I think we had a similar thread to this once upon a time, but whatever. If Lopez had the balls of the Chocolatito, and decided to test himself at higher weights, what would have happened. Mainly, would he have beaten Carbajal, Chiquita Gonzalez, Arbachakov, and Mark Johnson?
I think he could well have lost to all of them, but I'd have made him small fav over Chiquita and Carbajal.
Probably a solid favorite over Carbajal. Finito was better than Carbajal at damn near every facet of the game. Even if Carbajal was a bigger puncher, it ain't by much. Arbachakov and Too Sharp are a diff story.
i think carbajal would be losing rounds to lopez, but i'd give him a good shot at catching lopez ultimately.
He'd have probably beaten Carbajal and Gonzalez but maybe not Arbachakov and Too Sharp. Sasakul would have been an interesting one, he was a really good fighter who gets remembered by most for being merked by Pac, who he was outboxing. Kittikasem with his wet sandbag hands and the faded version of Chang who nearly beat Kittikasem would be interesting fights too. Tbh, the type of fighters who were being edged by Arbachakov would be an improvement over the sorry mob of midgets Lopez was bullying at straw.
All the more frustrating when it comes to Finito's overall career. He really COULD HAVE faced them but I think he and Nacho Beristain knew that they didn't want to risk his perfect record. I would have favored him over Carbajal and Gonzalez no doubt, Arbachakov and Too Sharp are a different story but at least they're all much better fighters than the scrubs he's faced before.
The late Dempsey1234 spent a considerable amount of time in Mexico City with Nacho and Ricardo Lopez. Lopez not moving up was a matter of personal loyalty. There was someone in the Lopez camp that was not well liked otherwise and those fights- with Carbajal and Gonzalez- were proposed with the pre condition that that person be excluded from the deal financially. Lopez would not agree to that.
Interesting. Also, I'm not sure if Carbajal was ever in a rush to get in with Lopez. I know he was far more interested in the possibility of moving up to fight Tapia.
Lopez is an interesting guy. He always trained in Mexico City so that he could go home at night and be with his family. During his career he had 2 sparring partners, one of whom was 13 when he started sparring with Lopez. The other was a guy that was 0-1 or 1-2 as a pro and had a serious drinking problem; he has been sober many years now and has a gym in Texas and gets a ton of respect. Dempsey told me that Lopez would walk into the gym with his hands up and that he would keep his hands up the whole time that he was in the gym and that he didn't walk- he moved like he would in the ring. Every time he passed a speed bag he would hit it with a left hook and you could hear it throughout the building.
Wasted career imo, he basically was forgotten as soon as he retired. Perfect example of how losing memorable fights is nearly always better than winning vs nondescript opposition. Maybe deep down he doubted himself, or maybe he was content being a big fish in a small pond, but he never really seem to push for a big fight.
This seems quite farfetched to be honest. I know you're a bit of an insider but are you sure this is coming from someone reliable??
Yes. He was a very reliable individual and he knew just about everybody. He managed Harold Warren, Manuel Gomez, Jesus Chavez and Alex Saucedo, among many others over the years.
Dempsey 1234 was very reliable, honest and well-connected in the sport, more than any of us. If grey says it's true I'm inclined to believe him, that type of shithouse thing is pretty common in fight negotiating. And I've been a critic of Lopez over the years, he was big enough and brilliant enough to be mixing it at light fly and fly.
If Canto had been around in the 90s, Lopez wouldn’t have fought him either. The advent of strawweight and junior fly hurt the legacy of the flyweight division more than any other division that had its contenders split between junior/super divisions. That’s two unnecessary divisions separating the best flyweights. Lopez retired with his health intact and hopefully some money in the bank so I’m never mad at a fighter who ends his career with that success. But as a fan, a matchup with either Carbajal or Gonzalez would have been a dream fight and I feel Lopez just didn’t have any interest in it.
I thought Lopez lost the Rosendo Alvarez fights. He certainly would have and could have made more money than he did. Carbajal and Chiquita made for the first $1 million dollar fight in that weight class area and Lopez never joined in. Maybe Lopez caught up financially, but it wouldn't surprise me if both of them made more in their careers than Lopez.
