Danny Lopez
Titles: 1976-1980 WBC featherweight Champiom
Record: 42-6
Born: July 6, 1952 in Fort Duchesme, Utah, USA
Years active: 1971-1980
Nickname: "Little Red"
Lopez was perhaps the most exciting fighter to watch during the 1970's. It was hard
to miss Lopez with a punch and as his 39 K.O's in 42 wins suggest he had the ability
to knock out his opponents with a single punch. Lopez also had extraordinary
recuperative powers that rivaled that of Matthew Saad Muhammad, if you knocked
Lopez down you knew that you were in trouble! Lopez would start slow soaking
up punishment looking for the hole in his opponents defense. I am not sure how many
times Lopez hit the canvas but I am sure that he got up every time to fight on.
Lopez unlike other power punchers did not prefer any single finishing blow, he
knocked his opponents out in various fashions. He simply carried power in both
hands and knew when to throw the correct punch. Lopez has to be counted as one of
the 5 best featherweight punchers of all time. While defense was not his strong
suit he did move well on his feet but preferred to put himself in a position to
lead with his punches and invariably in position for return fire. Lopez of Irish,
Indian and Hispanic mixture was a unlikely looking fighter, with his Hispanic
features showing under a mop of red hair and long sideburns. Add to this his
entrances which featured him in a Indian headdress and you can see why he was
featured on T.V so often. Lopez who had been in foster homes from the age of 8
began to box as he followed his older brother to Los Angeles and the gyms he would
train in. After a good but no mean great amateur career Lopez turned pro at 18 and
found his style made him a instant sensation in the Los Angeles boxing community.
Lopez went on a 21 fight knockout streak to start his career against strong
opposition in California. Consider that Lopez knocked out Ruben Olivares, Chucho
Castillo, Raul Cruz, Sean O'Grady, Famoso Gomez, and Art Hafey before he even got
his title shot. In only his 10th fight he was matched with another undefeated K.O
artist Arturo Pineda (13-0) that drew 10,000 fans, Lopez knocked him out in four
rounds and the fight was voted fight of the year in Los Angeles. After 4 years
of learning in fighting the tough L.A scene against Mexican and Mexican American
boxers of all styles and ability it was time for Lopez to take a step up in
competition in 1974. It started well enough when Lopez finally went the 10 round
distance against fringe contender and iron jawed Genzo and followed up that fight
with a knockout win over Memo Rodriguez who was a tough challenge for any fighter.
Then in late 1974 and early 1975 disaster struck for Lopez in the ring. He found
his equal in toughness when he fought legendary Bobby Chacon in a fight of the year
candidate which saw Lopez knocked out in the 9th round of a grueling fight in front
of 16,000 fans. Chacon was just a notch above Lopez in terms of strength and it
showed after Chacon weathered the early storm of Lopez. As the fight wore on Chacon
countered Lopez solid left hooks that finally wore Lopez down and forced the referee
to step in. Lopez came back with a easy win over Masano Toyoshima but once again
lost via a 9th round stoppage when a headbutt caused his fight with Shig Fukuyama
to be stopped. Lopez took on another tough challenge way too soon not allowing his
body to heal from the two tough losses and he looked in terrible form against
Octavio Gomez who out hustled him for a 10 round win. Many gave up on Lopez and
thought he was just a hard punching kid who would always be just a level below
championship caliber. Lesser fighters might have given up or not trained to get
back to a championship level, in 2 years Lopez would become a champion however.
Now offers started to come for Lopez to fight high level boxers who thought he
was in decline and wanted a good box office payday. In 1975 former world champions
Chucho Castillo and Ruben Olivares learned the hard way that Lopez was far from
finished as he knocked them both out. In both of those fight the two combatants
were on the canvas. 1976 might have been the best year for Lopez as he started
it by taking out featherweight prospect and future champion Sean O'Grady before
defeating world #2 rated Art Hafey in a bout that assured Lopez of a title at
champion David Kotey.... the problem was that Lopez would have to travel to Africa
for the title. Taking the title from the champion in Africa back in the 70's was a
daunting exercise to say the least but by the 12th round of the 15 round title
fight large portions of the crowd of 90,000 were leaving the stadium sure that
their man had been beaten. Not even the judges could ignore the beating and total
domination Lopez showed in the ring that night. The fact that Kotey was able to
stand up the punches of Lopez for the 15 rounds speaks volumes for his toughness
and skills. It was a one sided fight from the start as Lopez cut Kotey in the first
round (it 37 stitches to put Kotey back together) that left Kotey bleeding and
swallowing blood from his lower lip. The late rounds were especially brutal,in most
countries the fight would have been stopped. To his credit Kotey just refused to go
down often holding on to Lopez in order to stay up. Lopez would go on to defend
the title successfully eight times (5 in his first year as a champion) by knockout,
against a cast of better than average challengers, before losing to the legendarily
talented Salvador Sanchez. All of Lopez's title defenses were featured on national
T.V because of his offensive style. Lopez beat Kotey again on the first Ali vs.
Spinks fight this time taking the ex-champ out in 6 one sided rounds. In 1978 on
the Ali vs. Spinks II undercard Lopez had a typical fight for him as he was knocked
down in the first round and looked ready to go when a single right hand punch laid
Juan Malvarez out cold. In 1979 Lopez faced Mike Ayala in The Ring magazine fight
of the year. In Ayala's hometown Lopez fought the wrong fight early and was
countered by the 21 year old Ayala who was sliding along the ropes. But Lopez got
his shots in and broke Ayala's nose in the 6th starting to slow him down. In the
7th and 11th round Lopez had Ayala down but the challenger kept fighting back and
scoring well. Finally in the 15 round after Lopez had pulled ahead in the fight
the referee stopped the bout after a big left hook sent Ayala down for the last
time. His title reign was nearing the end however. The great Salvador Sanchez had
the perfect style to foil Lopez. Behind a great jab Sanchez used a movement and
counter punching scheme that left Lopez walking into hard punches throughout their
two fights. When Lopez did land solid punches which did not happen very often he
found the chin of Sanchez to be unshakable. Sanchez at 20 years old was thought as
a huge threat to Lopez since he was not well known outside of Mexico. By the 4th
round of their first fight Lopez had 3 cuts and his left was beginning to swell
shut, and it got worse as the rounds progressed. Lopez refused to surrender and
for 14 rounds tried to connect with one of his big bombs without luck, finally
the referee rescued the staggering Lopez in the 14th round. In the rematch Lopez
performed a little bit better but was once again not able to get within punching
distance of Lopez to connect with any kind of effectiveness. Lopez having many
tough fights behind him and always training like a mad man decided he did not want
to venture on the long road he knew would be ahead of him to get another title
shot and retired. At 28 Lopez was finished as a fighter. Inspired by George
Foreman Lopez made one comeback fight 12 years later, it ended in predictable
fashion when he was knocked out in the third round. Lopez now makes his home in
the Chino Hills area with his wife of 27 years, working in the construction
business.
Danny Lopez
Career Record: 42 W, 6 L, (39 K.O's)
1971
May 27 Steve Flajole Los Angeles KO 1
Jun 17 Fili Castro Los Angeles KO 1
Jul 9 Mauro Olivares Los Angeles KO 1
Jul 29 Jose Luis Estrada Los Angeles KO 2
Aug 12 Modesto Ortiz Los Angeles KO 4
Sep 16 Rafael Lopez Los Angeles KO 5
Oct 14 Frank Granados Los Angeles KO 2
Nov 18 Marcarito Rios Los Angeles KO 1
1972
Jan 20 Jose Orantes Los Angeles KO 2
Feb 18 Rafael Lopez Los Angeles KO 2
Mar 10 Arturo Pineda Los Angeles KO 4
May 11 Jose Luis Valdovinos Los Angeles KO 4
Jul 20 Benny Rodriguez Los Angeles KO 1
Jul 28 Yoshinabu Goto Los Angeles KO 8
Oct 19 Jorge Reyes Los Angeles KO 7
1973
Feb 9 Jorge Carrasco Los Angeles KO 1
Mar 17 Kenji Endo Los Angeles KO 2
May 10 Cesar Ordunez Los Angeles KO 4
Jun 21 Juan Ordonez Los Angeles KO 4
Jul 31 Ushiwakamaru Harada Honolulu KO 3
Sep 27 Goyo Vargas Los Angeles KO 1
1974
Jan 17 Genzo Kurosaw Los Angeles W 10
Feb 4 Memo Rodriguez Mexicali, Mexico KO 10
May 24 Bobby Chacon Los Angeles KO by 9
Aug 8 Masano Toyoshima Los Angeles KO 3
Sep 9 Shig Fukuyama Los Angeles KO by 9
1975
Jan 18 Octavio Gomez Anaheim, CA L 10
Apr 24 Chucho Castillo Los Angeles KO 2
Jul 26 Raul Cruz Los Angeles KO 6
Sep 13 Antonio Nava Los Angeles KO 6
Dec 4 Ruben Olivares Inglewood, CA KO 7
1976
Feb 25 Sean O'Grady Inglewood, CA KO 4
Apr 28 Octavio Gomez Inglewood, CA KO 3
Aug 6 Art Hafey Inglewood, CA KO 7
Nov 5 David Kotey Accra, Ghana W 15
(Wins WBC Featherweight Title)
1977
Jul 29 Jose Olivares Sacramento KO 2
Aug 28 Jorge Altamirano Stateline, NV KO 6
Sep 13 Jose Torres Los Angeles KO 7
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
1978
Feb 15 David Kotey Las Vegas KO 6
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
Apr 22 Jose DePaula Los Angeles KO 6
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
Sep 15 Juan Malvarez New Orelans KO 2
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
Oct 21 Fel Clemente Pesaro, Italy WDQ 4
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
1979
Mar 10 Roberto Castanon Salt Lake City KO 2
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
Jun 17 Mike Ayala San Antonio KO 15
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
Sep 25 Jose Caba Los Angeles KO 3
(Retains World Featherweight Title)
1980
Feb 2 Salvador Sanchez Phoenix KO by 13
(Loses World Featherweight Title)
Jun 21 Salvador Sanchez Las Vegas KO by 14
(For World Featherweight Title)
1992
Feb 27 Jorge Rodriguez Irvine, CA KO by 3