Oscar boxes clever to tame tough Lopez
Spencer and Oscar after Sunday’s comprehensive victory
OSCAR McCracken – the only solicitor to punch for pay – kept the exchanges at distance to take a clear points victory over dangerous Ramiro Garcia Lopez.
Sunday’s show at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport, may have carried the label “Jingle Brawls”, but the 26-year-old refused to be drawn into the brawl that the Mexican craved.
Birmingham’s “De La Lawyer”, now unbeaten in five, jabbed smartly to win 60-55 after six rounds – Oscar’s first over the distance. Referee Pete McCormack probably gave Lopez a share of the fifth when he connected with the combination of looping right to the head, left hook to the body that he’d been searching for.
No risks, no errors – Oscar’s dad Spencer will be pleased by the restraint and discipline shown by the welter.
On paper, it looked risky. On canvas, it was far from it.
Without downplaying McCracken’s performance – and it was a mature one, the fire that burned in Lopez last year when he faced Niall Farrell seems to have dwindled.
However, he was also tamed by Spencer’s tactics. Farrell was keen to engage with the hardman at close quarters. McCracken never allowed Lopez to fight his fight, keeping the exchanges long.
Spencer summed it up succinctly. He said: “Oscar wanted to get involved a bit more, but he didn’t have to. Keep it simple, there’s plenty of time for hard fights.
“Why get involved when you don’t need to? Boxing can be a long career or a short one if you’re reckless.
“Keep learning on the job. It was great experience against a tough lad with more knockouts than Oscar’s had fights.”
It was a near shutout victory built behind a fine accurate jab to head and body. Lopez, poker-faced, connected with two lefts to McCracken’s body in the second, but was being comprehensively outworked.
Oscar (10st 6lbs) sliced through his guard with a crisp one-two in the third and peppered Lopez (10st 11lbs) with jabs in the fourth. All the time, the Guadalajara veteran looking for an opening to land looping rights. The opening never came.
He threw more in the fifth and there were signs well-supported McCracken may be in for a rough ride down the stretch.
The big finish didn’t materialise. Oscar connected with an eye-catching right to the body in the last and planted an uppercut.
Lopez opened the throttle in the dying seconds, but had been thoroughly outboxed.