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"Ricardo Lopez fought professionally for 16 years and never lost. He won the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF world titles, at one point or another and he is the consummate prototype of the boxer-puncher style.
So why doesn't he make this list?
He doesn't because his level of competition was just poor, plain and simple. Him being the greatest strawweight ever means close to nothing to me if his résumé doesn’t feature many quality opponents. And it doesn’t.
He won 51 fights in his career. 18 victories came against men who had yet to ever win inside of the professional ring or had losing records when they fought Lopez.
He made 25 successful title defenses. 13 of those came to fighters with 15 or less wins to their name.
The true mark of a great boxer is that the closer you look—the greater they tend to become. No matter how you cook it, that does not stand true for Lopez.
He was a picture-perfect puncher with a picture-perfect record.
But that seems to be just about it. " - bleacher report.
So why doesn't he make this list?
He doesn't because his level of competition was just poor, plain and simple. Him being the greatest strawweight ever means close to nothing to me if his résumé doesn’t feature many quality opponents. And it doesn’t.
He won 51 fights in his career. 18 victories came against men who had yet to ever win inside of the professional ring or had losing records when they fought Lopez.
He made 25 successful title defenses. 13 of those came to fighters with 15 or less wins to their name.
The true mark of a great boxer is that the closer you look—the greater they tend to become. No matter how you cook it, that does not stand true for Lopez.
He was a picture-perfect puncher with a picture-perfect record.
But that seems to be just about it. " - bleacher report.
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