Promising Prospect: Alfonso Lopez III
The fight poster for a Top Rank-promoted card which took place in Texas this past April had the heading “Young Guns – The Undefeated” and featured the faces of five unbeaten prospects. Four of those faces would likely have been recognizable to those who closely follow the sport. Mike Alvarado, Jerry Belmontes, Mikey Garcia and Omar Henry have garnered national attention and been featured prominently on national television during their ascension through the ranks. The fifth face featured on the poster, that of light heavyweight Alfonso Lopez III, would likely go unidentified by fight fans based outside the Lone Star State, but that could soon change. Lopez, a gunslinger from Cut and Shoot, educated inside and outside of the ring, is on cusp of moving from prospect to contender and setting his sights on the upper levels of the 168 and 175-pound divisions.
The way in which Lopez (20-0, 15 KOs) found boxing as a profession is a unique story. Though he had a fondness for boxing as a youth, the pull of other sports kept Lopez out of ring until much later in life. “We had a couple uncles and my stepfather had fought in the amateurs,” recalls Lopez. “We would box in the backyards. I just never competed, because I was big into baseball and football.”
Lopez’ love for football led him to walk-on to the team while at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he played linebacker for two years. In 2005, Lopez eventually decided to participate at a college amateur fight night, which brought him to the Henry Harris Gym and brought trainer Felix Ramirez and eventually Henry Harris into his life. “He was already 20-years-old and had never fought before,” recalls Ramirez. “He just started training with us and it seemed like he picked up on everything. He fought at the fight night and knocked the kid out in the first round.”
Perhaps motivated by his immediate success, Lopez decided to return to the gym and eventually pursue boxing further. “He started to come back and train for real this time,” recalls Ramirez. “With that being said, he went to fight a couple amateur fights, then went to the Houston Golden Gloves, with only three amateur fights, and he won the Houston Golden Gloves. He went to the [Texas State Golden Gloves] with five amateur bouts under his belt, won the State Golden Gloves three days in a row.”
If you think qualifying for the National Golden Gloves after so few sanctioned bouts seems unusual, then you would be correct. “It is a rarity,” admits Ramirez. “I have never seen it really, must less in such a competitive area, such as the Houston area, in Texas on top of that. There are a lot of big heavyweights and light heavyweights [in the state.]”
The Harris boxing family is very much a part of the fabric of Cut and Shoot, Texas, which just happens to be the town from where Lopez is originally from as well. Roy Harris was a stellar amateur before turning professional, going on an unbeaten run which included a win over eventual Hall of Famer Willie Pastrano, before challenging Floyd Patterson for the World Heavyweight title in 1958. Henry was a solid amateur himself, a Texas State Golden Glove Champion several times over, and eventually took to coaching.
Even with all of his many years in and around the sport, Henry has been surprised by Lopez’ accelerated development. “It is kind of unusual for somebody in college to learn how to fight,” states Harris. “Most of them start when they are young, but he is an intelligent kid and worked real hard at getting things right and he’s developed really fast. It probably doesn’t seem fast to him, but to me it seems awfully fast for somebody that just starts out. Now he is as good a boxer as there is that is out there right now.”
Lopez takes great pride in the fighting tradition of Cut and Shoot, and in a way carrying on the legacy of the Harris boxing family. “Henry had a son, Trey Harris that fought to 14-0, but never really got to get on the big stage. I am coming up and trying to put Cut and Shoot back on the map, but the whole Harris family has just been a huge, great family,” says Lopez. “The way they took me in when I came down here to start fighting. They started teaching me the ropes, and Henry is just the master of boxing, he knows so much. Their whole family is very smart, and they took me in, and my whole family in, and adopted us. They have taken care of us, I am just so glad I am in the position that I am in to start my career as a professional. I don’t think I could have done it anywhere else. This is chosen for me. This is why I came to Sam Houston and this is what I should be doing. This is what God planned for me.”
Before making the leap to the pros, Lopez had a solid 2006 amateur campaign, which included another Texas State Golden Glove title and appearance at the National Golden Gloves. In March of 2006, competing in the 178-pound weight class, Lopez made it to the finals of the U.S. Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lopez notched two victories in Colorado, including one over present day prospect Will Rosinsky, but came up short in the final against accomplished amateur Christopher Downs.
Though he did not take home the national title, the event itself provided Lopez with invaluable experience. “It was a great experience, because I met a lot of great guys,” says Lopez. “A lot of the top guys professionally now, I got to meet them and got to work out with them to see their work ethic. Just the facility, I was a little bit in awe just being there. It really helped my career and gave me more confidence just being there.”
During his 2006 amateur run, Lopez and his team decided they would turn professional the following year rather than attempt to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. “We thought, hey, the way the system runs now…If Alfonso wanted to, he could have gone to the [Olympic] Trials, and probably even won the Trials, because by then he already had the experience,” said Ramirez. “But I think at this point, we are ahead of the 2008 Olympic class if you look at who is out there. I think it was a wise decision now that we look back.”
Several factors went into the decision to go pro when Lopez did, one of which was the way the U.S. structures their training program. “He would have had to leave us for that entire camp,” explains Ramirez. “How are you going to have somebody just leave you like that? Somebody you trained and you just turn them over to somebody and say ‘Ok, here you go.’ And on top of that, he has a wife and kids. So you are going to leave them too, come on now. It would have been for a long period of time too, not just a couple of weeks. Based on the coaching and everything, he was not going to get the coaching he gets here. And that’s a bold statement. Argue with it, but I think we made the right decision in the end.”
Lopez agreed with his coach’s assessment and was on board with the decision to go pro in 2007. “I was waiting to finish up college,” says Lopez, who graduated from Sam Houston. “My wife was finishing up her Master’s, and I was getting my graduate degree. I finished mine, and we decided at the age I was, and I was married and had a little girl, they thought it was the best decision to turn pro. I went ahead and went with it, rolled the dice early and went professional. I think it was a smart decision.”
Lopez turned pro that March, and crossed over some difficult hurdles in that very first outing. “My pro debut was probably the toughest fight I have had to this point,” admits Lopez. “I just went in so green into it, and the nerves. I got headbutted in the first 30 seconds of the fight. I got cut bad and it just exploded everywhere. There was blood in my eyes. Things guys go through in a ten-year professional career, I learned in one day. In one four-round fight, I was cut, I was bleeding, I was exhausted, I was throwing way too many punches – like a 100 and something punches a round. I was so excited and so dehydrated. It was just a huge, huge learning experience.”
Lopez won every round against Bonnie Joe McGee that night and was ready to move forward in his career, while constantly applying his college work ethic in the gym. “He’s a smart fighter and he takes advantage of other styles,” says Harris. “And it is just hard for someone to start boxing late and learn all of that stuff. But he has been a great student.”
In the 19 fights since, Lopez has remained undefeated and in recent bouts turned back the challenges of stiffer competition. In May of last year, Lopez fought outside of Texas for just the second time as a pro and went the ten-round distance for the first time in a win over veteran Ronald Weaver. “It was a big learning experience for him, to go over there into someone else’s hometown, and show that you can do what you have to do to get the win,” said Ramirez. “In my opinion, he won every round in that fight. If you are the opponent and you got one of the scorecards saying 100-89, then you know what happened.”
In his most recent outing, Lopez stepped up against former title challenger Rubin Williams and scored a unanimous ten-round decision, winning every round on every official card. “That was a fight that really got me up, just because the name Rubin Williams – fought for a world title against Jeff Lacy,” says Lopez. “I knew he was an experienced guy that could give me a couple different looks. I knew he was going to do some things other guys haven’t done, adjust the range and try to control the pace. But I felt I dictated everything in the fight. I fought when I wanted to fight.”
Next up for Lopez is a move down to 168-pounds to take on Romero Johnson for the vacant WBC Continental Americas title this coming Thursday in Dallas, Texas. It is an important fight, because an impressive victory could vault Lopez near the top fifteen in the WBC rankings. “It does excite me to go for a minor title,” admits Lopez. “That was one of our goals before the year had ended, and it turned out for me. Romero Johnson, I don’t know much about him, but I am working with the best in Marcus Johnson and Brian Vera. I am working hard, so whatever he brings, I may need a couple rounds to figure him out, but I plan on taking it to him and getting the win. Then hopefully look for some bigger things next year.”
Bigger things are present on the mind of Lopez’ head trainer and co-manager, Henry Harris. “We are reaching the stage now where we need exposure,” says Harris. “We got him where he can fight, so he just needs the exposure and to fight somebody that is supposedly a good fighter. We are willing to fight anybody for that matter. It is just a matter of what makes more sense. We would like to be [ranked] number one, but we are not there, because we can’t get the fight to prove it. I think he is. I think he is the best fighter out there right now.”
There are easier ways for college graduates to make their living than inside a boxing ring, but Lopez is completely focused on becoming the best boxer he can, and will think about putting his diploma to work for him at a later time. “Boxing is not a sport where you can say I am going to work and get a job and go ahead and get my Master’s and become a dietician,” says Lopez. “Boxing has to be your job. It has to be your passion. You have to love what you do everyday. Even when fights are falling through and you are not making any money, you have to stick with it mentally. It has to be what you want to do. You have to give it your life. You have to give it your heart. There’s no looking back.”
Photo by John Giles
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.