Almost 25 years ago José Antonio López Bueno stormed boxing heaven with a clean punch. It was on April 23, 1999, when he became world flyweight champion in his native Zaragoza after beating the Mexican Rubén Sánchez by KO. Days of intense but brief glory. He defended the throne from him successfully the first time; The second was dispossessed for failing to appear due to being injured. He never recovered, and personal setbacks were added to the sporting setbacks until he hit rock bottom. He now struggles to get out of the hole and utters a desperate cry: “I’ll trade my world championship belt for a job.”
At 49 years old, López Bueno is a punished man, another broken toy in the ring. Even so, his passion for his sport survives in him. “He has given me everything,” he says between the ropes of the ring that he improvises three days a week in a martial arts gym in the capital city where they lend him a hand. He is passionate about teaching, but it is not enough. “The month that works best for me I can make 200 euros,” he says. To survive, he throws away what he gets, be it collecting debris or cleaning the houses of people with Diogenes syndrome. But the body resents it and aspires, who doesn’t, for something stable to straighten out its life. “I’m not asking for money, just a job with flexibility to remain linked to boxing,” he explains.
The son of a large family, he went through boarding school before putting on the gloves at the age of 15 in a gym in the Torrero neighborhood. “If it’s not for sport, I’ll end up a junkie, dead or in prison,” he says with his compulsive and disordered speech. In those days, a coach from the center guessed his abilities and sponsored him. Led by him, he debuted as a professional in 1994 with a victory against Juan Carlos Díaz Quesada. Then came the Hispanic world championship, the Spanish championship and the WBO Latin flyweight title.
He dedicated himself body and soul to his passion, until for his 17th fight he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime. “It was thanks to Canal Plus,” he assures, in reference to the commitment that the private channel made to boxing in the 90s. Before his audience, that Aragon Day in 1999, he was crowned world champion in a packed Príncipe Felipe pavilion. after knocking out his much more experienced opponent in the third round. It was the finishing touch to the epic of the neighborhood boy who reaches the top with everything against him.
He was at his best. He invested in a house and won the title defense in Malaga against the Russian Igor Grassimov. His next rival was the Puerto Rican José ‘Carita’ López. But before the fight, he fell off the motorcycle and had his foot put in a cast. He could not fight in the month and a half that the World Boxing Organization required, so they dispossessed him in an office.
The athlete never recovered from the blow, morally and financially. In later years, he tried to become European champion four times, all without success. He wanted to end his career by facing the Olympic medalist Rafa ‘Balita’ Lozano, but they did not reach a financial agreement. His last fight was in Zaragoza in 2010 against Oleg Mustafini, but not before proclaiming himself the Spanish flyweight champion a year earlier.
His retirement did not separate him from boxing, although without a fixed direction. “There is a lack of programs that help us re-engage in society in conditions,” he laments. Since then, he has organized evenings, set up rings and taught classes, but without the title of coach due to lack of studies.
The father of three children who live with his ex, he also managed an industrial warehouse converted into a gym, but in the end he had to close because the numbers did not add up. Without work or resources, the coronavirus made things even worse until he became a regular in the ‘hunger queues’ and social services.
López Bueno accepts mistakes, but is also “very disappointed and indignant” with the institutional representatives, whom he accuses of ignoring him. “I have been a reference in this land, but they only give me obstacles and problems. “A lot of titles – Sports Merit Medal, Sports and Constancy award – and a lot of photos, but what I need are the means to carry out a decent job,” he says angrily. So, in a last-ditch attempt, he offers to trade her most prized possession for work. “It would be a shame and a shame if a belt like this ended up outside the city that I have always carried as my flag,” he emphasizes.
