Danny 'Little Red' Lopez ~ Career

[Bill Paxtom]

Tuesday ~ April 5, 1977

~ 'Little Red' Is Down, But Not Out ~ {Part 2}

Danny Lopez >

I hurt my right-hand real bad in the bout with David Kotey on November 6, 1976. It was so bad, that I
had to ice it every day for a month.

We took a few months off before I started back in training and working out at the Main Street Gym in the
middle of February 1977.

We were planning on having a 'tune-bout' in Oklahoma City for the 2nd-Week of March, and against Mexico's
Edel Borunda, the Chihuahua State > Featherweight Champion.

And then I was going to make my '1st' Title Defense on April 9th at The Forum and against #6 WBC-ranked
Ernesto Herrera, who is also the Mexican Featherweight Champion.

But my right-hand was really bothering me during the work-outs. The 'pain' was really bad. So my Manager
Howie Steindler had me see a Physician. The doctor examined me, and said that I had bone damage in my
right-hand. He then sent me to a 'bone specialist'.

We got 2nd-opinion, and it was diagnosed as 'bone chips', and the Physician said that he would have to perform
surgery.

So we 'cancelled' both the tune-up bout and Title Defense.

The damaged area was inside the joint on my right-hand {on the palm side} of my middle-finger. They had to
remove the 'bone-chips'. It was a simple surgery, but it did require an over-night stay at the Hospital.

The surgery went fine, but recovery is a different matter. They put my hand in a cast, where it stayed on for
3-Weeks.

Of course, in the meantime, we had the tragedy with my Manager {Howie Steindler}, where he was kidnapped
and murdered. I don't want to go into that, because it makes me both mad and sad.

I guess I will be 'out-of-action' for 3-Months now. I'm probably going to need a couple of 'tune-up bouts' first,
before I make my 1st Title-Defense.