Who was better: Juan Manuel Marquez or Ricardo Lopez?

[Flo_Raiden]

How would you compare two of Nacho Beristain's best students? Both fought in a similar textbook style, although Lopez looked more perfect while Marquez beat better competition.

In terms of accomplishments, skills and abilities in the ring who would you say was better in your opinion?

[Larry the boss]

Marquez did far more and exhibited his talents on a much higher level

[JK1700]

I'm a huge fan of both of them and have seen all their major fights. I would highly recommend watching both of them if you just enjoy the science and art of boxing. Marquez was Lopez's protege when he was on the come up and it's fair to say he along with Nacho helped develop his style. Their styles are very similar.

Obviously in terms of accomplishments Marquez has to rank higher because he was able to fight other great fighters and win more often than not (I had him beating everyone he fought besides Mayweather) while Lopez's opposition didn't match his skill level. Not to say that he didn't fight some really good guys, but it would've been cool to see him fight a Michael Carbajal or Humberto Gonzalez. Kinda unfortunate how that turned out, Lopez and Gonzalez made a lot of sense but they never fought because they trained together. Then Saman Sorjaturong beat Gonzalez who Lopez had already stopped as soon as Ricardo started to really get popular. He'll always be one of my favorites anyway. Beautiful to watch.

If we're talking skills Lopez is one of the most skilled boxers I have ever seen. He had everything from footwork to one-punch KO power to body punching. For what it's worth I think he would've beat the likes of Carbajal and Chiquita, he was far more complete than both of them. Would've been exciting fights though.

[Boxing56]

This is actually really close thinking about it. Might give the slight edge to JMM.

[Flo_Raiden]

I'm a huge fan of both of them and have seen all their major fights. I would highly recommend watching both of them if you just enjoy the science and art of boxing. Marquez was Lopez's protege when he was on the come up and it's fair to say he along with Nacho helped develop his style. Their styles are very similar.

Obviously in terms of accomplishments Marquez has to rank higher because he was able to fight other great fighters and win more often than not (I had him beating everyone he fought besides Mayweather) while Lopez's opposition didn't match his skill level. Not to say that he didn't fight some really good guys, but it would've been cool to see him fight a Michael Carbajal or Humberto Gonzalez. Kinda unfortunate how that turned out, Lopez and Gonzalez made a lot of sense but they never fought because they trained together. Then Saman Sorjaturong beat Gonzalez who Lopez had already stopped as soon as Ricardo started to really get popular. He'll always be one of my favorites anyway. Beautiful to watch.

If we're talking skills Lopez is one of the most skilled boxers I have ever seen. He had everything from footwork to one-punch KO power to body punching. For what it's worth I think he would've beat the likes of Carbajal and Chiquita, he was far more complete than both of them. Would've been exciting fights though.

I feel like people overrate Lopez's skills. As beautiful as he looked on film he was far from perfect IMO. Amazing stylist and also one of my absolute faves but even I'll admit that he wasn't THE absolute most skilled fighter ever. He was great at doing what he did best at mid range but always felt he lacked in-fighting skills. Perhaps he had very little weakness or flaws but as said before there was no fighter that truly tested him.

I'll give Lopez the edge in defense, footwork and power. He was a more mobile pure boxer who also had one punch power. I think Marquez had better offensive tools, especially his counter punching and combinations, since he took more chances and was also better at adapting to his opponents. It's just a shame that Lopez never got battle tested against higher competition, save for Rosendo Alvarez who gave him a tough fight. I get the feeling that if Lopez were to be fighting today he'd be the equivalent of Golovkin who was dominant against so-so competition and would be heavily criticized for staying in one division for so long.

[JK1700]

I feel like people overrate Lopez's skills. As beautiful as he looked on film he was far from perfect IMO. Amazing stylist and also one of my absolute faves but even I'll admit that he was far from perfect. He was great at doing what he did best at mid range but always felt he lacked in-fighting skills.

I'll give Lopez the edge in defense, footwork and power. He was a more mobile pure boxer who also had one punch power. I think Marquez had better offensive tools, especially his counter punching and combinations, since he took more chances and was also better at adapting to his opponents. It's just a shame that Lopez never got battle tested against higher competition, save for Rosendo Alvarez who gave him a tough fight. I get the feeling that if Lopez were to be fighting today he'd be the equivalent of Golovkin who was dominant against so-so competition and would be heavily criticized for staying in one division for so long.

It's hard to compare them obviously because we saw JMM fight the likes of Pacquiao and others. Lopez could fight inside he showed that in the Alvarez fights but yeah he didn't do it very often because he didn't have to. Lopez had better defense and speed, JMM was the better in-fighter and an even better combination puncher. Lopez did fight some good fighters (Ohashi, Saman, Villamor, Sanchez, Alvarez, Petelo were all very good) but yeah it would've been cool to see him fight Carbajal for example. Although it did make him look good that Sorjaturong who he starched in 2 rounds went on to beat Gonzalez for the WBC/IBF/Lineal 108lb belts and then make 10 title defenses. He won like 26 straight fights over 6-7 years after losing to Lopez. That's an amazing fight btw, for anyone who hasn't seen it...

[JK1700]

The biggest problem with Lopez moving up was that the guys we wanted to see him fight were Carbajal and Gonzalez. Lopez didn't become really popular and get with King until 1994 though and Gonzalez (his stablemate) had the belt. The Carbajal fight still could've happened in 95 or 96 not sure why it didn't. I favor Lopez strongly in that fight but it would've been interesting just because Carbajal had that 1 punch power that could change a fight just like that. We saw it against Gonzalez and Arce both fights he was losing badly and came back to win. The Saman rematch almost happened but didn't make a lot of sense even though he was #1 in that weight class for 4 years and had gotten better. He also almost ended up fighting Pacquiao when he was on the come up, funnily enough.

[Luilun]

Technique wise Lopez his problem was he was just a small guy. He looked a Jockey rather than a fighter

[chrisJS]

How would you compare two of Nacho Beristain's best students? Both fought in a similar textbook style, although Lopez looked more perfect while Marquez beat better competition.

In terms of accomplishments, skills and abilities in the ring who would you say was better in your opinion?

Lopez was originally trained by Cuyo Hernandez who guided him as an amateur and to his title win in 1990 but passed away a year or two later. Nacho already took him on as a world champion just as Marquez was turning pro. Marquez is Nacho's finest work because he trained him from when he started boxing and was his coach for every amateur and pro bout. Obviously, Nacho really helped tighten Lopez up and made him a complete boxer puncher technician.


Regarding who's better? Marquez has a more storied career with better wins for sure. Skills I'd say Marquez perhaps didn't have Lopez power on a pound for pound scale (Lopez consistently knocked guys out and hurt them bad), but his offensive was flashier and even more versatile. Marquez was an expert counter puncher and threw better combinations, whereas Lopez had a better defense. They both had excellent footwork.

Both great fighters, but I'll go with Marquez on talent and certainly on career.

If you enjoy these styles and aren't familiar with Gilberto Roman I highly recommend checking his fights. I'd say after Marquez, that's perhaps Nacho's finest project and the original of the Beristain fighters to become a champion. He was an excellent technician with a really smooth style who often got into great fights. Watch his series with Santos Laciar (3 fights) or his title win against Jiro Watanabe. Great stuff.

[El Gitano]

How would you compare two of Nacho Beristain's best students? Both fought in a similar textbook style, although Lopez looked more perfect while Marquez beat better competition.

In terms of accomplishments, skills and abilities in the ring who would you say was better in your opinion?

I've never seen him fight but it seems Nacho believes Gilberto Roman was the best fighter her ever had, based on interviews I've seen on Mexican TV.

He died in a car accident at just 28 years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilberto_Rom%C3%A1n