Canelo vs Lopez may not garner the same headlines as Chavez vs Martinez to the casual boxing fan, but the back story behind Canelo vs Lopez just might.
Originally the plan was for Canelo to have his own pay-per-view fight in honor of Mexican independence weekend with Mexico’s two biggest fighters headlining two different events in the same city: Las Vegas.
Canelo Avarez was supposed headline his own pay-per-view event and his original opponent was supposed to be Paul the Punisher Williams. But shortly after the fight was announced Williams was involved in a motorcycle accident near his home in Atlanta, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. That left Avarez’s promoter ‘Golden Boy Promotions’ time to secure another opponent.
The second choice was raising super welterweight James Kirkland, however Kirkland had issues with his management team and declined the fight with Canelo. That left door number 3: Victor Ortiz.
Ortiz was last seen being knocked out by Floyd Mayweather. Ortiz has one hurdle to climb before he could fight prime time vs Canelo–that was a June 23th fight in Los Angeles. Originally that fight was scheduled to be a rematch of the 2011 fight of the year between Ortiz and Andre Berto. However, Berto failed a drug test during his training and he was removed from the fight.
Ortiz was then left to find another opponent on short notice. This opponent turned out to be Josecito Lopez, a fighter who had been campaigning at 140 pounds. Lopez came in as a heavy underdog to the much bigger Ortiz physically.
Lopez stunned the boxing world by breaking Ortiz’s jaw and having Victor Ortiz quit on his stool. That meant turning to option number 4 for Canelo which was Lopez.
Lopez is was fighting at 140 pounds but tonight he will challenge Alverez for his 154 pound WBC title. So once again Lopez is set out to again shock the boxing world. But this time the question is has he encountered a boxer too big and too strong?