Ricardo López

Statistics
Real name	Ricado López Nava
Nickname(s)	El Finito (The Fine One)
Rated at	Minimumweight
Nationality	Mexican
Birth date	July 25, 1966 (1966-07-25) (age 43)
Birth place	Cuernavaca, Mexico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	52
Wins	51
Wins by KO	38
Losses	0
Draws	1
No contests	0

Ricardo “El Finito” López Nava (born July 25, 1966) is a boxer from Mexico. As a professional, he defended the WBC Strawweight Championship a record 21 times. He also won the WBA and WBO championship of the same weight class. Lopez also won the IBF Light Flyweight Championship and defended it twice before retiring.

[edit] Biography

On October 10, 1990, López defeated WBC minimumweight champion Hideyuki Ohashi of Japan via a fourth knockout to win his first world title. In 1991, he defeated Korean former champion Kyung-Yun Lee (20-1-0). In 1992, he defended his title against Pretty Boy Lucas (22-2-2) of the Philippines and Rocky Lin (14-0) of Taiwan. In 1993, López defeated future two time champion Saman Sorjaturong of Thailand. Sorjaturong was knocked down once in the 1st round and twice in the 2nd round when the referee stopped the bout.

Later that year, he knocked out Filipino former champion Manny Melchor in the 11th round. In his tenth title defense, López defeated future champion Kermin Guardia (21-0-0) by unanimous decision. He knocked out Surachai Saengmorakot (10-0) in the first round of his next bout. In 1995, he defeated Andy Tabanas (30-2-0) of the Philippines via 12th round knock out. In his next bout, he defeated another Filipino boxer Ala Villamor (29-1-1) by knockout. In 1997, López defended his title against Mongkol Charoen (20-1-0).

In his 20th world title bout, López unified his WBC title by defeating WBO minimumweight champion Alex Sánchez (25-1-0) of Puerto Rico via 5th round knock out. On March 7, 1998, López fought undefeated WBA minimumweight champion Rosendo Álvarez to a technical draw after referee Arthur Mercante Sr. stopped the contest following an accidental head butt in the seventh round. López defeated Alvarez in a rematch by split decision to claim his third minimumweight title. After the fight, he vacated his titles in order to move up in weight.

In his first bout at light flyweight, López defeated IBF champion Will Grigsby of the United States. He defended his title against former champion Ratanapol Sor Vorapin. On September 29, 2001, López knocked out Zolani Petelo who had recently vacated his IBF minimumweight title, the only minimumweight title that López had not claimed before moving up to light flyweight. He officially announced his retirement from boxing at a press conference on 28 November 2002, in Mexico City.

Ricardo López was the third champion in history to retire undefeated. He also holds the record for consecutive title bouts without a loss (twenty-six). This streak began with his knockout of Hideyuki Ohashi to win the WBC minimumweight title in 1990 and ending with his knockout of Zolani Potelo to defend his IBF light flyweight title in 2001. Ricardo only had one draw, which came against Rosendo Alvarez in 1998 in Lopez's 48th bout. His final record was 51 wins (KO 38), 0 losses, and 1 draw.

López now works as a boxing broadcaster for the Mexican Televisa network.^[1]

[edit] Honors

López was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.

[edit] See also

• List of WBA world champions
• List of WBC world champions

[edit] References

1. ^ http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://espanol.sports.yahoo.com/02022009/90/d-sport-finito-lopez-salvajismo-boxeo.html&ei=53yJSaqMH5m6sAP2zImqBg&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=6&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dricardo%2Blopez%2Btelevisa%2Bboxeador%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff

[edit] External links

• Professional boxing record for Ricardo Lopez from Boxrec

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