Yaqui Lopez story in The Ring

crooked nose · Post by **crooked nose** » 29 Nov 2003, 19:09

Has anyone seen the latest issue of The Ring? Includes a "where are they now?" story on Yaqui Lopez, the big-hearted shoulda-been lightheavy champ of the 70s. Says he's doing well. Still lives in "Fat City", married for 32 years and weighs just 194! Good to hear an upbeat story on an ex-fighter, especially on who gave so much and came so close. His second dec. loss to Galindez was robbery!

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 29 Nov 2003, 19:24

I read the story. Good stuff. Yaqui ducked nobody. His second fight with Saad was a true classic.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 29 Nov 2003, 20:27

Still only 194, that's good going!

Haven't seen the Ring but was it by that weird guy Bad Brad Berkwitt? I read a long interview by him with Yaqui.

The Saad fight was one I'll never forget, ranks up there with Danny Lopez/Mike Ayala.

crooked nose · Post by **crooked nose** » 29 Nov 2003, 21:59

The author was Robert Mladinich.
Funny you mention Danny Lopez because the article mentions that Yaqui injured his back lifting trash cans as a sanitation worker. Five surgeries and still in pain! Worse than any injury he ever suffered in the ring. Same with Danny Lopez - I recall he hurt his back using a jackhammer in his post-boxing construction job. He too said it was worse than any boxing injury.

zurdo · Post by **zurdo** » 30 Nov 2003, 00:45

The thing that I loved about the story was that Yaqui Lopez one of boxings classic tough guys got his "Yaqui" nickname after fighting in my town, Eureka California..

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 30 Nov 2003, 10:01

Yaqui was a truely great warrior whoed be a champ easily if he was around today.... people generally remember his 2nd fight with Saad but the pairs first fight was a classic too and the starnge thing is that in their first fight the 8th round was an unforgettably exciting round with Lopez hurting Saad and punishing him on ropes but then Saad comes back and fights his way off ropes and hurts Lopez.......amazing!

TonyJ · Post by **TonyJ** » 01 Dec 2003, 02:48

I read the story myself and i must say it was a good read, unfortunatley iv'e never seen him in action but after reading the article i will definitly pursue some fights of his especialy the Saad one's.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 17 Dec 2003, 17:38

Ive just read the article on Lopez after getting hold of the Ring (I think we get them a month late in ole England!

) ...was really a heart-warming article.... Yaqui comes across as a really decent guy.... he gave Spinks one of his hardest fights and I think Lopez was ahead when Spinks ended it. Has anyone seen any of Lopez's fights with Burnett?.
Some people say that the Ring isn't any good anymore but I think it's still a damn good read, and they always ahave an article on a old-time fighter.... a really good one a couple of months ago was on the great Pipino Cuevas..... did anyone here read that?........

kovit · Post by **kovit** » 17 Dec 2003, 21:19

That was a good story about Yaqui Lopez and can anyone tell me how tall he is? I really like to know how tall is the former Light Heavyweight contender.

crooked nose · Post by **crooked nose** » 17 Dec 2003, 22:53

I think Yaqui is about 6 ft. As I remember it, he was about the same height as some of the leaner lt. heavies like Saad and Spinks.

kovit · Post by **kovit** » 17 Dec 2003, 22:56

Thank you for answering.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 18 Dec 2003, 12:37

Yaqui is 6 foot 2... which makes him pretty tall for a Light-heavy... he's a tall Mexican indeed!. If he was around today he'd definately be a world champ, but he has the satisfaction of knowing that he was a contender during boxing golden 70s/early 80s period when the talent and competition was strong in just about every division. I think Yaqui will be remmembered when a lot of todays so called champs have been long forgotten.

Expug · Post by **Expug** » 20 Dec 2006, 22:46

One of my favorites and a real warrior.
What a motor he had.I thought he should have received the nod vs. Galindez the last time they fought.
Anyone remember seeing this guy fight?

Seamus · Post by **Seamus** » 20 Dec 2006, 23:52

If that fight had been anytime in the last 15 yrs or more, the result in the record books would simply read

Yaqui Lopez TKO 8 Matthew Saad Muhammad

Syntax Error · Post by **Syntax Error** » 21 Dec 2006, 09:40

Glad to hear that Lopez is doing ok.

He deserves it; just for for being the other fighter in the ring during the greatest fight ever: Saad Muhammad -v- Lopez 2 (1980). 8)

Saad Muhammad -v- Lopez (1978) was a pretty decent fight too!!!!

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 21 Dec 2006, 09:50

Every time Yaqui walked into the ring I shuddered because he was usually facing one of my favorite fighters.....and I knew anything could happen....he ended up becoming one of my favorites... This guy had heart.

kick asner · Post by **kick asner** » 21 Dec 2006, 10:25

crooked nose wrote:The author was Robert Mladinich.
Funny you mention Danny Lopez because the article mentions that Yaqui injured his back lifting trash cans as a sanitation worker. Five surgeries and still in pain! Worse than any injury he ever suffered in the ring. Same with Danny Lopez - I recall he hurt his back using a jackhammer in his post-boxing construction job. He too said it was worse than any boxing injury.

To bad both guys couldn't have earned a little more money in the ring so they wouldn't have had to work at a job that could cause injury. Danny Lopez was champion in what you could consider a great era for featherweights so you would have thought he would have been in line for a couple of decent paydays. Yaqui Lopez missed out on the bigger paydays by falling just short of a title.

El Flaco Maqnifico · Post by **El Flaco Maqnifico** » 24 Dec 2006, 01:37

kick asner wrote:
crooked nose wrote:The author was Robert Mladinich.
Funny you mention Danny Lopez because the article mentions that Yaqui injured his back lifting trash cans as a sanitation worker. Five surgeries and still in pain! Worse than any injury he ever suffered in the ring. Same with Danny Lopez - I recall he hurt his back using a jackhammer in his post-boxing construction job. He too said it was worse than any boxing injury.

To bad both guys couldn't have earned a little more money in the ring so they wouldn't have had to work at a job that could cause injury. Danny Lopez was champion in what you could consider a great era for featherweights so you would have thought he would have been in line for a couple of decent paydays. Yaqui Lopez missed out on the bigger paydays by falling just short of a title.

I have that particular article in one of the ring magazine's it is truly facisnating that he is doing good now for himself. Speaking of Lopez In the new double issue of the ring magazine there is a section that recaps all the fighst of the year from 1945 to 2005. When they talk about Lopez fight with Mike Ayala in'79 They say that Ayala admitted to being high on drugs during the fight. Did you ever hear of this at all?