On This Day In Boxing History

1952: Danny “Little Red” Lopez Was Born!

Born in Fort Duchesne, Utah, 1952, Danny "Little Red" Lopez is a former American boxer from Fort Duchesne, Utah. Lopez #26 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time was world Featherweight champion, and a very popular fighter both in television and Southern California, during the 1970s.

Lopez is of Ute Indian, Mexican, and Irish heritage. He had been moved from one foster home to another, and coming off a Ute Indian Reservation in Utah, he finally found a home in Southern California. He is also the brother of welterweight contender Ernie Lopez. He is married to Bonnie Lopez and has three sons, Bronson, Jeremy, and Dylan.

Lopez began boxing professionally on May 27, 1971, knocking out Steve Flajole in one round at Los Angeles. He won his first 21 fights in a row by knockout, in one of the longest knockout win streaks ever. During that streak, all but one of his fights were in Los Angeles, a fact which could be credited for his popularity in the area. The only one of his fights among those 21 fights outside Los Angeles took place in Honolulu, where he beat Ushiwakamaru Harada by a knockout in three.

On January 17, 1974, Genzo Kurosaw became the first person to go the distance with Lopez, Lopez winning by a ten-round decision. His next fight, a month later, in Mexicali, Mexico, was his first fight abroad. He beat Memo Rodriguez by a knockout in nine rounds there.

People in Los Angeles were eager to see Lopez and another up-and-coming Angelino, Bobby Chacon, square off inside a ring. The fight took place on May 24, and Lopez suffered his first professional loss, by a knockout in round nine. After one more win, he lost once again by a knockout in round nine, this time to Shig Furuyama.

After losing to Octavio Gómez to begin 1975, Lopez went into a roll: He began by beating Chucho Castillo by a knockout in two rounds. Two more wins, and he was faced with Rubén Olivares, whom he beat by a knockout in seven rounds, after recovering from a first-round knockdown himself.

In 1976, he beat Sean O' Grady by knockout in four, Gómez by knockout in three and Art Hafey by knockout in seven. Finally ranked number one by the WBC, he travelled to Ghana to challenge world Featherweight champion David Kotey in front of an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 Kotey partisans. Lopez became world champion by outpointing Kotey over 15 rounds on November 6. This trip proved to be troublesome for the new champion, however: back in his hotel room, he tried to call his family in the United States to announce the good news, but all communication systems had been cut down in Ghana. Lopez then tried to send them a telegram through the American embassy in Accra, but they too were affected by the system failure and could not get his message through. Lopez's family was finally able to realize that Danny was a world champion when they picked him up at the airport one week later.

Lopez won three fights in 1977, retaining the title once, against José Torres by a knockout in round seven.

He and Kotey had a rematch on February 15 of 1978, as part of the undercard where Leon Spinks dethroned Muhammad Ali of the world Heavyweight title. Lopez knocked Kotey out in round six of their rematch, and then he retained the title against Jose DePaula by knockout in round six, and Juan Malvares (on the undercard where Ali regained the title from Spinks) by knockout in two. On October 21, he had a fight with Fel Clemente, against whom he retained the world title with a four-round disqualification in Italy.

By the end of 1978, there was much talk of a super-fight against world Jr. Featherweight champion Wilfredo Gómez, but the bout never materialized.

His fight on March 10 of 1979 against Spain's Roberto Castanon in Salt Lake City, not only marked the first time he defended his world title in his home-state, but the first time he fought in his home-state as a professional period. He retained the crown with a ten-round knockout. Then, on June 17, at San Antonio, Lopez and Mike Ayala fought what boxing book The Ring: Boxing in the 20th Century called one of the best fights of 1979. Lopez retained the title with a 15th round knockout, but the fight was marred by the finding afterwards that Ayala had been fighting under the influence of drugs. Nevertheless, this did not affect the fight's result, but left many to speculate about how the fight would have ended had Ayala not been drugged during it. Ayala himself admitted to have been, in his own words, loaded on the day of the fight.

Lopez went on to defend the title once more that year, knocking out Jose Caba in three rounds.

Lopez's reign as world champion came to an end on February 2, 1980, at the Arizona Veterans Coliseum in Phoenix. He met Salvador Sánchez that day, and he lost by knockout in round 13. A rematch was fought on June 21, in Las Vegas, and that time around, Lopez managed to last until the 14th round before succumbing once again by knockout. He announced his retirement after that fight.

In 1985, he talked about a comeback, but decided not to do it. However, in 1991, he did a one fight comeback, losing to Jorge Rodriguez by a knockout in round three.

On June 2010, Lopez, 42-6, 39Ko’s and 12 other boxing personalities were inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Lopez has remained active during his latest retirement in the social sphere: He has been the object of various dedications and been active on the autograph signing circuit. He returned to live in Utah full-time after stepping away from the boxing rings for the last time, then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a construction worker.

Danny Lopez 

Born: July 6th, 1952

Birth Place: Fort Duchesne, Utah

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Pro-Debut: May 27th, 1971

Alias: Little Red / El Coloradito

Division: Featherweight

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 5′ 7½″  

Reach: 71″  

Bouts: 48

Rounds: 244

Record: 42-6, 39Ko’s

Ko’s: 81%

Career

WBC Featherweight Champion

1976 Nov 13 – 1980 Feb 2

International Boxing Hall of Fame – Class of 2010

July 6th

1922: Johnny Dundee W15 Jack Sharkey

Frankie Genaro ND12 Pancho Villa

1925: Mike Ballerino W15 Pepper Martin

1933: Lou Brouillard W10 Mickey Walker

1952: Danny (Little Red) Lopez was born Fort Dusche, Utah

1955: Floyd Patterson KO 7 Archie McBride

1968: Oscar Bonavena MD12 Zora Folley

Sonny Liston TKO 7 Henry Clark

1974: Roberto Durán TKO7 Flash Gallego

Clarence “Bones” Adams Jr. was born Henderson, Kentucky

1979: Betulio Gonzalez KO12 Shoji Oguma

1996: Steve Collins TKO4 Nigel  

Luisito Espinosa W12 Cesar Soto

1999: Trenton judge Gerald Council revokes Britton (Tiger) Thomas, boxing license because he had fallen more than $4000 behind in child support payments. Thomas is the first boxer to lose his license under the New Jersey’s “deadbeat dad law.”

2001: Andre Purlette TKO2 Jimmy Thunder

DaVarryl Williamson TKO1 Antonio Colbert

Dominick Guinn TKO1 Marvin Hill

2002: Jorge Arce KO6 Yosam Choi

2004: Courtney Burton WSD10 Emanuel Augustus

2007: Yuriorkis Gamboa TKO2 Joel Mayo

2008: Mando Ramos passes at the age of 59

2012: Carolina Raquel Duer TKO5 Corina Carlescu

Javier Fortuna TKO2 Cristobal Cruz

Magomed Abdusalamov TKO2 Maurice Byarm

Ronald Gavril TKO1 Kenneth Taylor Schmitz

2013: Debora Anahi Dionicius W10 Marisa Joana Portillo

Daud Yordan W12 Daniel Eduardo Brizuela

Susi Kentikian W10 Carina Moreno

Felix Sturm TKO4 Predrag Radosevic

Maurice Weber TKO1 Aliaksandr Abramenka

Juan Alberto Rosas W10 Fernando Vargas Parra

Tony Thompson TKO5 David Price

2014: Ruslan Chagaev WMD12 Fres Oquendo         

2019: Evelin Nazarena Bermudez DSD10 Silvia Torres

Nordine Oubaali RTD6 Arthur Villanueva

Sebastian Formella W12 Thulani Mbenge

2024: Shakur Stevenson W12 Artem Harutyunyan

Robson Conceicao W12 O'Shaquie Foster   

Eridson Garcia W10 William Foster III 

Keyshawn Davis W10 Miguel Madueno         

Kelvin Davis WMD8 Kevin Johnson    

Abdullah Mason TKO3 Luis Lebron    

Ali Feliz W4 Robinson Perez     

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