How good was Tony 'the tiger' Lopez?

[Counter-puncher]

quick question for california (and other) boxing fans out there

I only ever saw a few of his fights, i think he got a bit of a gift first time against Molina, well outboxed the second time before stoppage (on cuts was it or swelling round the eyes?)

then he seemed to switch styles a bit for the 3rd Molina fight- he was slipping punches and countering much better, rather than trying to march forwards, and banging the body hard and landing strong uppercuts, actually managed to wear the teak-tough (and back then fairly swift and skillful with it) Molina down, which really took some doing.

then in the mitchell fight(s) he seemed to be trying to beat Mitchell at his own game- with limited success at best. all in all he seemed to have a good punch and reasonable skills that he trid to use more as he got older.

my questions i suppose for cali fans would be, where does he rate in all-time California fighters lists? does he make the top30/40 maybe?

also is it just me or did he change his style from a pretty typical cali-mex slugger to a more Chacon-style boxer-banger?

was Lockridge his best win?

I know he seemed extremely popular in sacramento, was he a popular fighter in California as a whole?

[Ambling Alp]

He wasn't a great fighter, but Lopez was pretty good. He wasn't as good as the really elite fighters, but he was roughly even with the fighters a level or so below that.(Like Lockridge,Molina,Haugen, all of whom he fought).

I guess you could call him a banger, but could box a little bit too. I thought the first Lockridge fight was a great fight. Lopez was in big touble but managed to come back. Some people thought it was a hometown decison, but I thought it could have gone either way.
A pretty fun fighter to watch.

[My2Sense]

The 3rd Molina fight is one of the best fights ever (that reminds me, I should add it to my list in the "fights no one talks about..." thread). Very dramatic comeback win by Lopez. Many people thought Lopez was finished by that time, as he had had a lot of wars and become very succeptible to bleeding. (If I'm not mistaken, he actually retired very briefly after the 2nd Molina fight, and then was cut badly in his one interim fight, even though it only went a couple of rounds). I thought Lopez won the fight with his late round KD. For me, this fight proved that Lopez was a legitimate top fighter.

As for changing his style, I don't quite agree. He was never fully a brawler from what I saw, he always mixed boxing with slugging. When he won the title from Lockridge (in another great, all action fight), he pretty much boxed and moved for most of the fight. He was always a fairly versatile fighter and made adjustments from fight to fight. His win over Tyrone Jackson (considered a good prospect and a big puncher at that time) also was proof of that. His defense wasn't what you'd call fantastic, but it was underrated IMO.

By the time he fought Mitchell, I think the effort to make weight was catching up with him. He seemed to have lost some of the fire and energy he'd shown in earlier fights. He scored a big comeback win when he upset Joey Gamache (who was undefeated at the time) on Gamache's home turf in Maine.

He also had another important win against Jorge Paez (who held the featherweight title at the time), in what was considered a lower weight megafight.

[ringsider]

He wasn't great, but he was a very good to excellent fighter. He held the title, that you can never take away from him. He always gave good fights and was exciting to watch. I thought he was a pretty decent stand up boxer with a good one two right down the pipe.

[Counter-puncher]

thanks for the responses 8)

[MikeK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMpD5P9uE-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYp3OLJ6Yw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgtxcgDg5bc