By Dan Ambrose: It must be really burning Juan Manuel Lopez (30-1, 27 KO’s) up inside that he can’t get an immediate rematch against Orlando Salido (36-11-2, 24 KO’s) after he totally destroyed Lopez in an 8th round TKO in April. Lopez was beaten in pretty much every way a fighter can get beaten in a fight in the loss to Salido. He blamed it on a number of things afterwards, but the fact of the matter is Salido was too strong for Lopez.

Salido decided against fighting an immediate rematch with the overanxious Lopez, and instead fought and beat a tough Kenichi Yamaguchi by a 11th round TKO last Saturday night. Salido likely would have chosen to give Lopez a rematch at this point except that Salido injured his right hand in the win over Yamaguchi and wants to let it rest, and then take one more title defense before looking to take Lopez on in a rematch in Puerto Rico.

Saldio is actually doing Lopez a big favor, because Lopez will likely get knocked out again anyway. At least this way he’s getting time to think and may come to the conclusion that he might just be better off going in a different direction rather than fighting Salido again and getting knocked out for his troubles.

You can’t blame Salido for wanting to get as many easy fights out of the way before taking on Lopez in a rematch. Salido has been a contender all of his 15-year pro career, so it’s only natural that he would want to milk the title for a little while before facing a tougher fight like Lopez. You never know what can happen when you go to another fighter’s home country to fight. Salido could end up losing a controversial decision to Lopez.