Was thinking about this one earlier today and it occurred to me that I've never seen Villasana even slowed down by a punch, whether it was against a great like Nelson or knockout artists like Jaime Garza and Paul Hodkinson. Talk about a granite chin. Certainly one of the best ever at featherweight, if not any weight. This content is protected Anyway, what do you make of Marcos' chances here?
What a fight. Villasana chin was pretty much indestructable, he did have some problems with cuts though. He took on proven punchers in Esparragoza, Nelson (twice), Garza, Hodkinson (twice), Lenny Valdez (destroyed an undefeated Stevie Cruz in a round) and was the only one to go the distance with a peak Jeff Fenech at featherweight. Would be interesting to see Lopez hitting Villasana repeated with his big right hand round after round without scoring a knockdown. Still the Lopez that travelled to Africa to punish the durable David Kotey over non-stop 15 rounds and his war with Mike Ayala shows Danny´s stamina. Not too sure but I´d go with Danny Lopez on points after 15 pulsating rounds.
No doubt! Lopez has one of the worst defenses of any World champion and is always super vulnerable in the early rounds. Average punchers like Juan Malvarez and Kenji Endo had Lopez down early so Villasana could probably do the same. Problem is keeping Lopez down.
Good thread, and I agree that Villasana's chin was stupid good. Legendary, even. That, coupled with his swarming style and good if not great power and great conditioning would make it a very rough night for Lopez. Lopez could usually bail himself out with that immense power, but a good chin usually beats a good punch, and Lopez is too straight up to not get tagged often and his straight shots thrown best from a distance would be greatly nullified by virtue of him being afflicted with having an indestructible swarmer glued to his chest. Villasana by late stoppage on cuts or well-earned decision.
