Salvador Sanchez was in the neighborhood. He would have had a much longer reign as champion if Sanchez wasn't around.

 

Not saying he was, but head to head...

 

Like most BIG punchers he gets overrated somewhat. He was a bit limited for a guy of his reputation imo. Put him against someone that suits him stylistically tho and he's utterly awesome.

 

Incidentally i'd heavy favour Nelson over him.

 

Head to head,I'd still favor Azumah.I believe he was a little harder than Little Red in the chin and pressure department.And I felt he was quicker than Danny.Although while it lasted,it would have been a rock-em sock-em battle of the ages:good

 

A lot of credit should go to Little Red for going to the backyard of David Poison Kotey in Ghana and fighting a calm, poised strategic battle for 15 rounds to capture the title. He didn't trade on his trademark explosive power in this fight (though he did deck the champion), and made no trips to the canvas himself against a pretty decent fighter and puncher in Kotey (he sent Ruben Olivares to the deck). This performance in my opinion showed that Lopez had an extra dimension besides just being a big puncher.

 

Yes, and again, remarkably, he was lauded for his endurance even before Mike Ayala. (Considering what a slow starter he was in his prime, a presumption of outstanding staying power was probably guaranteed anyway.) As I remember it, he did indeed get full credit for his stamina in winning the title, and was lauded in that SI cover story for both his training habits, and the power of his left jab, BEFORE taking on Mike Ayala, where a single jab shattered the challenger's nose before he got stopped in the final championship round. (He got even more credit for surviving the hotel room he had to stay in during his visit to Ghana.)

 

He's a tough guy to rate, though I don't really do that anyway. He's interesting partly because here is a guy who, as others have said, didn;t have THAT many tools at his disposal........he could crack like crazy, we've covered that, great stamina, that always helps, but in watching him it strikes you that his attack is rather one-dimensional. Jab and right hand, with maybe a pawing left hook behind it for window dressing. The right hand was his thing, and he needed plenty of room to throw it, too, though I guess he did have a pretty decent uppercut.

How could a fighter that limited and predictable succeed like he did? It seems like any fighter with a decent ability to turn him and not fall apart at fielding a few right hands should have had his number, but he made an admirable mark in history through doggedness and confidence in what he DID have.

I don't get into the whole, "Yeah, but so-and-so would do this and that against him and so I have to rank him 6.7% lower than this other guy on my carefully graded head to head scale" thing. He was what he was, and that was plenty for so many, me included. In that light, a worthy Hall of Famer.