Myung-Woo Yuh vs Ricardo Lopez

Greg hasn't seen all that much of Yuh but I hooked him up with the Oh Kon Son fight. He should watch that, not to sway his opinion regarding this particular match-up, but it was a stupendous showing I felt. I think when he says these two fighters posed problems for Yuh, that is an overstatement. An exaggeration. They weren't all that competitive, really. I don't know what he learned that we didn't already know though, Yuh is a not a wizard in an outside altercation, he was always going to have to close distance if he planned on out-hustling a Ricardo Lopez.

 

Just in general. Just chucked it out there. Would have been nice to see him in with some comp of a better level.

I have watched all that disk and the two Gamez fights. Still got to watch the Inoki fights.

The Son fight is a good showing but the guy isnt very good, he is strong and brave. That is it really. I was impressed though.

I'm just saying these relative no hopers found a modicum of sucess using the tactics that Lopez favours, and that does not bode well for Yuh if them guys can do it.

 

As long as we have some perspective, and also acknowledge that the majority of the fighters Lopez was rattling his combination's on were also low level fighters, and perhaps not any more impressive than the Son's and Gamez's of the Boxing world. Some fighters just started slow, and some fighters had more trouble with low level competition than others. I watched Jeff Chandler be given hell for two rounds against Johnny Carter. Michael Spinks would often lose rounds against the likes of McDonald and Sears. Their class would inevitably show through more often than not.

I tend to give Yuh a free pass regarding the manner in which he won a lot of his fights. He was clearly a far superior fighter to most if not all of them, but as you say, he wasn't infallible and could lose rounds and win close decisions against some fighters whereas Lopez really didn't experience that. I attribute this to the difference in styles of the two men. Yuh was a volume puncher, he didn't really carry much pop and had to go the 15 round distance a lot of the time. Not because he wasn't landing with regularity, but because his opponents weren't going to get knocked unconscious by any single shot. Compare this to Lopez, who was a precise, sharp puncher who hit very hard for his weight, then the differences are understandable.

Yuh would land a straight right or a left hook to the head and perhaps the opponent would be thinking, "I'll have some more of that soft stuff please" and come forward even harder, missing, as Yuh would outmaneuver and often counter them silly. Lopez would land a right uppercut and if the opponent was still standing, they'd most likely be very cautious from that point onwards and they'd be a knockout waiting to happen.

 

Agreed. Although I think Alvarez is better than anyone Yuh faced.

Agreed.

At times the judges gave him a free pass. But to be fair keeping his consistency against lesser opponents is remarkable

Agreed

 

He had his fair share of troubles with Alvarez that have already been well documented, but he dealt with a green Saman Sorjaturong in typically efficient fashion who you could perhaps argue was better and more accomplished than anyone on Yuh's resume. He probably wasn't the fighter who stopped Gonzalez and made all of those title defenses when he fought Lopez, though.

I've not yet watched a Myung Woo Yuh fight that I didn't think he won.

 

Just a wee snipe at you, trying to wind you up.

I thought the Gamez fight could have went either way.

 

It was close...the rematch was a masterclass. Yuh boxed his ears off. Did Yuh suddenly transform over night and become "Montreal Yuh"? Probably not, it was most likely mental as well as physical. His mind was now on the job, he now knew he had a serious opponent in front of him.

 

Definitely.

 

Sorjaturong made a lot of defences because he was fighting thoroughly sub-par opposition, it was only his excellent right hand power that made him a legit top ten contender really.

Flyweight and below really started to enter a bad period after the early-nineties.You could pick out the really good fighters on one hand from say 95 through to 2010.

 

As a guy who grew up in Korea watching Chang and Yuh winning, defending and losing the titles and more, Chang was like fire and You was like ice. Chang's few years older than me and grew up in the **** poor area not too far from where I lived. He sorta embodies the temperament of his people - not sophisticated but passionate - like unstoppable fire. When he is on, he is really on and burns everything and there's no stopping almost to a point of self-destruction.

Meanwhile, Yuh was civilized, bright, calm, composed and hardworking. There's not much surprise or unexpected result in Yuh's matches. He came on, did his thing and won (usually convincingly). He usually executes his game plan beautifully and his downpour punches were superb. Personally, I think Yuh was a better boxer but it surely was more interesting to watch Chang's matches. Damn. Some of Chang's matches were insane. Good time.

WSC

 

Chang seems to get very underrated skill-wise due to the way he fought. He was one of boxing's naturals. A lot of his abilities seemed innate, but if you really watch you'll see a lot of top notch technique on display, particularly in his slipping/countering skills. His radar, both offensively and defensively, was superb.

 

Great insights. :good Thanks.

 

Bump
Yuh lasts the distance and gives a gutsy effort but it won't be enough against Lopez, who I think could have outboxed him to a convincing decision win.

 

I'd favor Lopez, but barely. There's something to be said that Alvarez was his best opponent, and he didn't look like the unstoppable machine he did against lesser opponents. Yuh was better than Alvarez.

I think it would be a very close fight to be honest. Yuh would push Lopez to the brink.

 

Either could take this by close decision. I consider Yuh as definitely better than Alvarez, and look at the big trouble Lopez had there. Yuh would try pressure and parry him like he did Olivo, but Lopez was also a higher class than Olivo and had more to his arsenal, like his right hand and overall power, which Yuh would have to be cautious of. Neither would get a KO here. Pick em fight imo.