Danny "Little Red" Lopez fought his last succesful title defense against the relatively unheralded Mexican warrior Mike Ayala. Does anybody remember the total number of knock downs in that fight?
From Boxrec: time: 1:09 | referee: Carlos Padilla 135-132 | judge: Lew Eskin 135-129 | judge: Lou Tabat 131-134 ~ ~ WBC featherweight title ~ 1979 Fight of the Year - Ring Magazine Ayala took a knee in both the 7th and 11th rounds.
FYI. Don't know if you already know this but Mike Ayala is the older brother of Tony Ayala Jr. Jr. Middleweight contender.
If memory serves me at all, I'd have to go with Padilla's score. That fight was a barn burner. Wasn't it also in the running for fight of the decade?
What a great fight. It was on CBS and the whole country could see it on a Saturday afternoon. Mike Ayala was American from San Antonio not Mexican
................One of my very favorite fights. Spectacular action. I puzzled at why Ayala would plant himself along the ropes for extended periods the way he did, however. Sure he slipped a lot of shots, but a lot of punches got through and weakened him unnecessarily I thought. It wasn't as if Lopez forced him there either. Ayala very willingly went to the ropes. Not the guy to try the Rope-A-Dope against.
Ayala admitted he was high during the bout, that might be why he went to the ropes against such a dangerous puncher in Danny Lopez.
This is the first I've heard of this business of Ayala being high. Stupid move on his part if it's true. Lopez was a very dangerous man with an unreal KO percentage. Getting high before facing him just seems seriously stupid!
Ayala could slip punches as well as anyone I ever saw. But Lopez was deadly puncher and very accurate.
Got this fight on DVD. Yeah totally agree shachezfan. Ive watched probably 10 times now and it was great action and even though Ayala was the smaller guy he just kept throwing and throwing but in the end Lopez wore him down. Great Fight.