Marvin Johnson vs Yaqui Lopez

It's all relative though...…..I mean, you can't see Yaqui beating Mate Parlov's azz?

 

Who is the best fighter Lopex beat ? Mike Rossman ? Johnson gave Saad even tougher fights than Lopez, KO'ed Galindez, Parlov and Stewart, beat Eddie and Johnny Davis ... he was a class above Lopez who was known for his losses.

 

He fought a better version of Galindez then Johnson did. And he fought him to a standstill. Galindez was on his last legs when he lost to Johnson.

He had Saad on the verge of being stopped.

Johnson wasn't nearly as resilent as Saad. If he traps Johnson like that, Johnson is gone.

Anyway, I am basing my pick based on how their attributes mix, not on how they did against common opponents.

Prime Lopez was tough ad nails, and if he doesn't get stopped on cuts, he withstands Johnson, who often gasses. Lopez had the much better stina of the two and can pounce late.

 

I assume 15 rounds, or 12 in a modern setting. I'd lean toward Lopez.

 

Galindez was not on his last legs. He had just thrashed Rossman to regain a title he lost due to poor training and weight loss, his only loss in nine years. Johnson didn’t just beat him but knocked him out in the 11th, showing terrific late round power for a guy that gasses. Losing to two possibly all time top ten guys like A prime Saad and Mustafa is no knock. Lopez was a courageous warrior but was east to hit, easy to cut, was not a big hitter and lost to every top fighter he ever fought. Johnson fought and defeated much better men.

 

Yaqui Lopez was not without his share of wins. Besides the aforementioned Rossman, he beat Tony Mundine, Jesse Burnett, Mike Quarry, Andy Kendall and Bash Ali. And Lopez did fight a far better version of Galindez than Johnson did. Regardless, it would have been a great matchup with the fans the real winner.

 

Styles make fights.

Yaqui had one of the most educated left hands I’ve ever seen — often wondered if he was a converted southpaw — but his right wasn’t quite as effective. He had power to hurt but not often stop upper level opponents.

Johnson had a powerful left hand and was a true southpaw who fought from that side. His right jab wasn’t a great weapon but he used it to great effect to set up the left. Also good with uppercuts.

I’d need to dig deeper into how Lopez did with lefties, especially ones with power. I could see him boxing to an early lead but having trouble getting the jab going — it’s often hard to use that weapon well vs. southpaws — and ending up running himself into Marvin’s big left at some point. And if he did, I think Marvin either gets him out of there or turns the tide and takes over from that point.

 

Of course, timing is everything. I'm not necessarily saying Lopez wasn't good enough to be a champion in his own right at some point. He fought some fine titlists in Conteh, Galindez and Saad Muhammad and acquited himself well. Had he met weaker champions, he could have taken the title.

Problem was, there weren't many weak champs in that era. And Johnson was good - not quite as good as the Muhammads and Spinks, but good enough to win the title. He deserves credit for that.

 

Well sure he does, he swam in deep waters. But he also got his head handed to him at the championship level as often as not, making a grand total of one successful defense over the course of his three title reigns. That, given with the frankly better opposition Lopez fought and how he acquitted himself against those opponents, leads me at least to believe Lopez had more than a 50-50 shot at Johnson, whose game, exciting as it was, was full of holes.

 

I think it's a 50-50 fight which is why this one is such a great matchup. I'm edging towards Johnson myself but not massively.

 

Johnson, for no reason I can really explain. Just a feeling.

It's really surprising that this fight never actually happened.