Josesito Lopez will need to use movement to beat Canelo Alvarez

By Boxing News - 07/31/2012 - Comments

Image: Josesito Lopez will need to use movement to beat Canelo AlvarezBy Allan Fox: WBC Silver welterweight champion Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s) is going to have to resist his natural instincts to brawl all the time and focus on boxing instead in his fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) on September 15th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There’s a reason why the 28-year-old Lopez was selected by Golden Boy Promotions to fight the 22-year-old Alvarez, and one of those reasons is because Lopez doesn’t move very much. The other reason is he tends to brawl with his opponents despite not having much in the way of power. He doesn’t fight smart often and gets way too much for his own good. Lopez can’t fight like that against Canelo Alvarez, because this guy is a natural 154 pounder, and not someone like Lopez who recently fought for the first time at welterweight when he defeated Victor Ortiz.

Alvarez is very beatable. We saw that in his last fight against Shane Mosley each time he would use even a slight amount of movement. Alvarez is a flat-footed fighter and he doesn’t move well, and he’s terrible at cutting off the ring. His promoters at Golden Boy seem to be well aware of his flaws, because they’ve been matching him exclusively against stationary fighters ever since they started promoting him.

Lopez has got to change his fighting style overnight if he wants to win this fight and avoid taking a beating and getting knocked out. All Lopez has to do is constantly circle the ring and use fast feet and hard jabs to get the better of Alvarez.

Lopez needs to forget all about trying to trade with Alvarez because he doesn’t have the power or the skills to win a fight like that. It won’t work for him if he tries to trade because he’s not even really a legit welterweight, and now he’s being asked to fight a big 154 pound junior middleweight in Alvarez.



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