Jonathan ‘Geo’ Lopez stopped throwing his right hand midway through his eventual unanimous decision win over Rene Alvarado.
The unbeaten junior lightweight controlled the first half of their ProBox-aired bout, and peppered the former secondary titlist with combinations to the head and body. Alvarado, a veteran pressure fighter, saw his efforts to move forward disrupted by Lopez’s quick hands.
Lopez, 18-0 (12 KOs) picked his targets well and Alvarado stumble backwards early in the fight with a seemingly innocent straight shot to the stomach.
The two-fisted attack ceased in the middle rounds. Lopez shrugged his right shoulder as if he had injured it, a theory supported by the lack of punches offered from that side. His body attack all but disappeared as the 21-year-old southpaw fought almost exclusively with his left hand through the remainder of the fight.
Alvarado gained more traction in the second half as a result. Lopez shifted into a more defensive style, forced to move laterally and counter with single left hands.
Lopez bagged enough early rounds to preserve a lead that wasn’t nearly as close on the cards as was suggested in the ring. Alvarado’s strong finish, coupled with Lopez’s late fade made the fight feel in the balance in the championship rounds.
At times, Alvarado, whose sharp jawline and worn skin made him look like a father in a movie, appeared to break down the fresh-faced Lopez.
BoxingScene sat down with Lopez to confirm whether an injury caused the second-half slowdown.
Nope. Well, maybe, though the Orlando (Florida)-based prospect wouldn’t admit it.
“Happy that my health is intact,” Lopez insisted.
To a more precise follow-up question about his shoulder, Lopez was still cryptic though he at least provided a little more insight.
“I got the job done,” Lopez said of his first win of the year following a seven-month gap between fights. “I don’t want to make no excuses. [Alvarado] is definitely a durable guy. He was definitely a veteran, former [secondary WBA] world champion.
“I give myself a C, C+ today. But I got the job done, so that’s the main thing.”
Lopez admitted that he could have made better use of his jab to negate Alvarado’s four-inch reach advantage and close the distance. There was also the acknowledgment of the veteran’s late-round surge which disrupted his own rhythm.
“I had to use my legs more, even though I was having trouble trying to move,” Lopez explained. “He got more confidence, and I’m pretty sure he’s seen it…I found a way to win, and I did it.”
Lopez would not take the bait after one more attempt to verify if anything physically hindered his performance. He attributed any such moments to the game being the game, and insisted that the plan—through the guidance of multi-time Trainer of the Year Eddy Reynoso—remains to shift towards title contention by year’s end or in 2026.
Unlike main-eventer Kent Cruz and Elijah Lugo opponent Andre Johnson, Lopez does not have another job besides boxing. His answers can be viewed as evasive, but perhaps more so the product of a single-minded dedication to the fight game.
He’s happy to talk about whether he wants to fight 12 rounds next time out (he does), when he’ll be back in the gym (almost immediately), and who he wants to fight (the best).
Lopez expressed trust in Reynoso and his father to select his opponents, further dispelling the notion that fighters duck potential opponents or are even made fully aware of what offers have been extended to them. “Everyone does their job,” Lopez said.
When BoxingScene last talked to Lopez, almost a year ago, his love for the sport was evident.
The passage of time and absorption of punches hasn’t dulled his affection.
“All I do is boxing, man,” Lopez stated. “I love it – the smell of the gloves, to punching the bag, to the smell of blood. Everything. I love boxing, as crazy as that sounds.”
