By Miguel Rivera

Two of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport nearly collided 20 years ago?

Apparently so, according to Mexican legend Ricardo Lopez.

Lopez is regarded as one of the greatest Mexican fighters in the history of the sport. Back in 1996, Lopez was approached about the possibility of defending his WBC mimumweight world title against a young up and coming prospect, Manny Pacquiao.

The fight never took place. At the time Pacquiao was bouncing around from 106 to 110-pounds. Pacquiao eventually said he wasn't interested because he planned to make a full move to the flyweight limit of 112-pounds and captured his first world title in 1998 with a TKO of Chatchai Sasakul of Thailand.

Pacquiao retired last Saturday night after winning a twelve round decision over Tim Bradley in their third meeting. Pacquiao won eight divisional titles with an incredible run that even stretched to the junior middleweight division.

Lopez retired in 2001 with an undefeated record in 52 professional fights with 51 wins, one draw and 38 knockouts. Along with Juan Manuel Marquez, Lopez is one of two Mexican fighters in the history of the sport to win world titles in the four main sanctioning bodies - the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO.

"Yes (Pacquiao was mentioned as a possible opponent back then). He was at my weight, I think I was at strawweight - which today is minumweight. But nothing ever materialized. It was discussed, but nothing more than that. It was 20 years ago. He no longer wanted the fight because he moved up in weight. [The entire situation] was somewhat informal, " recalled Lopez to ESPN Deportes.

At that time Lopez was 30 years old and had 14 defenses of the minimumweight title of the World Boxing Council. Manny was 11-0 and 18 years old.

After Pacquiao passed, Lopez ended up facing another Filipino fighter, Ala Villamor, on March 16, 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He knocked out Vilamor in eight rounds.