CompuBox Analysis - Juanma Punch-Stat Breakdown
By CompuBox
When WBO junior featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez stepped into the ring Saturday night in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, he was looking to make history. The man nicknamed "JuanMa" sought to become the first fighter ever to score four consecutive first round knockouts in championship competition and had he succeeded he would have propelled himself past Joe Louis and Gerald McClellan.
Because of Gerry Penalosa’s almost inhuman capacity to absorb punishment, Lopez established a different kind of history – CompuBox history. Only the compassion of Freddie Roach prevented Lopez from potentially challenging the all-time record for punches landed in a 12-round fight – the 637 Cecilio Espino connected on Luigi Camputaro in January 1992. Still, Lopez put on a show for the ages in terms of connects, especially in terms of power punches. Consider:
* Lopez’s 421 power punch connects over 10 rounds snapped the divisional record of 405 held by Daniel Zaragoza in his 12 round decision win over Wayne McCullough in January 1997. His 863 power punch attempts are second all time among 122 pounders behind McCullough’s 1,067 against Oscar Larios in their first bout in February 2005.
* Lopez established new junior featherweight records for power punches thrown AND landed in a round – in the same round – not only once, but twice. In round six Lopez threw 123 power shots and landed 71, simultaneously breaking the marks set by Wayne McCullough (112 in round three of his February 2005 fight with Oscar Larios) and Nestor Garza (68 in round two of his June 1996 fight against Roland Gomez). Then in round eight, Lopez snapped his own standards by throwing 129 and connecting on 84.
* The 84 power punch connects was third all-time in all weight classes, only behind the first place number of 91 shared by Rafael Ruelas and Rocky Gannon against Jorge Paez and Undra White respectively.
* The 87 total connects in round eight tied him for seventh all time in all weight classes with Nestor Garza, who achieved the mark in round two against Roland Gomez, and tied him with Garza-Gomez for all-time honors at 122.
* The 136 punches Lopez threw in round eight placed him 11th all time among 122 pounders, just behind the 138 McCullough unleashed on Larios in round seven of their first fight and the 138 Larios threw against McCullough just four rounds later.
* Lopez’s 444 connected punches over 10 rounds tied him for sixth all time among junior featherweights, nestling himself behind Junior Jones’ 445 against Orlando Canizales over 12 rounds in March 1996
This extraordinary output is a wrinkle previously unseen in the power-punching Lopez and that can’t be good news for the rest of the world’s junior featherweights. In the end, it was the only way that Penalosa’s toughness could be dented.
In all Lopez landed 444 of his 1,020 (44 percent) to Penalosa’s 99 of 392 (25 percent), meaning JuanMa landed 52 more punches than Penalosa threw and averaged 113.3 blows per round, nearly double the divisional average of 60. He topped the 100-punch mark seven times (including each of the last five rounds) and exceeded 100 power punch attempts three times (in the fifth, sixth and eighth rounds). Incredibly, Lopez surpasses 50 total connects and 40 power punch connects in the final five rounds, which speaks as much about Penalosa’s ability to shake off punishment as Lopez’s capacity to administer it. During that span, Lopez out-landed Penalosa by a mind-blowing 319-56 overall and 306-44 in power shots.
For the record, the only category in which Penalosa out-performed Lopez was in jabs, where he landed 26 of 105 (25 percent) to Lopez’s 23 of 157 (15 percent).
The co-feature between junior welterweights Lamont Peterson and Willy Blain paled in comparison in terms of offensive fireworks but the American’s superb body punching ultimately led to the seventh round stoppage. Peterson connected on 126 of his 406 punches (31 percent) to Blain’s 53 of 394 (13 percent) and out-performed him in power punches 116-39, landing at an impressive 43 percent rate to Blain’s 19. Like Penalosa, the loser Blain out-did the winner Peterson in jabs as he posted a 14 of 187 (7 percent) to 10 of 136 (7 percent).