At 135 or 140? In this case, I think it makes a real difference. At 135, I think Lopez gets caught and taken down. At 140, I think he outboxes and then stops Rosario late.
I like Lopez at Lightweight to win, at Jr. welter I don't like either guy enough to say with certainty. If forced to chose I would take Lopez at both weights. I like Lopez better against punchers, than I do against boxer types like Mitchell and Molina. But I am admittedly a major Lopez fan (and respecter of Rosario), and while I am trying not to allow that bias to creep into this...it may already be to late. Lopez is alongside of Arguello, Sanchez & Azumah as my favorite non PHILLY Phighters. I think he is sorely underrated. Lopez 9-6 in rds, for my pick!
Lopez would prove himself to be too smart for Rosario and either decision him or score a late tko over Edwin.
Lopez wasn't much of a thinker in the ring imo, he was meat and potatoes.A good workhorse boxer-puncher ,but unimaginative in the extreme.It was that lack of ring-generalship that sealed his doom against Mitchell and Thobela and made the fights with a slowing down Rocky Lockridge tougher than need be. Then again Rosario wasn't too much of a ring-general either and ended up being less than the sum of the parts.Even if he underwhelms he should still have more than enough firepower and speed to put Tony away. Not really worth mentioning either above 135 imo, though with Rosario being more or less shot there he'd likely get mangled.
Yeah, personally I think Lopez is being overrated as Hell here. He was a tough guy, but Bramble was tougher and better than Lopez. What good did it do him? I think Chapo would have smoked Lopez within 4. His power was truly frightening.
I go with this somewhat. I don't see Lopez completely outboxing him, but Rosario looking washed up. The Loreto Garza fight in Sacramento in 1992 was devastating. He hit Garza right off with a right and Loreto did not recover. Stopped him in 3 I think, Then in the first defense he loses in one round.
Rosario impressed me a couple of times......against Howard Davis Jr for example when he showed amazing speed against a extremely fast opponent..... I need to watch Lopez more times.....but from what I remember of him against Lockridge, nah, he wasn´t as good as Rosario......
I think Rosario KO's Lopez early at lightweight...At 140 it would be a toss up considering where Rosario was at careerwise at that point...would have to lean towards Lopez I guess. Rosario carried serious power at lightweight.
