Written by Eóin Kennedy
Boxing has plenty of world champions (too many according to most fans) and the level of fame and superstardom varies across the board. Of course transcendent stars like Tyson Fury, Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua are familiar to non-boxing fans and non-sporting fans alike, but some champions tend to fly under the radar a little bit, even to dedicated fans of the sweet science. One such champion that is quietly going about his business is Mexican Luiz Alberto Lopez, and his third successful IBF world featherweight title defence against Reiya Abe just over a week ago once again demonstrated just why he may not remain an ignored star much longer. Lopez used all the weapons in his arsenal of unorthodox and unpredictable punches to confuse and overwhelm Abe, forcing the referee to stop the fight in the eight round.
To say Lopez fly’s under the radar a bit doesn’t mean to say that he’s unknown in boxing, after all he is a world champion and fights under the banner of promotional giant Top Rank, but he certainly hasn’t been a fighter that people were tipping as a future pay-per-view star and there hasn’t ever been any major buzz about a potential Lopez opponent in the same way that some champions can trend online by merely being rumoured to face someone. Lopez doesn’t have that buzz, but that soon could end.
The fighter from Baja California has now defended his title IBF world title three times since going into the lion’s den in Leeds, England and winning it in dogged fashion against hometown hero Josh Warrington. The hostile atmosphere in Leeds wasn’t enough to deter Lopez from going into his first defense in similar circumstances as he opted to take another fight on the road, this time to Michael Conlan in Belfast, Northern Ireland and once again he’d be the away fighter in a jam packed arena, staring across at another local legend being cheered on by the raucous supporters in attendance. No fear for Lopez, he got the job done with a devastating knockout in round five.
Beating Warrington and Conlan back-to-back is no mean feat but to do it to two of the most passionately supported fighters in the UK and Ireland in their own back yards is what really made Lopez’ achievements even more impressive. Since the first defense of his title in Belfast, crucially, the champion has not hung around and let his IBF title gather dust and he added a second successful outing as champion over Joet Gonzalez last September. Smartly keeping his momentum going, he was in action again just over a week ago against Abe and this win perfectly summed up the appeal of Lopez as a fighter. Of all the champions operating in boxing right now Lopez must have the most unconventional style, holding his hands down low by his waist seemingly utilizing no visible defense and standing almost square to his opponent, throwing shots from strange angles and sometimes even looking like he’s about to fall over his own feet, but while the style of fighting may be unusual its certainly effective and most boxers will tell you that fighting against an unconventional opponent who doesn’t use textbook punches can be extremely difficult as you can never anticipate where the punches are coming from.
The great thing about Lopez’ unique style is that it’s fan friendly despite being very different as it usually lends itself to plenty of action. No, the tactics adopted by the Mexican will not give you shades of Floyd Mayweather or Sugar Ray Leonard but it can certainly have you on the edge of your seat. If Lopez can keep bamboozling and beating his opponents, his reputation will be sure to grow even stronger and he may even blast his way to being Top Rank’s newest pound-for-pound star.