I'd lean slightly toward versus Lopez because he had a better chin. But he would have to survive some bombs to do so
To be fair to Pipino, there's no telling how well Lopez's chin holds up to Hearns' power. I suspect Hearns blows Lopez away early. I think Cuevas stops Lopez in a war. He tends to get underrated, while Maestrito tends to get overrated nowadays. Lopez was actually taking a lot of punishment and getting badly swelled up by a shot Jorge Vaca - no one mentions that.
Yeah, but he also got koed by Duran. And contrarly to most, I don't think he was shot in that one. He was giving a very good acount of himself before the KO
A guys chin is never gonna be the same again after getting murked the way Tommy did him. Cuevas didn't show any chin weaknesses pre-Hearns. Plus, I might add that Duran was masterfully making Cuevas miss THEN countering him. Lopez couldn't spell defense if you spotted him the "def".
I disaree with the first part. He got Koed fast against Hearns, and he wasn't out cold. Usually, it's sustained beating that ruin the chin of a fighter
I really liked Lopez and thought that he was very good...when he bothered to fight. If he came into a fight with Cuevas with a seriousness of purpose and determined to win, we would see a war for the ages and I, personally, would be too excited to care who would win. If Lopez came into the fight with an attitude to hang around, throw a punch from time to time and see what happens, Cuevas might kill him. Incidentally, I haven't watched the Duran v Cuevas fight in years, but I don't recall it being his chin that let Cuevas down. As I remember it, Cuevas visibly reacted to a body punch and that was when it went dramatically south for him.
For what its worth, I dont think Lopez sees the distance with Duran either. He might last longer, but Duran would be beating Lopez up so badly that the ref would eventually have to step in.
That is probably true. Even at his best, there is considerable distance between Lopez and Roberto Duran.
I was HUGE on Lopez at one point. I came down to Earth and realized he's a little overrated. While its impressive that he battered Campas, imagine Cuevas vs Campas????? Poor Yory Boy would be hospitalized for at least a week.
He had already accumulated a fair amount of punishment prior to the Hearns fight, though. I think it's pretty clear from the Stafford fight that his punch resistance just wasn't the same. As for the fight in question, I wouldn't trust Lopez to not retreat into a shell after feeling Cuevas' power and then get outhustled to a decision.
