Juan Manuel López (boxer)

Juan Manuel López Rivera (born June 30, 1983), often known as Juanma Lopez, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2019. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO junior featherweight title from 2008 to 2009, and the WBO featherweight title from 2010 to 2011. As an amateur he represented Puerto Rico at numerous international tournaments, including the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, the 2003 Pan American Games, and the 2004 Olympics. López was considered a knockout artist at his peak in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Amateur career

López started boxing when he was ten years old. He won the Puerto Rican national amateur championship for five consecutive years between 2000 and 2004. López represented Puerto Rico internationally, fighting in the bantamweight division ( in the amateur circuit). In the 2001 Pan American Championships held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on August 10–18, López ended in the second place after Elio Rojas of the Dominican Republic. He was part of the national team assembled to compete in the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, held in San Salvador. In this competition, López debuted by defeating local pugilist Antonio Nuñez by points (23:16), but lost a decision to Abner Mares of Mexico, with scores of 23:19. In the first 2003 Pan American qualifier, López debuted by defeating Francisco Palma of Ecuador, with scores of 12:8. In the semifinals, he lost to Alexander Espinoza of Venezuela by points (11:10). His next major international event was the 2003 Pan American Games, organized in Santo Domingo. Debuting in the preliminaries, López defeated Castulo González of Guatemala by points (27:10) in the inaugural fight. In the quarterfinals, he was matched against Mares, losing another fight by points, on this occasion with results of 24:21. López was among the Puerto Rican boxers that competed in the American Olympic qualification tournament, which took place in Tijuana. He began his participation on March 14, 2004, by defeating Roberto Benítez of the United States via decision. In the tournament's second date, he defeated Algenis Méndez, who represented the Dominican Republic, by points. In the final, López lost a decision to Andrew Kooner of Canada, with scores of 29:18. This performance earned him a position in the national team that participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics, held in Athens. As part of his training for that games, López participated in two "Puerto Rico vs. USA" tournaments, where both national teams paired those qualified for the event. The first of these took place on May 7, 2004, in Reno, Nevada. There, López defeated Eric Hunter by walkover. In the second, organized in Trenton, New Jersey, on October 4, 2004, he defeated Torrence Daniels by points (16–15). This was followed by his last participation in the Jose "Cheo" Aponte Tournament in Caguas, Puerto Rico, where he defeated Luis Peña in the finals, 33–5. López's Olympic debut took place on August 17, 2004, when he was paired against Khavazhi Khatsigov of Belarus, losing the contest by points (27–19). Upon closing his amateur career, he had compiled a record of 126–24.

Professional career

López turned professional in 2005 following the Olympic games, boxing in the junior featherweight division. As a professional he is promoted by Top Rank Boxing and comanaged by Orlando Piñero and Peter Rivera, president of Puerto Rico Best Boxing Promotions. López debuted on January 29, 2005, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico picking a quick knockout victory against also debuting boxer Luis Colón. He would go on to defeat nine straight adversaries by knockout: Ivan Cordero, Efrain Perez, Eric Nemos, Charlie Jones, Roberto Chacón, Luis Bolaño, Manuel Sanabria and Jose Luis Caro. He concluded his first year as a professional with a record of 8–0 with eight knockouts, which earned him the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission's recognition for rookie and prospect of the year. On March 4, 2006, he won his first fight by unanimous decision against Gilberto Bolanos of Mexico. He would win four more fights before the end of 2006, three of them by knockout. One of these fights was against Jose Alonso, for the WBO Latino Super Bantamweight Championship, a regional championship sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization. The fight took place on September 30, 2006, in Caguas and ended in the third round when López defeated Alonso by technical knockout. His first fight of 2007 took place in Dodge Arena in Phoenix, Arizona against Cuauhtemoc Vargas, in a fight he won when Vargas was unable to continue. He would compete again on March 3 in San Juan, against Leivi Brea, in a fight that he won by technical knockout. On April 28, 2007, López would have his first fight outside of Puerto Rico and the United States in a fight that took place in Barranquilla, Colombia. The fight was against Colombian boxer Jorge Otero, the fight ended when the referee stopped the fight thus giving López another technical knockout victory. López's next fight took place on June 22, 2007, in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico against Giovanni Andrade of Brazil as the main event of a card presented by ''Puerto Rico Best Boxing''. López won the fight by technical knockout at 2:59 of the first round when Andrade indicated to the referee that he could not continue. On August 4, 2007, López retained his regional title in a fight where he defeated Hugo Dianzo by technical knockout. López dominated throughout the fight opening wounds on Dianzo's head. On the tenth round one of López's punches opened one of these wounds further which led to Dianzo losing a significant amount of blood, following this incident the referee stopped the fight. López would successfully defend his regional title against Omar Adorno, in a special fight card presented by the WBO that took place on October 31, 2007. Juan scored three knockdowns throughout the course of the fight, and after two minutes of the second round had passed he won the fight by knockout. López's fourth title defense took place on February 23, 2008, when he defeated Jonathan Oquendo by technical knockout in the third round of an event titled ''Guerra Civil''.

WBO super bantamweight champion

On June 7, 2008, López fought in his first world championship match when he challenged Daniel Ponce de León for the World Boxing Organization's super bantamweight title in a card organized by Home Box Office at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He won by technical knockout in the first round, when the referee stopped the fight after Ponce de León failed to respond following two consecutive knockdowns. After attending several homages, presentations and interviews, López received his championship belt from the WBO's president, Francisco "Paco" Valcárcel, on June 13, 2008. During this ceremony, he received a letter from Wilfredo Gómez