Ricardo Lopez. I remember there being some debate during his time between those who felt he was nothing short of Boxing perfection & the camp which felt he lacked the competition to prove deserving of a top pound-for-pound position or lasting legacy. How do you fall on this one?
Best fighter I have seen in my lifetime. Truly a great fighter. Real shame the media and network executives were so enamored with heavyweights. He may have been more popular fighting in the 60"s and 70"s.
Should have fought Carbajal or Gonzalez around 1993 or 1994 - hell, even if he’d fought them later (I realise Carbajal and Gonzalez were fighting each other around that time) it would have been good. Still feels like a missed opportunity.
One of my favourites too. He was brilliant when he travelled to Japan to hammer the dangerous Ohashi for the title. So cool, punched with perfection and power. Took boxing almost to an artform. Too good for his own good. I agree he should have moved up earlier.
I always thought if I could pick any fighters style to imitate it'd be Ricardo Lopez's. The descriptions of him here are spot on,,,Brilliant, Boxing perfection are terms I wholeheartedly endorse and as Zadfrak said, he may be the best .
I have the boxed set of his career, I watch him often still, and have uploaded many of his fights to my YT channel. But. Overrated as all hell on this forum. I often wonder why but the best I can do is maybe it's because he was on American TV and they used to really talk him up on American tv and men of a certain age from that country get twisted. But i'm not really sure I believe that. He does look pretty. But in the end, he was not a good infighter, who struggled when he could not control his opponent, looked genuinely disturbed by the only serious cut he suffered in his career, and absolutely towered over most of his opposition. He also met one outstanding fighter in his entire career, genuinely outstanding, and that was Rosendo Alvarez. In the first fight, Lopez got dropped in the second - Rosendo had a point taken away under the WBC utter bull**** "accidental headbutt" rule. In other words, Alvarez is winning that fight if WBC aren't raving idiots. Also, Ricardo's corner stopped working the cut. They/he didn't want to fight on. At least two ringside reporters had it for Alvarez desspite the bum rule. The second fight was also desperately close, but Lopez won it, which is fair, but has that A-side inevitable feeling, too. The two fights, between them, leave me with a perception that Alvarez was better at boxing than Lopez. He did have a stylistic advantage but so did anyone who could force him to do more inside. I'm not sure who the second best fighter Lopez beat would be. Alex Sanchez I suppose, who was made to look a child by Ivan Calderon five years later. I would pick Calderon to beat Lopez. Our cat contributed this, thought I would leave it in: YT666666666666000000000000000000000000067- ]###########################################
Beautiful fighter. I never fully understood those trying to diminish him. Great fighter, at times sublime. This is still in my top 5 favorite KO's off all time. This content is protected
Definitely a great fighter in the skills aspect and it’s hard to argue with 51-0-1 11 years as champ, that many defenses. But, yes, his competition wasn’t great but he gets style points a lot of other long reigning under the radar champs don’t get because he was obviously brilliant.
Don't forget--the guy was an undefeated amatuer as well. And lasted a long time in a division where guys are washed up at 28 or once their reflexes diminish just a little bit. They sure sink fast at the lighter weights