I'm feeling the same way. Hopefully he can correct his stamina issues which I think was a key contributor to why his technique went to sheit.
Having been there live last night, I can honestly say that I do not like Lopez's chances against Gamboa. Or Caballero, for that matter. There were a lot of people (and more than the dozen obviously Tanzanian dudes running around with blue and green flags ) who stormed out in disgust...the overwhelming opinion of the audience was that Mtagwa was outright robbed. I feel that's a bit excessive (I think Kevin Morgan's score, which has JuanMa barely nicking it having invested the knockdown is probably just about right, and 116-111 too wide to swallow), but Mtagwa did show a great deal of heart and determination and you can't take that away from him - in fact, I think he showed more than Lopez when you take into consideration that he was the underdog and how flush and often he got hit early. That's the story of the fight that people seem to be overlooking. JuanMa didn't exactly show world-class "chin and heart" as people say - he was badly hurt many times (while Rogers was staggered/rocked many times - there's a difference) and he basically pulled a DLH (ie: Trinidad) combined with some Ruiz in the 12th...not sure if it was audible on the PPV broadcast but many, including the Puerto Ricans, began to boo him. So his punch recovery and his will to face the music rather than use tactics like running and clinching for three minutes straight were actually exposed - what was impressive is his mental toughness and committment to winning. That intangible deserves a nod. But if you're going to talk about "chin and heart" it's absurd to praise Lopez while ignoring Mtagwa, who showed both in greater measure. I wonder if Mtagwa will also be in a sloppy top-3 FOTY candidate in 2010, to keep his streak running to three consecutive years? :think
Where the hell did this come from :nut. I suggest you start knowing the posters beofre you adress them and stop profiling peoples opinion based on nationality. You are free to check my posts, check around the date the Bute-Andrade fight happened and you will see clear as day that I've never called Bute (nor do I think he's ) a coward. Besides, the is a lot of controversy on how much time he needed to get up, but like I said, I have never called Bute a coward or inferred it in any way.
Lopez has to work on his jab and head movement. He has to learn to pick his spots. He just can't outwork everyone. He fought a really stupid fight.