How Good Great was Finitio (the eye test)?

[DeeMoney]

I am/was a big Finito Lopez fan, exciting fighter who fought in my hometown a few times. Now I know the critiques of his resume being thin, and him hanging out at minimum weight too long.

But here is my question, based on what you see of him (eye test) where do you rank him all time P4P? Does he have the talent to be considered among the top 40 all time (even if he never faced that level of competition)?

[ShoulderRoll]

His technique is a joy to watch. The same body motion set up his left hooks to the body or his left uppercuts to the head. So opponents had a hard time figuring out which was coming.

Then they also had to worry about his straight right.

Smooth footwork. Not speedy but purposeful.

I would have liked to see him move up in weight against Michael Carbajal and Eric Morel, that would have told us more about his place in history. But as far as skills that an eye can see he has a place at the table.

[QueensburyRules]

- -Ain't seen much of him and no impetus to see more.

I figure Iron Boy Calderon would tie him into Gordian knots.

[chrisJS]

He was magnificent. Didn’t waste much and had very big punching power for his size. His technique was excellent. I believe his infighting ability is probably his weakness if there is a glaring one. It seems from the small sample size of his opponents that he wasn’t as comfortable in close and his power not as devestating.

His competition level unfortunately is so bad that even with his unbeaten record, longevity and skill level it wouldn’t be fair to consider him probably even top 100. He’d be on the outskirts though.

I’m a huge fan of his though. I do think he’d have done so much more if his promoter gave a **** about him.

[OctoberRed]

For a very small guy, he was great to watch.

[Rusty Tromboni]

On film: he's perfection.

Based on the level of his competition: really hard to be commending.


I think Marquez is a pretty good idea of what Finito would have looked like if he were in a higher weight division with more credible competition.

Finito is THE example to cite when providing a counter-argument to "the eye-test" claim.

[ShoulderRoll]

Stephen Edwards gave his opinion on Lopez in today's Mailbag.


"Finito Lopez is the best technical fighter I have ever seen. I have watched about 20 of his fights, he’s the most consistent dynamic fighter I have ever seen. If he was 147lbs he could have changed the history of boxing.

I think he would beat everyone at 105 and 108 in this decade except Chocolatito and the Monster at 108lbs. Those are great fights and because both are so much bigger I don’t know if he could overcome that. They would have to decide that in the ring."

[Rusty Tromboni]

Stephen Edwards gave his opinion on Lopez in today's Mailbag.


. If he was 147lbs he could have changed the history of boxing.

I

that's a moronic comment to make. Like I said, we saw Finito's analog in Marquez. Marquez, however, was willing to hunt down challenges.

When fighters scale up, their skills suffer - less coordinated, slower, less stamina.

It's why olympic gymnasts are teenage girls.


I know I hate on Ali for the delusions of his fans, but it's amazing that a man that big could move that well. Sure, he was relatively feather-fisted, and even fundamental techniques were missing. But to have moved that well was truly amazing. (Tyson Fury even more so. ) I like to say that Canto, pound for pound, was a more impressive product, but I know full well that Canto was fighting a small man's game.

Finito at 147 pounds would probably look at lot like Marquez. Finito at 175-190 would probably look at lot like Harold Johnson - the guy who got splattered by Moore and Oakland Billy Smith.

But again, that's assuming Finito had the balls Johnson and Marquez had.

[QueensburyRules]

- -I figure Finito at 350 would look like Tyson Fury.