Saul Alvarez worried about Josesito Lopez’s hunger

By Boxing News - 08/20/2012 - Comments

Image: Saul Alvarez worried about Josesito Lopez's hungerBy William Mackay: Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s) may be moving up in weight from the 140 pound division to take on WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) on September 15th, but Alvarez is taking him just as seriously as he would if Lopez were to come from the 154 pound division.

Alvarez points out that Manny Pacquiao was considered to be too small for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya in their fight in 2008, and we saw what happened to De La Hoya when Pacquiao completely annihilated him in only eight rounds in their mismatch.

Speaking with RingTV, Alvarez said this about what he’s concerned about with Lopez: “His hunger. It makes him dangerous.”

To be sure, the 28-year-old Lopez is coming off an impressive 9th round stoppage win over former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz last June in a fight where Lopez badly hurt Ortiz with a series of huge uppercuts that broke his jaw in two places. Eventually, Ortiz could no longer carry on and just quit after taking punishment in the 9th.

While Lopez has been fighting at 140 for many years, he still will have the height and the reach advantage over the 5’9″ Alvarez on September 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Besides the size, Lopez moves a lot better around the ring than Alvarez. Lopez is able to get around quick and fight in an in and out attacking pattern from different angles.

With Alvarez, he’s an old fashioned straight ahead fighter that walks his opponents down much in the same way that WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pressures his opponents. Alvarez is old school, and he probably couldn’t do the things that Lopez can do even if he wanted to because he doesn’t have the wiry body needed to move constantly. Alvarez tires out even when plodding around the ring and doing all the punching himself. Lopez has a better engine and he can move for 12 rounds if he wants to.



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