Josesito Lopez a bulked up 166.5 lbs for Saul Alvarez fight

By Boxing News - 08/15/2012 - Comments

Image: Josesito Lopez a bulked up 166.5 lbs for Saul Alvarez fight(Photo credit: Carlos Baeza/Thompson Boxing Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: with exactly one month to go before his September 15th fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, WBC Silver welterweight champion Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s) has bulked up from his normal fighting weight of 140 pounds and is 26 pounds heavier than that at 166.5 lbs.

That’s a lot of weight that the 27-year-old Lopez has packed on his frame in a really short period of time, and you have to wonder whether he’s going a bit overboard in putting on the weight. It’s one thing to pack on 10 pounds extra for a fight like this, put to go whole hog and eat/train your way to 166.5 in one training camp, that just seems foolish to me. Lopez doesn’t need all that useless weight, because it’s likely going to hurt him instead of helping him.

The extra weight will get in his way when he’s forced to fight past the 6th round. It’ll also hurt him in hindering his ability to move around the ring. Lopez’s mobility was one of his biggest advantages that he had when fighting at light welterweight, but it’s unlikely he’ll be able to move well at 154 if he’s going to be fighting over 160 for the fight.

Lopez is a decent puncher, but not someone in the class of Alvarez in the power department. Putting on weight won’t likely help Lopez in hitting harder with his shots. He will won’t be able to stand in front of Alvarez and match him shot for shot. That’s not going to work for him. Lopez has to do what brought him to this point by being able to move and box against the stronger Alvarez. If Lopez tries to match Alvarez power shot for power shot, Lopez is going to end up getting hurt and beaten up in this fight.



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