Sylvester Lopez (born Silvester Lopez on October 26, 1987) is a Filipino professional boxer who is the current WBC Silver Super Flyweight Champion and is also the former WBC International Super Flyweight Champion.

He is a retired boxer who challenged Yota Sato on his first defense of his WBC super flyweight title back in 2012.

Born in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, he currently resides in Sucat, Parañaque and is training under the Elorde Boxing Stable.

Personal life Silver was born on October 26, 1987, in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay. He is the son of Roseller Lopez and Maura Berador Lopez. He is the seventh among eight siblings: Roseller Jr., Christopher, Percival, Phillip, Jennifer, Rosemarie, and Lorjem. He came from a family of boxers, his father being a former professional boxer and three of this brothers (Christopher, Percival, Phillip) former amateur boxers. Among them, he is the only one active in the boxing field.

Amateur career Silver started as an amateur boxer at an early age of 13. He juggled his boxing career and high school education to be able to help his family financially. He participated in several inter-school and inter-barangay boxing competitions.

Professional career At the age of 17, former boxer Celso Danggod brought him to Manila to join Dante Almario's boxing stable.Lopez assured of title shot Joaquin Henson interview with Lopez He was eventually led to Gabriel "Bebot" Elorde's boxing stable and continued his boxing career under his stable.

Lopez made his professional debut on October 13, 2006, against fellow Filipino Joey Balmes. The bout took place in Trece Martires, Cavite and he won via a unanimous decision.

Three years later, he won the vacant WBC International Super Flyweight title on April 5, 2009, by beating Korean Jong-Nam Park via a technical knockout in the 8th round. Park went down three times in the opening round and was floored once in the 8th round, which prompted the stoppage. The fight took place in the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Lopez successfully defended his belt against Japanese Katsumi Makiyama and Thai Wandee Singwangcha on November 28, 2009, and July 31, 2010, respectively. Both bouts happened in Pasig.Lopez to face Thai in Elorde boxing fest, Inquirer press release for Wandee Singwancha fight.

On October 2, 2010, he lost via 5th-round technical decision over Juan José Montes for Montes' WBC Youth World Super Flyweight belt.Lopez loses to Montes in Mexico This fight also was a WBC Super Flyweight title eliminator, where the winner will challenge the world title then held by Tomás Rojas. A rematch was negotiated in the WBC convention but was not granted.Rematch in the works

On September 24, 2011, he stopped Mexican Oscar "Ceviche" Ibarra to successfully capture the WBC Silver Super Flyweight belt at the Plaza De Toros in Querétaro, Mexico.SYLVESTER LOPEZ STOPS IBARRA, WINS WBC SILVER TITLE This fight made him the mandatory challenger for the WBC Super Flyweight title which had been succeeded by Suriyan Sor Rungvisai at that time.

While Lopez had been the WBC's top contender in his division for about two years (the number one rated contender for over a year since January 2011), the title has been moved twice. Lopez's promoter Gabriel Elorde Jr. stated that Lopez should have been given the world title shot against any of those three champions and insisted that "Now it's our turn. Lopez is next. No more delays." Lopez watched the fight where Rungvisai lost the title to Yota Sato at ringside in Tokyo, Japan, with Elorde Jr. in March 2012. Elorde Jr. immediately contacted the WBC president José Sulaimán and reaffirmed the decision of the WBC Convention in December 2011 where Lopez was approved as a mandatory challenger for the title mentioning that he hopes that Sato would face Lopez in his first defense after three months. Although Rungvisai's promoter has held a two-fight option on Sato, Lopez's long-awaited first world title shot was decided to take place against Sato at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on July 8, 2012.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes44Loss28–14–2Ibrahim BallaUD1019 Aug 201743Loss28–13–2Evgeny SmirnovUD827 May 201742Win28–12–2Ryuto KyoguchiSD82 Apr 201741Loss27–12–2Luke JacksonUD1019 Nov 201640Win27–11–2Danilo PeñaTKO7 (12), 13 Jul 201639Win26–11–2Jeson BerwelaUD64 May 201638Win25–11–2Junjie LauzaUD424 Oct 201537Loss24–11–2Sho NakazawaUD1020 Jul 201536Win24–10–2Mike EspanosaKO1 (6), 5 Jun 201535Loss23–10–2Qiu XiaojunTKO6 (12), 22 Feb 201534Win23–9–2Rex WaoKO7 (12), 28 Dec 201433Loss22–9–2Rey VargasTKO8 (10), 1 Nov 201432Loss22–8–2Alexis Boureima KaboreUD125 Sep 201431Win22–7–2Arjet CaballesRTD2 (6), 28 Jun 201430Loss21–7–2Rey VargasRTD7 (10), 15 Mar 201429Win21–6–2Prell TupasTD8 (10), 27 Oct 201328Loss20–6–2Thabo SonjicaTKO6 (12), 6 Jul 201327Loss20–5–2Adrian YungUD1018 May 201326Win20–4–2Danilo PeñaUD1216 Mar 201325Draw19–4–2Jhunriel RamonalTD2 (12)28 Oct 201224Loss19–4–1Yota SatoUD128 Jul 201223Win19–3–1Yuki FukumotoTKO4 (10), 10 Mar 201222Win18–3–1Artid BamrungaueaKO1 (10), 3 Dec 201121Win17–3–1Óscar IbarraTKO8 (12), 24 Sep 201120Win16–3–1Everardo MoralesTKO1 (12), 14 May 201119Win15–3–1Noel SungahidTKO1 (8), 11 Dec 201018Loss14–3–1Juan José MontesTD5 (12), 2 Oct 201017Win14–2–1Wandee SingwangchaTKO2 (12), 31 Jul 201016Win13–2–1Dexter MendozaRTD4 (10), 27 Mar 201015Win12–2–1Katsumi MakiyamaTKO5 (12), 28 Nov 200914Win11–2–1Prell TupasUD824 Oct 200913Win10–2–1Noel SungahidTKO3 (10), 27 Jun 200912Win9–2–1Jong Nam ParkTKO8 (12), 5 Apr 200911Win8–2–1Noel SungahidTKO2 (10), 20 Dec 200810Win7–2–1Jongjong GaganteKO1 (8), 25 Oct 20089Win6–2–1Renato NivalUD87 Sep 20088Win5–2–1Romnick RapistaTKO2 (6), 3 May 20087Loss4–2–1Esmalben BujasSD424 Nov 20076Draw4–1–1Michael RomuloMD615 Aug 20075Loss4–1Mark SalomaUD630 Jun 20074Win4–0Jonathan PedrosaTKO3 (4), 22 Apr 20073Win3–0Jessie CaballesUD418 Feb 20072Win2–0Romulo TacuycoyTKO1 (4), 30 Dec 20061Win1–0Joey BalmesUD413 Oct 2006

References

External links Boxrec Professional Boxing Record