Chavez was more popular but IMO Ricardo Lopez is the greatest Mexican ever!

Salvador Sanchez is the #1 Mexican boxer of all time.

 

JCC, Sanchez, Saldivar, Olivárez, Marquez, Lopez, Morales, Barrera.

 

I think Chavez at his peak was probably more impressive than Lopez anyway, not even taking resume into account (which is a massive edge for Julio).

 

Good point but It's not Finito fault there wasn't as much competition in the lower divisions or that era.Lopez fought everybody,looked good against everybody that's all there is too it,it shouldn't diminish his greatness.Respect Chavez I have him ahead of Lopez but below Sanchez.Everybody has their own rankings but he's still recognized as the greatest at his division for a reason & can't argue he's not a legit top 5 or even 3 best Mexican fighters ever.If he was bigger & done it against featherweight/lightweight competition he would get so much more credit.He's undefeated never ducked no one how many people can legitimately say that??Floyd lol,Not many & definitely not the calzahe maybe Marciano but even he was carefully managed & never fought em in their prime.Chavez might be slightly ahead but he's not far better you can easily argue Finito is more skilled than chavez.

 

I share the OP's sentiments but you have to be very realistic about it.

The reason that Chavez, and why Morales, Marquez and Barrera were also able to rank over him is due to the fact that Lopez fought in a weight class that suited his dimensions perfectly.

He never fought at the flyweight division. If you'll look at it from a historical perspective, he would've fought at 112 if he had been fighting back in the 60's. Of course by potential he could've been effective there as well but legacies aren't about potential. It's about what you actually did.

And the lack of marquee names also held him back. Had he fought Carbajal and Chiquita, his ATG ranking would be higher.

 

Chavez fought better opposition, beat better opposition, achieved more at different weights, displayed greater longevity, and was actually a more complete fighter. No, Chavez was a far, far greater fighter than Lopez was.

Assuming he would have beat them, absolutely. Not a certainty.

Retired undefeated? Fought no one. Could do it all? His in-fighting ability was suspect in his fights with Alvarez. I don't think he did establish a better legacy, and certainly not a better ledger, than both Carbajal and Gonzalez, two fighters who fought and beat better opposition than Lopez. "Slot of good guys"? Whom?

 

Chavez had a greater resume, was more accomplished, and yes was an overall more skilled and complete fighter.

Chavez is arguably THE most text book perfect pressure fighter of all time, had a very underrated defense, could lead, pressure, and counter and fight off the backfoot all very effectively, was one of the greatest and most precise combination punchers of all time as well as arguably a top 5 ATG when it comes to In-fighting skills. (something Finito wasn't all that great at)

So no, as brilliant as Finito was, he is NOT greater nor as great as JCC, period.

top 5 Mexican ATG's:

Julio Cesar Chavez
Ruben Olivares
Salvador Sanchez
Vicente Saldivar
Miguel Canto

:deal

then you have the likes of Marquez, Morales, Barrera, Zarate, Azteca, Arizmendi and Casnova.

After that group, id place Finito with the likes of Zurita, Herrera, Chucho Castillo, and Pintor.

 

Duran!

 

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Sanchez

 

Alvarez, who was horribly inconsistent but still quite beastly when he was sober and motivated. Grigsby was a decent scalp, and so was Sorjatourong. Vorapin, Ohashi, and Melchor were all main-stays in the straw-weight ratings throughout the decade that Lopez dominated. Ditto Lucas and Lin and Guardia and Tabanas. It was a weak division, but Lopez for the most part faced the best available contenders and tooled them.

In many ways, Finito's career trajectory is similar to Orlando Canizales. Both fighters put up big numbers, and more importantly looked damned good in doing it. Both deserve to be in the hall of fame because of it, but their all time greatness is diminished by the fighters they didn't meet when they were at their best.

 

Alvarez was a decent fighter, Sorjatourong and Vorapin were good, but nobody else was particuarly noteworthy. The point remains, the division was poor. Lopez dominated about as well as he possibly could have, so he deserves credit, but not to the extent of rating him above guys like MAB and Morales, let alone Chavez.

Orlando's Bantamweight reign was filled with slightly better opposition, in my opinion, but he also had a few debatable decisions. He was not as dominant as Lopez.

 

Strong competition at minimumweight.... The talent pool there is about as large as the SHW. Even in Mexico and Asia they struggle to make guys that small.

The guy was defending championship titles against guys with records of 6-0-0, 25-19, 7-3 and more. Such was the lack of talent. That may be boxrec warrior but the guy is lauded as an ATG, can you imagine if Floyd, Ward, Donaire, JMM next title defense was a guy of similar record? lol.

 

And more to the point, Lopez had options. He could have made 108lbs easy. He waited too long to move.

 

JMM for me.