THE WAR ZONE II: Revisiting Classics, Revisited (Vol. 4 - Álvaro López vs. Michael Albert DePiano)

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Which kind of heat is more dangerous - a volatile and rapidly-consuming napalm blast or a focused slow burn, like a ray of sunlight harnessed through a magnifying glass?

DePiano (who fought under his mother's overtly Jewish maiden name of Rossman, to, if one takes a cynically pragmatic view, ingratiate himself with a more untapped demographic in the upper Atlantic's metropolitan tri-state area than its rather over-saturated - and healthily represented in the ring - Italian-American community) got off to an excellent start early but then, inchmeal, almost imperceptibly, López would commandeer the reins, chipping away upon and ultimately eroding that lead.

They had a common opponent in Californian former world title challenger Michael Wayne Quarry, who lost to López via UD in 1975 and then via MD and sixth round corner retirement against Rossman in the subsequent couple of years. He was, to date, the biggest coup for either man - although López had fought the better competition (and lost) - and he was very much damaged goods, having been annihilated in his challenge of Bob Foster in '72. Both had already tasted defeat, as well: López had avenged his first pair (to Al Bolden & Jesse Burnett), but had since been stopped on cuts by Lonnie Bennett and twice denied in world championship tries, against cerebral British fighter John Conteh and Víctor Galíndez of Argentina. DePiano had also gotten revenge over his first two conquerors (Mike Nixon & Mike Quarry) but then met a man he couldn't lick in crafty veteran Tony Licata. Here tonight, on March 2nd of 1978, would be their chance to parse out single file into a men's and boys' column. With, between them, only 39 amateur bouts, they were learning primarily on the job, as was common in the day, and had exited their cocoons in the mid-70's as very good but still patently imperfect contenders with their primes in bloom and their skills ready to be tested.

DRINKING GAME! Every time you hear the commentators mention that "Yaqui" was a name given to him by the Indians "but he is a Mexican not an Indian", or some variation on that general theme - DO A SHOT! You'll be eating the worm inside ten minutes, Güero :nono. The blow-by-blow man, Don "The Voice of Boxing" Dunphy (who did most of the heavy lifting here, with already-legendary trainer Cus D'Amato primarily there just to lend the proceedings a validating air with his venerated celebirity), gives a mildly inaccurate anecdotal etymology of the nickname, saying that Álvaro "fought in front of a native tribe and was 'adopted' by them". In truth, López's coach Jack Cruz had lied about Yaqui's heritage when he participated in a Californian amateur tourney in a savvy but unscrupulous bid to drum up a following among indigenous peoples in North & Central America.

"He won't have a bright future if he cuts that easily". (meaning López) - probably Dunphy's second most cringe-worthy gaffe, but then in fairness he didn't have a crystal ball...and certainly wasn't alone in considering DePiano the kid that was "supposed" to rule the day, in spite of López's perceived toughness. Nor, for that matter in thinking López's past history of suffering cuts (and DePiano's of inflicting them) were inconsequential.

The "Jewish Bomber" did indeed bust open a gash over Yaqui's right eye in the first round, using the left jab incisively and largely controlling the action with it for the first two, as the Mexican struggled to settle in & find his rhythm...although by the final bell of the second he was figuring out how to press the favorite (as Rossman was presumed to be heading in, at least by the commentators) in spots. The shift in momentum would continue to spread, like an infection, with a nuanced gradualism throughout round three - but López had opened a can of sustained awkward truculence and slathered DePiano with it by the fourth. DePiano was still roping out some nice jabs and throwing spirited left hooks on the liver with a leftward hop whenever an opportunity presented itself - and in fact very nearly stole the fifth in the final half-minute - but López was indomitable, and could put scything blows together in a brutally effective, cumulatively damaging chain.

The sixth was pure carnage, but the Son of Italy (who in point of fact was a lifelong practicing Catholic, but went by Rossman and wore the Star of David on his trunks in order to appropriate himself a built-in fan base...much as López never bothered to go hoarse shouting over the din to disabuse the masses of the notion that he was of the Yaqui tribe, as it helped pack the seats for him) managed to hang in there, and to his credit never went down...although referee Petey Della grew concerned enough to give him a standing eight count shortly before the bell. That concern would become contagious, as nobody was keen to let Mike out for more punishment in the seventh.

DePiano's undoing after his initial success, once López solved the riddle of his jab, was that he really possessed no head movement. If his mitts aren't intercepting to actively pick off shots, and/or his legs don't move to carry him clear - he gets dinged. Sometimes emphatically so, with dramatic neck-stretching motions, in elastic multiple-blow successions. .Once he figured this out, López became a deadly weapon, finding a way to put his punching to its optimal use, getting the most of each punch by synchronizing himself with DePiano's circling rhythms and timing his every shot's impact such that he turned his foe into a double-end bag as can be found in any boxing gym. López was able to do this by moving in a weaving pattern coming forward constantly - exhibiting pretty decent lateral movement for having suffered a shattered ankle bone in his teens, which permanently derailed his original chosen vocation of matador.

Both would challenge world champion Víctor Emilio "El Leopardo de Morón" Galíndez in the ensuing six month span. López, getting first dibs by virtue of having emerged victorious in NYC, would lose his own bid for the WBA light heavyweight title in May. In a pattern for which their own fight was a microcosm and foreshadowing event, DePiano was able to make good on his own secondhand opportunity coming in on López's heels in September, using those sharp hands of his to rend Galíndez's face and stop the champion on cuts...but DePiano's career after this intense heating up period would suffer a long, endless cooldown, and once Galíndez beat him to regain the belt, DePiano's igneous flow stiffened into rock forevermore. López, on the other hand, would fight on for another half a dozen years at the highest level, never winning "the big one", but routinely acquitting himself well and building a legacy that is seen by most as eclipsing the Kosher Butcher's - despite the latter having entered the annals of world titlists without him.