# Danny Lopez (boxer)

Danny Lopez (born July 6, 1952) is an American former professional boxer who was the WBC featherweight champion of the world from November 1976 to February 1980. His nickname was Little Red.
Known for his tremendous punching power, in 2003 The Ring magazine rated Lopez at number 26 on their list of "100 Greatest Punchers". In 2010, Lopez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

## Background

Lopez describes himself as having Native American, Mexican, and European-American heritage. He had been moved from one foster home to another, and coming off the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in Fort Duchesne, Utah, he finally found a home in Southern California. He said that his father was a Mission Indian from Northern California, that his maternal grandmother was three-quarters Ute, and that his maternal grandfather was part Irish. He is also the brother of welterweight contender Ernie Lopez. He is married to Bonnie Lopez and has three sons, Bronson, Jeremy, and Dylan.

## Pro career

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 those 21 fights to be held outside Los Angeles took place in Honolulu, where he beat Ushiwakamaru Harada by knockout in three.
On January 17, 1974, Genzo Kurosawa 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.
People in Los Angeles were eager to see Lopez and another up-and-coming Los Angeleno, Bobby Chacon, square off inside a ring. The fight took place on May 24, and Lopez was knocked out in the ninth round in a thrilling fight. In his next fight of note, 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 on a roll, beginning with a knockout of Chucho Castillo 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 Kotei in front of an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 Kotei partisans. Lopez became world champion by outpointing Kotei over 15 rounds on November 6. Due to all communication systems having been cut down in Ghana, Lopez could not get his message through to his family; they only learned he was 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 Kotei 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 Kotei 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, after recovering from a first round knockdown himself. 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 Castañón 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 two-round knockout. On June 17, 1979, at San Antonio, Lopez defeated Mike Ayala with a thrilling 15th-round knockout and retained his WBC Featherweight title for the seventh time; the exciting bout would be recognized by Ring Magazine as its Fight of the Year for 1979. 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 Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. He met Salvador Sánchez that day, and he lost by knockout in round 13 in a one-sided affair. A rematch was fought on June 21, in Las Vegas, and that time around, Lopez was knocked out in the 14th round. He announced his retirement after that fight.
In 1985, he talked about a comeback, but decided to delay until 1992, when he was 40 years old. He lost that bout via TKO.
His record was 42 wins and 6 losses, with 39 wins by knockout.
In June 2010, Lopez and 12 other boxing personalities were inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

## Professional boxing record

| 48 fights | 42 wins | 6 losses |
| By knockout | 39 | 5 |
| By decision | 2 | 1 |
| By disqualification | 1 | 0 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 48 | Loss | 42–6 | Jorge Rodriguez | KO | 2 (10), 0:37 | Feb 27, 1992 | Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S. | |
| 47 | Loss | 42–5 | Salvador Sánchez | TKO | 14 (15), 1:42 | Jun 21, 1980 | Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | For WBC and The Ring featherweight titles |
| 46 | Loss | 42–4 | Salvador Sánchez | TKO | 13 (15), 0:51 | Feb 2, 1980 | Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | Lost WBC and The Ring featherweight titles |
| 45 | Win | 42–3 | Jose Caba | TKO | 3 (15), 1:41 | Sep 25, 1979 | Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Retained WBC and The Ring featherweight titles |
| 44 | Win | 41–3 | Mike Ayala | KO | 15 (15), 1:09 | Jun 17, 1979 | Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | Retained WBC and The Ring featherweight titles |
| 43 | Win | 40–3 | Roberto Castañón | KO | 2 (15), 3:02 | Mar 10, 1979 | Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. | Retained WBC featherweight title; Won vacant The Ring featherweight title |
| 42 | Win | 39–3 | Fel Clemente | DQ | 4 (15), 2:15 | Oct 21, 1978 | Palazzo Dello Sport, Pesaro, Italy | Retained WBC featherweight title |
| 41 | Win | 38–3 | Juan Domingo Malvarez | KO | 2 (15), 0:45 | Sep 15, 1978 | Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | Retained WBC featherweight title |
| 40 | Win | 37–3 | Jose de Paula | TKO | 6 (15), 1:30 | Apr 23, 1978 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Retained WBC featherweight title |
| 39 | Win | 36–3 | David Kotei | TKO | 6 (15), 1:18 | Feb 15, 1978 | Hilton Hotel, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. | Retained WBC featherweight title |
| 38 | Win | 35–3 | José Torres | RTD | 7 (15), 3:00 | Sep 13, 1977 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Retained WBC featherweight title |
| 37 | Win | 34–3 | Jorge Altamirano | KO | 6 (10) | Aug 28, 1977 | Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Stateline, Nevada, U.S. | |
| 36 | Win | 33–3 | Jose Olivares | KO | 2 (10) | Jul 29, 1977 | Coliseum, San Diego, California, U.S. | |
| 35 | Win | 32–3 | David Kotei | UD | 15 | Nov 6, 1976 | Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana | Won WBC featherweight title |
| 34 | Win | 31–3 | Art Hafey | TKO | 7 (12), 0:56 | Aug 6, 1976 | Forum, Inglewood, California, U.S. | |
| 33 | Win | 30–3 | Octavio Gomez | KO | 3 (10), 1:15 | Apr 28, 1976 | Forum, Inglewood, California, U.S. | |
| 32 | Win | 29–3 | Sean O'Grady | RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | Feb 25, 1976 | Forum, Inglewood, California, U.S. | |
| 31 | Win | 28–3 | Rubén Olivares | KO | 7 (10), 1:59 | Dec 4, 1975 | Forum, Inglewood, California, U.S. | |
| 30 | Win | 27–3 | Antonio Nava | TKO | 6 (10), 2:09 | Sep 13, 1975 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 29 | Win | 26–3 | Raul Cruz | KO | 6 (10), 0:30 | Jul 26, 1975 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 28 | Win | 25–3 | Chucho Castillo | TKO | 2 (10), 3:00 | Apr 24, 1975 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 27 | Loss | 24–3 | Octavio Gomez | UD | 10 | Jan 18, 1975 | Convention Center, Anaheim, California, U.S. | |
| 26 | Loss | 24–2 | Shig Fukuyama | RTD | 8 (10), 3:00 | Sep 19, 1974 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 25 | Win | 24–1 | Masanao Toyoshima | KO | 3 (10), 2:59 | Aug 8, 1974 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 24 | Loss | 23–1 | Bobby Chacon | TKO | 9 (12), 0:48 | May 24, 1974 | Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Memo Rodriguez | TKO | 10 (10) | Feb 3, 1974 | Gimnasio de Mexicali, Mexicali, Mexico | |
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Genzo Kurosawa | UD | 10 | Jan 17, 1974 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Goyo Vargas | KO | 1 (10), 2:59 | Sep 27, 1973 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Ushiwakamaru Harada | RTD | 2 (10), 3:00 | Jul 31, 1973 | Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Juan Ordonez | KO | 4 (10), 1:44 | Jun 21, 1973 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Cesar Ordonez | RTD | 6 (10), 3:00 | May 10, 1973 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Kenji Endo | TKO | 2 (10), 1:26 | Mar 17, 1973 | Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Jorge Carrasco | KO | 1 (10), 2:24 | Feb 8, 1973 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Jorge Reyes | KO | 7 (10), 1:25 | Oct 19, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Yoshinobu Goto | RTD | 8 (10), 3:00 | Jul 27, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Benny Rodriguez | KO | 1 (10), 2:25 | Jul 20, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Jose Luis Valdovinos | TKO | 4 (10) | May 11, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Arturo Pineda | KO | 4 (10), 2:59 | Mar 9, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Rafael Lopez | KO | 2 (10) | Feb 18, 1972 | Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Jose Manuel Orantes | KO | 2 (10) | Jan 20, 1972 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Margarito Rios | KO | 1 (6) | Nov 18, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Frankie Granados | KO | 2 (6) | Oct 14, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Rafael Lopez | TKO | 5 (8) | Sep 16, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Modesto Ortiz | KO | 4 (6) | Aug 12, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Jose Luis Estrada | KO | 3 (6), 0:35 | Jul 29, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Mauro Olivares | KO | 1 (6) | Jul 8, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Filiberto Castro | KO | 1 (6) | Jun 17, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Steve Flajole | KO | 1 (6) | May 27, 1971 | Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Professional debut |

## Life After Boxing

After his final bout, Lopez was the object of various dedications and was active on the autograph signing circuit. He returned to live in Utah full-time, then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a construction worker. Today he lives in Chino Hills, California.
Lopez acted in the 1989 film "Fists of Steel".

## Honors

* Inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame – 2005
* Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame – 2010