John Conteh vs. Alvaro (Yaqui) Lopez

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John Conteh 174 lbs beat Yaqui Lopez 173 lbs by UD in round 15 of 15

"John Conteh of Britain retained his WBC version of the world light heavyweight title Saturday after an absence from the ring of 15 months by outpointing Alvaro Lopez, a Mexican-born American, at the Forum. After four solid opening rounds, Conteh found the challenger swarming over him in the 5th while in the 6th, one of the toughest in the fight, Conteh produced some superb left hooks to the head and then the body, but Lopez was back as strong as ever in the 7th trying to find a way to victory with his left jabbing. Most of the rounds were won or lost narrowly, usually in a burst of jabs by Conteh which tipped the balance against the indecisive shots of the challenger. In the 11th round Lopez suffered a cut over his left eye and the sight of blood only added to Conteh's incentive. Conteh, though, was running out of energy and he cleverly spun out his resources over the remaining rounds picking off his challenger with those left jabs, emphasizing again his class." -United Press International

  • Conteh was sued by Ugandan ruler Idi Amin after this fight. This bout was originally supposed to take place in Kampala but was postponed due to Conteh's hand injury and then shifted altogether to Copenhagen. Amin's lawsuit claimed that he had advanced Conteh $75,000 for the fight and that Conteh had written a $34,000 check to the Ugandan government, which bounced.

Post fight comments

  • "He was harder than I thought he would be. I felt I dictated the whole fight. He hurt me once, in the 6th round I think it was, but I was pleased that my right hand held up well. I hardly threw it but when I did it stood up." -John Conteh
  • "He was a good fighter. He won all right, but I think I lost the fight in the last five rounds." -Yaqui Lopez
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