Two tough talented and determined Value for money favorites and Former Lt Heavy contenders who were kept off the top spot by great champions in great 14 round fights, both being Ring magazine Fights of the year, to Bob Foster and Saad Muhammed respectively, both in fact were ko'd by the type of Punches that they had taken successfully earlier...but when added to the fatigue generated by their great efforts it was a glorious step too far... It should be remembered that in Fosters two prior fights he had never looked more deadly in crushing Rondon and Quarry...so going 14 rounds and trying to pressure Bob after the 10th was an amazing display, it was only later after Bob was treated like a yoyo by Ali that he started to delcine, Likewise Alvaro's great challenge to Saad will stay in the memory particularly when Alvaro cut loose and had Saad a few punches away from the ref's intervention.. Both lost on points to the Superb John Conteh, Alvaro Ko'd Mike Rossman before Mike got to upset the Galindez..and gave other notables of his era a very Torrid Time, Finnegan beat guys like Valensek, Roger Rouse, Hal TNT Carroll and Mike Quarry, Oh Yes, Chris also happened to be the 1968 Olympic Middleweight Gold Medalist.. Finnegan was only ever ko'd by Bob, but did lose a few on Cuts..Alvaro was stopped later in his career but was eroded from his litany of wars So two Talented, Iron Chinned 15 round Warriors Chris Finnegan or Alvaro Yaqui Lopez
I got Yaqui in a hard-fought decision. One of the most educated left hands you'll ever see, and just a warrior.
Alvaro Yaqui Lopez is one of my all time faves. Nobody fought with more heart than he did. When considering his matches against Conteh and Galindez, the results were heavily disputed in those days. I thought he may have won both fights but I'm not a ring judge. Finnegan had a problem in that he got cut quite a bit. True, he had endurance and could last all 15 rounds. He also had the guts and heart to stand up to a beating. But overall, Lopez has the edge - a better record, more ring skill, and was the better boxer. A win via decision.
Well Conteh fought Lopez one handed and basically boxed his head off. There was no disputing the decision at all.
Finnegan was great,he use to say,shag your women & drink your beer.I will never forget the Bob Foster fight.Got to go with Finnegan,but i'm biased on this one.
