This is a tough one. Lopez methodical style and textbook punching would quickly become predictable to Winstone, who would probably win the bulk of every round on the points front with his superior boxing and make a fool of Danny at times, but would likely be unable to hurt Lopez much. However Lopez has enough steady pressure momentum and workrate allied to his straight shots that he will eventually get to Winstone, who was textbook boxer-puncher rather than defensive specialist and better at picking off hooks and arcing bodyshots rather than consistently ditching really good straight leads. Just as he got to sanchez, but was unable to dent the chin.Winstone doesn't have that kind of durability though, so the question for me is will he be able to ride out the occasional bombs sufficiently over the latter half to avoid getting drawn into a war.Lopez was a guy who didn't even need to land flush to hurt most fighters.He had glaring flaws, but i think he's a tough fighter to beat over 15 for any textbook box-fighter that can't punch and isn't possessed of genuinely notable durability or air-tight defence. Gimme Winstone more often than not, but i wouldn't bet any money on it.Not unless it was a ten round non-title bout.
I think that's harsh flea.he had a solid defence especially if allowed to dictate the pace.Good glove defence and blocking.Never going to be mentioned among the best, but it was probably a notch better than Sanchez' Saldivar laser guided straight left and his willingness to fight at ring centre made it look worse than it would be against other styles or lesser talents imo.But that's the kind of punch that even the best defensive fighters have a tough time slipping consistently.
I'd take a prime Winstone I think. Saldivar beat the living **** out of him and he still saw it through to the end when he was at his best. I think Danny will get at him, but I expect Howard will suck it up and grit his teeth to finish the fight with a handy 10-5 round advantage, though potentially giving up a couple of points for big Lopez rounds late in the piece.
That is exactly the way I was going to say it, right down to the same round. Winstone had a wonderful jab and I do see him getting out on top fast, but the Lopez jab cannot be discounted. It's slower and I was always questioning it's worth. From TV it always looked more like a point getter, but I recently spoke to a couple of guys who sparred quite a bit with Little Red and when I asked what they thought of the Lopez jab they both looked at me with a bit of shock, but apparently it was more a remembrance of pain. They both told me it was like a pole being pushed into them (actually the other guys said a 2 by 4). So, I see a bout where Danny slowly busts up Winstone in a bit of a battle of jabs, before Lopez lowers the boom and negates Howard's lead on points with a 13th round stoppage
