Ricardo Lopez KO8 Ala Villamor… Today, Boxingtalk turns over the KO Fix to one of its readers, who writes in to say: “It’s time for a Classic KO! The date was 3-16-1996 on the undercard of Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno II. Ricardo Lopez, a 105-pound champion with a record of 40-0 and 30 KOs was facing Ala Villamor, whose record coming in was 29-1-1 with 26 KOs. Lopez was coming off of a year long layoff due to broken knuckles in each of his hands. Fast forward to round eight when Lopez slips a right jab from the southpaw Villamor and just completely demolishes him with a lead left uppercut. Boom! Skip ahead to about the 28:45 mark and watch the brillant knockout.
Bread?s Response: Oh my goodness. Ricardo ?The Magnificent? Lopez’s technical skills could be in the top ten of all time. He was a brilliant fighter with no real flaws. The only thing that hurts his legacy is not moving up in weight. This was a sick KO. Lopez actually knocked out about 4 southpaws with the same shot. I wonder why more fighters don?t use that counter left uppercut against southpaws. Lopez was the best I have ever seen do that. It amazes me that so many fighters don?t know their history and they don?t pick up tactics that past greats have used.
Editor’s note: After this loss, Villamor never fought again, while Lopez fought for five more years and retired undefeated at 51-0-1.
