If you watch boxing long enough you'll inevitably notice the pattern of The Unheralded Mexican. Who is this fighter? He is an unknown, unrated, written off, teak tough son of mehico who is ready to go to war with the sparking A side fighter. His upset win will be a shock to everyone but him and his team. Many prospects and champions alike have fallen to this guy in the past few years, and many more have had their shine knocked off. Let's discuss notable fights of The Unheralded Mexican. Mauricio Lara vs. Josh Warrington - Lara was a 12-1 underdog, I'm not sure many of even the most hardcore knew his name before the fight was announced. Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua - Ruiz was a 25-1 underdog or something absurd. American technically, but you get the point. The most that had really been said about him was a few posters here saying "he's fast but fat" Isaac Cruiz vs Tank Davis - Cruz had taken a faded Francisco Vargas the distance, but had close to no profile in the boxing world. He came in as a late replacement and went to war with one of the biggest names in the sport. Many thought it was a draw at worst for Cruz.
This content is protected Lopez was 36-3-1 going into that fight with a terribly padded record After scoring that 51 second blowout upset win over WBO champ Loughran he went on to stop Yori Boy Campas, beat Aaron Davis on points, fought a draw against WBA champ Ike Quartey who he dropped x 2, and lost a controversial decision to WBA champ James Page who he also dropped twice and hurt multiple times all during the next two years Poor Loughran got really unlucky in that one. No way he could've known how good Lopez was or how much thunder he had in his gloves and iron in his mandible section or rather his entire head. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected Yori Boy Campas: Best I've Faced BEST JAB Jose Luis Lopez: Because I felt it, he pressured me with the jab, he had a lot of movement. He won, he was a good boxer, aggressive, a counterpuncher, he did a lot of things that I didn’t have the skills to beat. That’s why he won. I still remember feeling his punchers. BEST DEFENSE Oscar De La Hoya: He was loose, he had good movement and he could block punches. With Lopez, he didn’t have the defense but you couldn’t hurt him, the shape he was in. BEST CHIN Raul Marquez: He could take a lot of punches and it didn’t faze him. FASTEST HANDS De La Hoya: He was more rapid than anybody. FASTEST FEET Daniel Santos: Because all he did was run [laughs]. He was here, he was there, he was like a rabbit. SMARTEST Felix Trinidad: Very intelligent in the ring. He made all the moves. I knocked him down [in the second round], Trinidad thought about it and changed his tactics. STRONGEST Lopez: He could take the punches and he kept pressuring. His punches were harder than any other punches I took from anybody else to this day. BEST PUNCHER Lopez: He has the experience, he had everything over me at that time. De La Hoya has no punch. BEST SKILLS Lopez: He was a complete fighter all around, not only power, he had skills. Trinidad’s father took care of him, De La Hoya because he’s American, he had people watching over him but Lopez was left to the wolves, his diet, drugs all this stuff destroyed this man’s career. BEST OVERALL Lopez: Pressure-wise, the best, taking punches, they didn’t faze him, the hardest I’ve ever been hit was by Lopez. How come De La Hoya refused to fight Lopez? Because Lopez was the best.
Isidro Garcia. Won the WBO flyweight belt in 1999 vs Jose Lopez. Alejandro Montiel was originally scheduled to fight Lopez for the vacant crown, but withdrew a few hours before the fight. Garcia happened to be in attendance as a spectator and was asked to step in while sitting at ringside eating a doughnut. Garcia fought and won the title using borrowed trunks, protective cup and mouthpiece. And no,I didnt make that up.
Lopez's career was frustrating to watch. Who knows what he could have accomplished if his main mission in live had not been smoking pot and surfing.
Couple of contrasting examples: Valuenzela - only beaten Robbie Davies Jr but was a complete no namer (outside of Mexican boxing circles). Julio Cesar Martinez - knocked TF out of Edwards, has gone on to have a decent run since. If Chocolatito is at all off pace, he could get stopped by JCM on Sat.
Ive said this before but Victor Rabanales is one of the guys I think went from journeyman to World champion Before Lara Warrington and Jose Luis Lopez-Laughran, there was Jorge Vaca-Lloyd Honeyghan. Honeyghan did get some good revenge in the rematch, but it definitely put the brakes on the Honeyghan train.
I knew beforehand that Isaac Cruz would be a tough test for Tank, far tougher than Rolly. In time, this will age to become a very solid win for Tank.
Hard to believe but the great Salvador Sanchez was considered unknown and unheralded when he beat Danny Red Lopez for the title. Funnily enough, a complete unknown, unheralded little guy from Ghana named Azumah Nelson gave Sanchez the fight of his life in what turned out to be Sanchez final fight. I often wonder how great Sanchez could have been... He was only 23 when he was killed in a car crash but had already taken the undefeated records of two Hall of Famers in Nelson and Wilfredo Gómez.
Is there regarding Marcos Geraldo? he has a lot of losses in his record against random boxers that I cannot recognize, but he put up a good performance against Sugar Ray Leonard. This content is protected
Jovanni Straffon; came over to the UK on short notice and stopped James Tennyson inside a round. Was a 7/1 underdog. This content is protected
