By Miguel Rivera
Former two division world champion Juan Manuel 'Juanma' Lopez has denied reports of having financial troubles, as two of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) world titles hit auction specialty site eBay.
The WBO featherweight belt was won by Lopez won when he defeating Steve Luevano in January 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The belt up for sale was the WBO world Latino title at junior featherweight, which he won with a victory over Mexican boxer Jose Alonso in Puerto Rico.
They were offered for sale by a collector from the United Kingdom. The collector said he acquired the belts from Lopez.
Juamna retired last year after suffering a brutal knockout at the hands of Jesus Andres Cuellar.
"This person is a collector from England who has several things for sale," said Lopez to El Vocero. "He was interested in those belts for some time and made me an offer. It seems he recently sold one of Mike Tyson's belts for about $ 42,001, and he thought he could [make some money] with mine, obviously not the same [amount], but a good amount for them."
"This man took them about three years ago, my Latino belt at 122 pounds and the world title at 126. The others, including the first regional and my first world title I still have as a legacy for my children. But I want you to understand that I am not selling my belts because of economic problems. It was a sale directly to a collector who came to me. That person also has other memorabilia and gloves from other fighters."
Lopez, who amassed a record of 34-5 and 31 knockouts, won world titles at 122 and 126 pounds. After his major victory over Rafael Marquez in 2010, he lost his crown at the hands of Mexican Orlando "Siri" Salido. Lopez suffered a total of five defeats in nine matches since then.