We all know this guy was a beautiful fighter. He could do it all- box, fight inside, come forward or back off; all at a world class level. He had a wide variety of punches that are very effective and was a ruthless finisher. That does not seem to be in dispute, from what I can see. What is in dispute is his resume. Its rare for people to be that small to make minimumweight and lightflyweight, of course there will be few world class boxers there. Unfortuantly my knowlade of those weightclasses is very limited. I wanted to get a serious discussion going as to how good his level of competition in general was. Was there many missed chances? Did he only take on occasional deserving fighters or did he constantly fight a top 10 contender. Its hard for me to find out this information, so I was hoping some of the older fight fans could provide some insight. I know how good Alvarez was (to a degree) but what of his other accomplishments. I'm off to see how many current, past and future champs he beat. That would be a good starting point. Thanks a lot
When did he prove this in-fighting ability you speak of? His legacy would've been enhanced had the fights with Carbajal and/or Gonzalez came off at 108, as they'd have easily been the best men he faced. As for his actual competition: you can't say he ducked anyone at Straw (who was there to duck?), faced most of his top contenders, and almost always came away with the victory in dominant fashion. It's not really about who he did or didn't face, but rather that the talent pool in the division was and always has been almost completely dire, so he was never really tested until Alvarez. By that point he was clearly starting to slip, although still an excellent fighter. Given the closeness of those bouts and the vulnerabilities he showed (despite being past his best), I can't comfortably favor him as many others do against the likes of Chang, Gushiken, etc. In fact I'd outright favor Chang over him.
Ok infighting skills is a bit of a exageration, he had a terrific uppercut but thats about it. I suppose you would say he used his footwork to get out of those situations except when it benefited him.
Ok fair enough, he had a excellent uppercut and bodypunches which could be used whenever he was inside but he used his footwork to get out. Compared to smothering inside fighters like Hopkins (sometimes) and Ward, no he could not fight inside.
The division was very weak and the vast majority of champions ordinary fighters.Contenders mostly mediocre to downright inept. I don't think there was any real avoidance going on between fighters and champions, no more than the typical sub-Bantam politics going on.unification fights can be hard to come by for a variety of reasons. Lopez strengths are skillset based, good mentality and training habits( leading to top notch longevity and dominance).Not having been proven against a myriad of quality fighters.OF course hes hardly alone in that regarding the better fighters at these weights, especially in recent decades with the addition of minimum, light fly and superfly.imo the junior weightclasses have damaged the Flyweights and Bantams more than most. Alvarez was definitely the best fighter he faced, though he was a widely inconsistent underachiever, lacking in dedication who at his best was only a notch or two better than someone like Hatton imo.Good solid, yet limited fighter.You can counter that with Lopez being past his best and the fact he showed real grit in both fights, when it may have been easier to fold ie Tszyu against hatton.Rosendo was hardly an ideal style for an old boxer-puncher who likes things on the outside to be facing. Names like Ohashi, Grigsby, Sorjaturong will come up as the better fighters he fought and probably rightfully so.I never rated any of them as more than average, and feel their importance is more in showing Lopez could consistently dispose of this level of opposition with relative ease, than in being singularly notable wins.Other great talents like Watanabe(or indeed very good fighters from any weightclass) would sometimes turn in sub-par performances against this level of opp,or indeed eventually lose once they started to slip for whatever reason, but Lopez never did.
Thanks a lot guys great anaylsis. Its just a shame the talent pool was so deep, led to much of his fights being so one sides. On another hand I just started watching a former champ called Orlando Canizales. While his style was different he had some similair attributes to Lopez and was a lighter weight. What was his resume like? Many big names there? Thanks
canizales is similar. his average challenger was a couple notches above while still being relatively unspectacular, but he wasn't as consistent.
Yeah, agreed, his resume isn't anythig special in the slightest. I can't help but favour him in some fantasy match-ups though. Iwas discussing the Gushiken one awhile back and i settled on Lopez, but i made a provision for the fact that if anybody's likely to rush his opponent (and make life uncomfortable for him), it would be Gushiken. From wht i've seen though, being rushed is more detrimental to Gushiken's win/loss ratio than it is for Lopez. Evidence supports that. I'd favour Chang over Lopez, very strong,and very very good.
