Wednesday 11 May 2011

Sylvester Lopez

You won't often see a fighter with a record of 15-3-1 (11) being called a great prospect but Sylvester Lopez is a rare exception to the rule. The 23 year old Filipino could easily have been 16-2-1 (12) had a referee not made an awful call against him late last year in a fight that will be explained later on.

Sylvester (also spelt Silvester) Lopez made his professional debut in 2006 when he was 18 years old and he would beat Joey Balmes over a 4 decision. This was followed by 3 more wins as the youngster climbed to 4-0 (2) as nobody opponents in his homeland before suffering 2 losses and a draw in his following 3 fights to fall to 4-2-1 (2). He was then 20 years old and hadn't seemed to settle into a boxing weight, he had dropped from 114lbs in his debut to 103lbs 8 months later and it seemed to take the bad results to get him to fight in a division he was comfortable and strong in, it appeared that weight was going to be the Super Flyweight (115lbs) division).

In just his 12th bout Lopez would win the WBC International Super Flyweight title stopping the then unbeaten South Korean Jong-Nam Park for the title. Lopez would defend this title 2-times in total over 15 months as well as winning 3-none title fights. The title fight wins are the interesting results and probably the best sign of just how good Lopez actually is. The first defence came against Katsumi Makiyama, a fighter who had previously been in with Chatchai Sasakul and Medgoen Singsurat, Lopez managed to beat Makiyama in the 5th round of an incredibly 1-sided affair. The second defence however came against the very experienced Thai Wandee Singwancha. Singwancha had been in more than 70 fights and had won more than 60 having had reigns as the WBC interim champion at Minimumweight and Light Flyweight. Lopez would stop Singwancha in the second round in an excellent performance.

Lopez had run up a record of 14-2-1 (10) though had only ever been fighting in the Philippines. In his first bout outside of his homeland he would travel to Mexico to face Rising Mexican Juan Jose Montes in a WBC title Eliminator. Montes entered the bout with a record of 18-1 (12) and a reputation as being a fighter on the rise. Montes would score an early knockdown on Lopez though Lopez mounted a spirited comeback and would open up a nasty cut over the eye of Montes from hard accurate punches. Montes kept touching his head as if to indicate that it was caused by a clash of heads though footage seems to show it was from a punch. The referee decided at the end of the 3rd round that it was caused by a clash of heads and as a result Lopez was deducted a point due to the WBC's rules. The cut would late end the fight in the fifth round and Montes took the win by technical decision, had the cut have been ruled to have come from a punch Lopez would have won by a TKO.

Since the controversial loss to Montes Lopez has fought once defeating Noel Sungahid and on this coming Saturday Lopez returns to the ring to face Everardo Morales. Morales has a record of 34-16-2-1(23) in a career that has seen him facing the likes of Koki Kameda, Tomas Rojas and Hugo Fidel Cazares so a win for Lopez will have him in good company.

Lopez isn't the best young fighter from the Philippines though he is one worth making a note of already.

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