By Gerardo Granados: He was losing his last fight until he broke Victor Ortiz´s jaw. Lopez won the fight and the chance to upset another organization Champion, but does he has what it takes to become the new World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight Champion or is he destined to take a brutal beating next September 15th?
Lopez broke Ortiz´s jaw with a hard clean shot but maybe he was aided by Victor himself who often lead with his mouth wide open. Josesito was losing this fight by the time of the stoppage; but he never gave up, proving many boxing experts and non-experts wrong.
The weight gap is too much for Lopez for the Alvarez fight. Lopez will have half inch height advantage and a two inch reach disadvantage against Alvarez. Lopez is a light welterweight vs. a light middleweight. He does not have great boxing skills; his defense is average although has a good chin. His power at lightwelter was good, but at light middleweight he won’t be that good. This bout is a genuine mismatch, but Josesito has something that Saul does not have. Not just that he is mean son of boxing hungry for fame and glory, and owns a big heart; it is that he has the respect of many boxing fans.
In an era where top contenders and organization champions hand pick their rivals, we can only admire one fighter who dares to take a big challenge in order to achieve greatness. A friend of mine believes that no matter if Lopez loses this fight he will get the respect of boxing fans and that many other who called their self champions should do the same; and I can only agree with him.
No one gave a dime for James Buster Douglas. Do the readers remember the night Hasim Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis? What about Frankie Randall? Lightweight Roberto Duran moved up to welterweight and upset Sugar Ray Leonard in a fight I am sure the readers must have seen more than once. Josesito is not as skilled as Duran but he is sure as brave as “Manos de piedra”; he does shares his hunger for fame and glory with Randall, Rahman and Douglas and like them he is definitively the big underdog.
Alvarez might be a 10-1 favorite but a cut, broken hand or an accidental head but can change it all. Josesito needs to be smart, and take advantage of every opening he gets. Canelo tends to drop his guard and has trouble against a good jab. Maybe he will get lucky that night. Saul end up fighting Josesito due unexpected circumstances related to the previous three opponents signed for the fight date, so it was up to his promoter to sign a good contender and we should not blame the fighter.
This won’t be the best fight on September 15th, but for sure I will keep an eye on Josesito Lopez fight too. Maybe he will be able to upset the odds. Will he?
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