Utahn in boxing Hall of Fame

Back in the late 1970′s, a Utahn was featherweight champion of the world.

Danny “Little Red” Lopez ruled the ring, fighting out of Los Angeles. But he actually grew up in the Uintah Basin.

Now Lopez is going into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He will be inducted in Canastota, N.Y., June 10-13. eastsideboxing.com

Lopez was never quick, but he was a powerful puncher who was rated 26th on The Ring magazine’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. He won his first 21 fights by knockout.

I covered several of his title fights. It seems strange to me now, but once he and manager Benny Georgino invited me to dinner the night before he fought for the world title. I couldn’t imagine they didn’t have someone else to eat with besides me, but it happened. I remember he ate a large steak.

Why Danny’s wife wasn’t there, I don’t really know, except I guess it was a guys-in-training kind of thing. Very manly. Just Danny, me and Benny at an L.A. steak house. When the fight began, he knocked his opponent through the ropes and the guy’s head landed right in front of me on press row. My picture ended up in both the L.A. Herald-Examiner and L.A. Times the next day.