Better puncher: Ricardo Lopez or Yuri Arbachakov

For one punch force in either hand I'd probably give the edge to Arbachakov I think. The same for hand speed maybe. Timing I'd struggle to pick them apart. Lopez probably had more variety though and was more willing to constantly uncork his best punches in salvos than Yuri was, maybe apart from up until Arbachakov won the title. That was the thing with Arbachakov for a lot of his pro career, with the injuries and lack of drive being partly responsible for him fighting within himself. He beat better fighters than Lopez did at the top end, but Lopez with his full arsenal crushed and showed no mercy to the type of fighter that Arbachakov could look pedestrian against for spells.

 

Thanks for the Lopez video, I love to watch that guy fight ,his abilities are extraordinary and I rate his skills among the best ever. As for power I might give Arbachakov the slight edge but I think Lopez could deliver much,much better punches without the windup.

 

Agreed. At its best Yuri's right hand was a genuinely explosive weapon and more devastating than any single blow in Lopez's arsenal but he never displayed the creativity in combination punching exhibited regularly by El Finito.

 

I watched quite a bit of both and I think the assessments here are spot on. Arbachakov had the better individual shots, though Lopez had greater variety. Personally, I think the debate about who was greater overall is much closer than many lead on.

 

I think Arbachakov was a bit more skilled, educated and talented overall tbh, he had better feet imo than Lopez and was less prone to being hit with the right, though you could say that Lopez was the sum of his parts where as I'm not quite sure that Arbachakov was.

 

That one slip counter right hand from Arbachakov was incredible. I think Arbachakov was the better punch mechanic, but Lopez was more creative in his punching, which made him devastating. Though this could be because Lopez was very consistent with his game plans and drilled technique, whereas Yuri could neglect his arsenal somewhat (like his fabulous left hook, which he didn't use enough). Lopez always performed at the higher gear of his talent - Yuri didn't. Like Tin said, a sum of the parts type deal.

 

I wouldn't compare Finito Lopez and Yuri to punchers like Louis and Arguello.

Louis and Arguello were deadly from every range, and were far and away the two best short-range power punchers ever.

Ricardo Lopez couldn't fight on the inside, and neither could Yuri. They were mid-range punchers.

If anything, Carbajal was actually more of a Louis/Arguello type puncher because he threw devastating short shots. Though obviously, Carbajal was nowhere near as good as Louis/Arguello.

As for the question, I would consider Lopez the better puncher. Yuri was a good puncher, but he might be a tad bit overrated as a puncher.

 

H2H, I still find myself thinking Arbachakov probably wins, but... I kind of have second thoughts. I think there's a good possibility Lopez would have beaten Arbachakov.

I think Too Sharp would have beaten both of them, and I think all three would have beaten Carbajal.