[Crimson]

Saturday, July 11th, 1992
Arco Arena; Sacramento, California
Miguel Angel Gonzales 25-0 (22) Mexico WBC
vs.
Tony Lopez 44-3-1 (27) California
- Boxing fans had many questions they hoped would be answered by the conclusion of the Miguel Angel Gonzalez/Tony Lopez fight. 1) Did Tony Lopez still have enough left in the tank to beat his naturally heavier and younger world class foe? 2) Was Miguel Angel Gonzalez really as good as some were saying? He was already drawing comparisons to a young Julio Cesar Chavez!

- Sacramento’s “Arco Arena” was filled to a capacity of 17,317. The people of Sacramento loved their native son Tony Lopez, and although there was a growing list of doubters regarding his ability to defeat Miguel Angel Gonzalez, they turned out in support of “The Tiger” none the less.

- Calling the fight for NBC, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco pointed out that one would be hard pressed to find a more electrified venue in the USA, or anywhere in the world, that could match “Arco Arena” when Tony Lopez fights there.

- The referee was Laurence Cole of Texas, the 3 judges were from Washington, Japan, and South Africa.

- Reports out of the Lopez camp were good and bad. The good: he was slipping and riding punches defensively better than ever. The bad: he had several days where he showed up late to the gym after an extra long night out on the town with friends.

- Tony Lopez made his ring walk with the music “Eye of the Tiger” resonating off the “Arco Arena” walls and the 17,000+ in attendance singing right along. Any doubt about the abilities of Gonzalez were put to rest when he deposited the hometown hero hard on the canvas twice in round 1, courtesy of Gonzalez left hooks! Tony Lopez needed to summon his own version of “Rocky” if he was to have any hope of winning.

- With some solid advice from his trainer, Will Edgington, Lopez began to use his boxing skills and make himself a moving target. In the process of moving and jabbing Lopez did some damage to the right eye (5) of Gonzalez, possibly with a thumb.

- Gonzalez got rough on the inside in round 5 causing the fighters heads to clash on more than one occasion. When the bell rang a trickle of blood could be seen dripping from a small cut on the forehead of Lopez. Referee, Laurence Cole ruled that it was from a punch.

- After 5 rounds of action, Ringside Expert Dave Rodman had Gonzalez up by 2 points, 48 to 46. Punches landed numbers favored Lopez 114-110.

- In round 6 Lopez started off with a jab that landed right on the increasingly swollen right eye of Gonzalez (13). A flurry of shots to the body from Lopez all landed and Gonzalez seemed bothered by his ½ shut eye, as he continued to paw at it in attempts to keep it open. Lopez took full advantage of the distracted WBC title holder and launched several rocket right hands all of which landed flush! Gonzalez was hurt, but instead of holding on he tried to fire back at Lopez. “The Tiger” side stepped the blows and delivered two hooks in succession. Gonzalez was hurt bad and laid on the ropes refusing to hold on. After about 25 unanswered blows, many of which landed flush the referee stopped the fight and absolute pandemonium broke out at the “Arco Arena”!

- This was a fight of the year candidate and fabulous display of heart, skill, and resilience by Tony Lopez.
Tony Lopez TKO6 Miguel Angel Gonzalez (wins WBC title)

Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_82bV-pid7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h5s7DGuW50&feature=related

Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs. Francisco Da Cruz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dpaqAxzdaA&feature=related


Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs. Kostya Tszyu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upXpKIGLh4o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U3MErgyHQM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mH_GVvHM-g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDTG0dRXmbM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkVslIj59yE&feature=related

Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs. Lamar Murphy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NZ0H4ipmN4&feature=related