Fight of the Week #3: Little Red Doubleheader (vs. Ayala and Chacon)

Chacon, 23-1 (21 kos) v Lopez, 23-0 (22 kos), 1974

Well, that was brutal!

Chacon's only defeat at that point was to Ruben Olivares. Lopez was clearly confident in his power, perhaps overconfident, but understandably so as he'd barely needed the judges up to that point. He went after Chacon from the opening bell, clearly confident he could secure the knockout.

Danny was having success early but as the fight wore on, as people have already said, he was open to repeated right hands from Chacon and they seemed to have more and more of an effect. But they battled pretty evenly through the first 7 rounds or so.

The stoppage when it came was shocking, a bit like Castillo-Corrales, because both men had been battling without pause and barely taking a backwards step (although Lopez was wobbled a couple of times) and then suddenly Lopez, like Corrales, folded. Unlike Corrales, he couldn't mount a comeback and practically turned his back to Chacon during the follow up onslaught, giving referee (and resident forum poster ) John Thomas no choice.

Some of the slugging, from round 3 onwards, made me wince.

Will be taking a break before watching Lopez-Ayala, hopefully on Thursday night.

 

What a big match when it was signed---Chacon and Little Red. Geez, we just don't see a whole lot of matches like this. The loser is going to leave a lot of himself in the ring. The winner could suffer permanent damage & start that downward spiral. Man, did that Lopez grit his teeth in there and continue to be dangerous himself. It must have been frustrating to opponents landing clean like that and here the guy comes back with his own missiles.

I don't know if I've ever seen a top fighter or champion get hit with right hands like Indian Red. Everyone he fought landed clean right hands. He makes Saad Muhammad and Arturo Gatti look superior defensively. At least as far as right hands go. For some reason Lopez seemed to handle left hooks better. Perhaps it was something with his eye and depth perception or whatever, but he just could not see right hands coming. And he'd get nailed on the button. And then get up and be very dangerous himself.

Just think of other guys through the years that could have lasted if they were the guy constantly bombarded by right hands in every fight. Hell, almost every round. The fact he lasted as long as he did was truly incredible.

And then after the Chacon beating, he takes on Sal Sanchez. How many fighters since are signing those contracts and taking those kinds of risks?

 

Good post! The loser of this fight (in this case Danny) could see the end of future aspirations. To me there is a lot at risk for both of them in this fight. Bobby wants another shot at the belt and Reds wants to secure one.

To me it is a testament to Reds that he did not allow this to derail him in anyway.

 

I think Danny would have avenged the loss to Bobby. Lopez was a better fighter after taking the crown from Kotey and his confidence was boosted immeasurably IMO. I could foresee a typical Battle Royale between the two, with Danny going down in the early going only to come back and nail Chacon for keeps in the 12th or 13th.

 

Danny was Mr. Excitement. Nobody really thought Sanchez was much of a risk to him going in, he was essentially unknown, but it was indeed very admirable ( and expected) back then to take risks in your career, that was just part of the game.

 

I’m sure most of you have seen this, but if not....

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Not much feedback this week? I think we need controversy and/or scorecards to get this off the ground.

Ayala vs Little Red
No feeling out for these 2. By the end of 1 Lopez has Ayala in his corner and us just telegraphing the jab and hooks, Ayala gets out and lands a punch the crowd roars.

Round 2 looked like a round of the year type round , but did slow down the second half. Glad I am just watching and not scoring...close

Lopez picks up where 1 ended but in the opposite corner. Ayala counters and Backs Red to the opposite corner teeing off on him. Red slips out and turns Ayala to the corner and tees off again. Ayala counters strong driving Lopez back... good action packed opening!

 

Round 3 Ayala raises his fist getting the crowd pumped.

But right back to the corner where Lopez is more patient or tentative due to the countering of Ayala in round 2. Ayala seems content to rest in the corner, and counter when he gets an opening. Lopez nice jab, Ayala fights his way out and across the ring Lopez goes to work on Ayala again. Again he seems content there till Lopez lands big. Then he turns into a different fighter driving Lopez back...I see a lot of Eric Morales in Ayala (although I think Morales is better), he fights different when hurt or getting caught cleanly. Lopez round for me although Ayala has his moments.

Not scoring this fight but my sense is Red is dictating the terms of engagement and likely up 2-1

 

Round 4 a pattern seems established so far.

Ayala tries to box in the middle of the ring but Lopez pressures him to his corner. Telegraphs the jab, not scoring big, but repeatedly landing. Ayala counters and engages hard driving Red back to the ropes. Ayala tries to reset and Lopez walks him back to the other corner, again landing jabs at Will mixed in with some digs to the body. Ayala comes on strong driving Danny back and catches him flush, flurrying good. Red resets and drives Ayala back as the round ends.

 

Round 5 Ayala does better at not getting trapped this round and lands several nice jabs and works the body good.

Lopez stalks him to the corner but rather than starying pinned there Ayala spins and counters, resets before Lopez patiently walks him across the ring to the corner. Again Ayala counters out rather than settling in. The last minute Red is more successful at keeping him there, but Ayala still lands several of his own backing Red to the ropes...good action but still seems like Red is patiently fighting his fight, and controlling the fight.

 

Round 6

More of the same, not meant in a bad way. Red stalks him patiently to the corner and tees off, Ayala counters out and resets.

To me Lopez is controlling the action without saying he is dominating. Not sure if I would give Ayala more than round 2 (and that was close), so Lopez might have a wide lead, but Ayala has some moments. He just seems to be absorbing 30 punches for every 15 he lands. He is doing a decent job off of the ropes and corner but spending way to much time there allowing Red to conserve energy. I would like to see him slip and move a little more but that probably isn’t his style or very easy to accomplish against Red.

Edit: what do I know? 2 of the announcers have Ayala ahead at the start of round 7? I am not sitting down and scoring this rather just taking it in...but I didn’t think I was that far off? Oh well either the announcers or me don’t know what we are watching lol.

 

Round 7 I actually thought Ayala was doing better until he went down. Fortunately he only had to hold on for 15 seconds to get a breather.

Round 8 is round of the year type of stuff, and while I am not scoring this it seems Mikey takes it and rebounds nicely.