Forgotten Legends: Jose Luis Lopez

June 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment

By: Steve Gallegos

During the mid to late 1990’s, Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez’ star was beginning to decline. Many up and coming Mexican fighters were eager to fill that void as Mexico’s next great champion. Fighters like Marco Antonio Barerra, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez were among the fighters of this class, however there was another fighter from Mexico who made a name for himself in his own right and set himself apart from the others. His name was Jose Luis “Maestrito” Lopez.

Lopez wasn’t your typical Mexican fighter. Outside the ring, he was a surfer and motorcycle enthusiast who even rode his motorcycle across Europe. Inside the ring he was an attacker. A straight forward puncher who had the power to turn things around at anytime in any fight. Jose Luis Lopez was born and raised in Durango, Mexico and began boxing at a very young age. His father, Jose Luis Lopez Sr was a former fighter himself and his son followed in his footsteps, turning professional at age 15.

He would go 36-3-1 with 27 KO’s from 1989-1996. He was facing relatively obscure opposition, mostly in his native Mexico. His resume was good enough to land him a world title shot against Irishman Eamonn Loughran. They met on 04/13/96 in Liverpool in the United Kingdom and it was for the WBO Welterweight Championship.

The champion Loughran, hand picked Lopez as an opponent, thinking it would be an easy title defense. He would then find out that Lopez was far being an easy opponent. Lopez showed his tremendous punching power, dropping Loughran three times en route to a first round KO. Jose Luis Lopez was now a world champion and the boxing world began to take notice.

Lopez would make the first defense of his title six months later against hard hitting and future world champion Yory Boy Campas. Campas had only lost one fight in 65 bouts and many thought he would be too stiff of a challenge for Lopez. “Maestrito” broke Campas down with his hard body punching and would score a huge fifth round TKO. Although he had successfully defended his title, Lopez would be stripped of his title after testing positive for Marijuana.

Being stripped of his title didn’t have any negative effect on his career and he was starting to gain some national exposure. 1997 was a big year for Lopez as he started off the year in impressive fashion, making his USA Tuesday Night Fight’s debut with a sixth round TKO over former world champion Jorge Vaca. Three months later he would make his HBO debut, winning a 10 round majority decision over former world champion Aaron Davis, which was an exciting, entertaining bout. These two big wins put Lopez back into another contention for another world title, this time against Ike Quartey.

They met on 10/17/97 at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, CT and it was for the WBA Welterweight Championship. The “Bazooka” Quartey came out using his piston like jab to keep Lopez at bay. In the second round, Lopez landed a big right hand that shook Quartey up and caused his gloves to touch the canvas which was ruled a knockdown. Quartey recoverd and continued to stay on the outside, using his jab to keep Lopez at bay. Lopez had a difficult time throughout the bout as he wasn’t able to get inside on Quartey and his punch output was very low as well.

Lopez, however showed why he should never be counted out as he dropped Quartey again in the 11th round. Quartey was able to get up, however he was hurt and Lopez turned up the pressure, closing the fight in impressive fashion. When the judges scorecards were read, Quartey was awarded a majority decision, however one of the scorecards were added up incorrectly; therefore the decision was changed to a draw.

Jose Luis Lopez‘ stock was at an all time high and he was one of three fighters in line to challenge welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya for a huge payday. Lopez would win his next three bouts, all by KO and it would setup another crack at the WBA Welterweight Championship, this time against James Page.

They met on 12/05/98 at Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, NJ. Page like Lopez was a huge power puncher and he predicted prior to the bout that he would stop Lopez within four rounds. As was the case with many other fighters, Lopez once again proved he was no pushover as he fought a spirited fight for 12 rounds in which he knocked Page down twice and hurt him during many exchanges.

As was the case with Quartey, Lopez wasn’t able to finish his man off when he had him hurt and the end result would be a 12 round unanimous decision win for James Page. It was pretty much the end of the road for Jose Luis Lopez as a serious contender. He wouldn’t fight again for two years and he would go 8-1 with five KO’s as he fought off and on from 2000-2010.

His record as a professional stands at 51-5-2 with 39 KO’s. He was a unique and special kind of fighter that was dangerous the entire time he was in the ring. What would have happened had he been able to finish off his opponents in his two biggest fights? Would he have been able to challenge the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Instead, he was a good fighter who was just a punch or two shy of become great.

image

Filed Under: Boxing News, Forgotten Legends Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Speak Your Mind