BoxRec

The focus of this weeks fights is Salvador Sanchez vs Danny Lopez
I've decided to show the first Danny Lopez fight as the main feature. In this bout Sanchez wins his first featherweight title aged 21.
I was tempted to show arguably his most famous wins against the great Wilredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson. But I've seen them recently, so I'm being selfish The Gomez fights will be in the supplementary bouts. It also links nicely to Lopez FOTY vs Mike Ayala

https://youtu.be/hhpCn3zjtUg

Enjoy

Previous weeks bouts
Week 1 - Leonard/Hearns.- http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=207995
Week 2 - Olivarez/Castillo 1 - http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=208158
Week 3 - Emile Griffith vs Nino Benvenuti - http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=208339

Main thread - http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... e#p4571725

Supplementary fights

Salvador Sanchez vs Wilfredo Gomez

https://youtu.be/BCEVtFcIg2Q

Danny Lopez vs Mike Ayala (1979 Ring magazine FOTY)

https://youtu.be/HXXSXyN1kkY

I'll have to get going with watching the fights for these challenges soon, as the backlog is starting to build up.

Horse wrote:I'll have to get going with watching the fights for these challenges soon, as the backlog is starting to build up.

And there's me even started doing your supplementary bouts and you can't even be bothered doing my main ones, I'm hurt

Lopez/Ayala is a belter of a fight,closely fought,i remember the ref wrongly waving the fight off think Ayala had failed to beat the count after being put down late on,then the ring getting invaded before being cleared again to continue,Lopez did get a last round KO though

Wow !! what talent Sanchez had at 21 yrs of age. I'll try and watch his most notable fights over the next couple of weeks. Just looking at his resume he had 11 fights in 2.5 yrs after being world champion.

He gave Lopez a big beat down in that fight though. It surprises me there was a rematch so soon.

It does seem to be a big "what if" had Sanchez not died at such a young age.

Probably the single most punch-perfect performance I have ever seen against a genuinely good world champion. And also the most assured debut at world level i have seen. Sanchez was almost otherworldly that night IMO

Naandrew wrote:Wow !! what talent Sanchez had at 21 yrs of age. I'll try and watch his most notable fights over the next couple of weeks. Just looking at his resume he had 11 fights in 2.5 yrs after being world champion.

He gave Lopez a big beat down in that fight though. It surprises me there was a rematch so soon.

It does seem to be a big "what if" had Sanchez not died at such a young age.

There are some seem to think he had peaked young and may not have gone on to much greater things.

But I can help think he was just that damn good and still so young, we could have been talking about a real ATG had he fought on through his 20s.

The potential rivalries with Gomez, Nelson, Eusebio Pedroza, Laporte, McGuigan, Lockridge, if he moved up in weights, up at SFW he could have faced Chacon, Limon, Boza Edwards, JCC, at lightweight Jose Luis Ramires, Mancini etc. Not only did he have the time and talent to become great, he had a great group of fighter emerging around him at that time.

Salvador Sanchez vs Danny Lopez

1. 10 - 9 Sanchez
2. 10 - 9 Sanchez, surprised Lopez lasts 13 rounds of this
3. 10 - 9 Sanchez taking a few more in this round. Landing more and looking more dangerous when he does though
4. 10 - 9 Sanchez nowt for Lopez so far
5. 10 - 9 Sanchez he has the full repertoire but that dip/overhand right is beautiful
6. 10 - 9 Sanchez. You know when the doc gets brought in you're having a bad round
7. 10 - 9 Sanchez, One way traffic
8. 10 - 9 Sanchez still struggling to see how this goes 13. Lopez is a tough dude
9. 10 - 9 Sanchez
10. 10 - 9 Sanchez closest round since about r3. But Lopez still taking to many solid shots
11. 10 - 9 Sanchez did enough in first 2 mins to win it, fighting more economically though, then lays it on him in last 20 seconds
12. 10 - 9 Sanchez coasted early then stepped it up second half with a couple big attacks, you'd forgive Lopez for quitting on his stool
13. TKO good stoppage. It's not often I agree with a stoppage of a man that hasn't even touched the canvas. Lopez still had his legs as well. But this was needing stopped

There wasn't much point scoring this one as it was totally one sided. Sanchez has beena joy to watch the few times I've seen him but he was sublime here. If you told me Sanchez was the reigning undisputed champion in a keep busy non title fight against a C-level fighter here I'd have believed you.

He did little wrong, so much of what he did was text book and executed pretty much bang on.
There were points in the fight both fighters threw 4 or 5 punches and Lopez missed all 5 and Sanchez landed every one on the button. He'd evade each punch and land one then move and land another, you couldn't even call it counter punching as they were both effectively throwing combinations.

Sanchez stopped three Hall of Famers - Lopez, Nelson and Gomez- and as I see it that is a huge achievement. More than most greats will ever have.

Lopez was outclassed but very persistent and brave. Then, he tried again in another fight in which he took a drawn out beating.

Sanchez was punch perfect showing defensive skills and an awesome, controlled repertoire of shots. Obviously he's not the first Mexican to show great boxing skills but I'd say he was influential and a precursor to the Beristain style perfected by Ricardo Lopez and the Marquez brothers,

Sanchez vs Gomez

1. 10 - 8 Sanchez. So close to stopping a real quality operator in the 1st round
2. 9 - 10 Gomez. Recovered well and came out firing to make a point. Sanchez took control of the middle of the round but Gomez nicked it in the last 30s for me
3. 10 - 9 Sanchez Some real quality landed by both, hard to pick a loser for the last 2 rounds but Sanchez looked to hurt him at one point
4. 10 - 10 Even. Sanchez turned it to a boxing match for the first half, with Wilfredo cornering him in the second, plenty good punches thrown.
5. 10 - 9 Sanchez. Again boxed well to begin but when Gomez started pressure he had some success. Sanchez nicked this one late with a flurry or two
6.10 - 9 Sanchez took control of the action here and boxed well. Gomez struggling to pin him down now
7.10 - 9 Sanchez good round, well boxed. Gomez with a few big swinging eye catching shots but Sanchez boxing so well with nice short tidy punches
8. KO. Another one where the ref really needs to protect a man stuck on the ropes and give a standing 8 count. But I think the shot that put him on the ropes was the beginning of the end anyway

A real quality fight between 2 quality operators, rounds 2-5 could have gone either way but Sanchez quality boxing took over and he hurt Gomez and marked him up throughout the fight. It's impressive how composed Sanchez looks. Never marked, never hurt, never out of breath and always looks like he's controlling things

davie wrote:Sanchez vs Gomez

1. 10 - 8 Sanchez. So close to stopping a real quality operator in the 1st round
2. 9 - 10 Gomez. Recovered well and came out firing to make a point. Sanchez took control of the middle of the round but Gomez nicked it in the last 30s for me
3. 10 - 9 Sanchez Some real quality landed by both, hard to pick a loser for the last 2 rounds but Sanchez looked to hurt him at one point
4. 10 - 10 Even. Sanchez turned it to a boxing match for the first half, with Wilfredo cornering him in the second, plenty good punches thrown.
5. 10 - 9 Sanchez. Again boxed well to begin but when Gomez started pressure he had some success. Sanchez nicked this one late with a flurry or two
6.10 - 9 Sanchez took control of the action here and boxed well. Gomez struggling to pin him down now
7.10 - 9 Sanchez good round, well boxed. Gomez with a few big swinging eye catching shots but Sanchez boxing so well with nice short tidy punches
8. KO. Another one where the ref really needs to protect a man stuck on the ropes and give a standing 8 count. But I think the shot that put him on the ropes was the beginning of the end anyway

A real quality fight between 2 quality operators, rounds 2-5 could have gone either way but Sanchez quality boxing took over and he hurt Gomez and marked him up throughout the fight. It's impressive how composed Sanchez looks. Never marked, never hurt, never out of breath and always looks like he's controlling things

Good little shootout, fun fight. Gomez got up and really gave some value for money in this futile challenge. It's a better fight than people give it credit for. Although Sanchez ended up winning decisively.

The great Salvador Sanchez had great poise and concentration. He was always focused. Nothing rattled him. Few fighters had that deep concentration in the ring like the greats like Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Alexis Arguello, Eusebio Pedroza and Carlos Monzon. They rarely changed expression in a fight.

elmersalsa wrote:The great Salvador Sanchez had great poise and concentration. He was always focused. Nothing rattled him. Few fighters had that deep concentration in the ring like the greats like Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Alexis Arguello, Eusebio Pedroza and Carlos Monzon. They rarely changed expression in a fight.

Arguello changed expression as Pryor was knocking him out...like "Oh NO, here I go again." ... Chavez changed expression as his corner tried to convince him to keep going when he quit vs De La Hoya.. Like "No, No, NO, NO!" ... Pedroza changed expression after Alfonso Zamora knocked him seemingly dead. He stirred.. The count took 16 slow seconds but the referee finally reached 10 and waved Pedroza out.. Pedroza kept bouncing up and down like he was ready to continue.. His expression was shocked and hurt that the referee stopped it.. Sometimes the faces fighters make are really funny.

This was shocking live. Nobody knew Sanchez, if there was internet then Lopez would have been lampooned. Similar to Saad/qawi where you were so used to seeing those guys come back from insane punishment that the one sided nature was still packed with drama because you expected the rally that never came. Sal knocked out Tito's dad.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:This was shocking live. Nobody knew Sanchez, if there was internet then Lopez would have been lampooned. Similar to Saad/qawi where you were so used to seeing those guys come back from insane punishment that the one sided nature was still packed with drama because you expected the rally that never came. Sal knocked out Tito's dad.

I used to hate Danny Lopez. Somehow in a fight after being behind, he always found a way to win. He was a never-say-die type of fighter. He was relentless.

One time in a fight on the Ali vs Spinks II undercard, Juan Domingo Malvarez dropped him in the first round. I thought that the fight was going to be over. Next round, and next thing I know, he dropped Malvarez and finished him for good.

Little Red wasn't a guy of great skills, but, he had a relentless desire to win and determination to wit. And he can clock you and put you out in a hurry. He had the mentality like saying "you better kill me if you want my title!"