Ricardo Lopez vs Alex Sanchez

Mexican great Ricardo Lopez added the WBO minimumweight championship to his WBC title with a fifth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Alex Sanchez at Madison Square Garden, New York, on 23 August 1997. Lopez entered unbeaten in 46 professional contests and had already made 19 successful defences of the WBC championship he had held since defeating Hideyuki Ohashi in 1990. Sanchez, 25-1, had been WBO champion since December 1993 and had made six successful defences. Their meeting was the first unification contest in the history of the 105-pound division, and the first minimumweight championship fight staged at Madison Square Garden. The Don King promotion attracted more than 14,000 spectators and also included Felix Trinidad, William Joppy and Wilfredo Vazquez.

Lopez established the pattern immediately. He remained compact behind his high guard, moved sufficiently to make Sanchez reach for him and waited for the Puerto Rican to commit before answering. Sanchez had difficulty landing cleanly in the opening round and was most successful when Lopez elected to remain within punching range. Even then, the Mexican was quicker to the opening and frequently met him with short counters, particularly the uppercut. There was little wasted movement in Lopez’s work. He gave ground when necessary, stopped when he wished to punch and rarely allowed Sanchez to attack without leaving something exposed in return.

The difference became apparent in the second round. Sanchez drove a hook towards Lopez’s body, but the champion answered immediately with two right hands and sent him to the canvas. Sanchez regained his feet and showed considerable determination in surviving the remainder of the round, but Lopez continued finding him with accurate right hands. Sanchez was increasingly having to take risks merely to get close enough to work. His punches became wider as the fight progressed, while Lopez remained balanced and was generally in position to answer before Sanchez could recover his stance.

Sanchez nevertheless competed more effectively in the third. Lopez hurt him with a right uppercut during the first minute, but the Puerto Rican recovered sufficiently to make the remainder of the round competitive. The improvement did not last. In the fourth, a left hook from Lopez again shook Sanchez, whose frustration was becoming evident. He twice forced Lopez’s head downward during close exchanges and struck him on the second occasion, bringing a point deduction from referee Arthur Mercante Jr. Lopez responded by increasing the pressure. Another left hook hurt Sanchez, and an ensuing attack put him on the floor, although Mercante ruled the incident a slip rather than a knockdown. Sanchez rose in some confusion and appeared to expect a count before realising none had been ordered. He was still unsteady when he returned to his corner.

There was no recovery in the fifth. Sanchez continued to come forward, but Lopez was by then finding him almost at will, particularly with the left hand and quick straight rights. During the second minute Lopez connected with a succession of right hands before putting together the combination that settled the contest. Sanchez went down for the second officially recorded knockdown of the fight. He regained his feet but was badly disorientated, moving uncertainly across the ring and showing little ability to defend himself. Mercante intervened at 1 minute 58 seconds of the fifth round. The stoppage was recorded as a technical knockout. At the conclusion of the fourth round, the three judges had Lopez comfortably ahead: Melvina Lathan and Bill Lerch each had him leading 40-34, while Chuck Williams scored it 40-33.

For Sanchez, it was a decisive end to a lengthy WBO reign. He had won the vacant championship by knocking out Orlando Malone in the opening round in December 1993 and had retained it six times before meeting Lopez. He was a legitimate champion rather than an appointed challenger, but the contest exposed the considerable difference between an accomplished titleholder and a fighter who by 1997 had become one of the most technically complete champions in boxing. Lopez did not overwhelm Sanchez through reckless pressure. He allowed the Puerto Rican to create openings himself, blocked or avoided the first attack, and returned short, accurate punches while remaining balanced. Sanchez’s increasing desperation merely made those openings larger.

The victory gave Lopez both the WBC and WBO championships and represented his twentieth successful world-title appearance during his reign. The WBO portion of the unification proved brief, and the organisation subsequently declared its championship vacant following a dispute arising from Lopez’s remarks that he intended to give the belt to his father. He continued as WBC champion and the following year entered his celebrated two-fight series with Rosendo Alvarez. Sanchez continued boxing and later challenged for championships at light-flyweight, but he never again held a world title. At Madison Square Garden he had been confronted by a champion whose accuracy, economy and composure steadily reduced his options until resistance became impossible.

I’ve always rated Ricardo Lopez as one of the finest technical fighters of his generation, regardless of weight. Alex Sanchez was a proper champion himself, with six defences of the WBO title, but against Lopez the difference in class was obvious very quickly.

Lopez never wasted anything. High guard, perfect balance, short punches, and he made Sanchez pay whenever he reached in. Sanchez was dropped in the second, hurt again in the fourth and finally put down in the fifth before Arthur Mercante Jr stopped it.

What impressed me was how calm Lopez remained. He wasn’t chasing a knockout or throwing six punches when two would do. He just kept taking little pieces away until Sanchez had nowhere left to go.

Sanchez was no mug, but Lopez made him look ordinary. That was the frightening thing about Finito. Good world champions could get in with him and suddenly look like they were operating a level below.