This content is protected This guy, though largely forgotten, was a quality champion. He held the WBC Bantamweight title for almost three years. In the link above, he easily outboxes future HOFer Daniel Zaragoza to garner the title. He also beat Albert Davila (twice) and Wilfredo Vasquez.
One of the sport's great natural defensive stylists and punch slippers, especially with his back to the ropes. It speaks volumes really, the manner in which he schooled the younger, superior version of Zaragoza in comparison to the protracted struggle that the peaking Morales had with the fossilized one. On top of beating Davila, Vasquez and Avelar, he was outboxing the very formidable Perez until weight-draining related stamina problems caught up with him. He should've moved up from bantam even before losing to Perez, but remaining there after a near two year layoff was career suicide and partially responsible for the career ending loss to Gaby Canizales. Lora vs Orlando Canizales would've been a fecking awesome fight.
I’ve been watching a bunch of Lora lately. Smooth, crafty guy with cat-like reflexes, excellent lateral movement, and plenty of showmanship. I really like his style. Something was missing though imo, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
His second fight with Davila had a good undercard, with Julio Cesar Chavez beating Yogi Buchanan and Wilfredo Vasquez fighting Jibaro Perez. Lora was caught with a white powder in a bag that was being added to his water; it was confiscated between rounds. I don't recall what it turned out to be. I haven't seen that fight since it happened but I remember Lora using his elbows very effectively, sliding them in very smoothly. But that could be either my memory or my pro Davila bias playing tricks on me.