(Photo Credit: Amanda Kwok / SHOWTIME) By Davey Hogg: In the months preceding the first bout between Juan Manuel Lopez and Orlando Salido, not many gave Salido much of a chance. Although a solid and very capable fighter, but in “Juanma”, Salido was coming up against a champion on a roll. Since a shaky performance against a Tough and game Rogers Mtagwa, in which Lopez was made to backpedal in the final round to secure a unanimous decision, he had stopped his last three opponents.

These opponents included the likes of the strong Steve Luevano, talented Bernabe Concepcion and the great, if slightly faded, Rafael Marquez. Salido had previously proved to be a difficult fight for anyone, and had most recently gone the distance with the slick and hard hitting Cuban prospect Yuriokis Gamboa. Most thought this would be a good and entertaining fight for Lopez’s home fans, but surely the champion would prevail, if not by late stoppage, then by unanimous decision.

As has been the case in boxing throughout history, events did not transpire according to the script.

As the fight unfolded, it was more and more evident that not only could Salido absorb everything Lopez had to throw at him, he could also hurt his rival with what he threw back. Juanma’s punches seemed to minus their sharpness and at times he looked sluggish. The match took a dramatic turn near the end of the seventh when Lopez was dropped badly by an excellent right hand. After managing to beat the count and see the end of the round, Lopez came out for the eight still visibly affected by the previous session and tried to survive by attempting to evade his pumped up foe. But it was to no avail, sensing he had his opponent beaten, Salido picked up where he had left off and the referee waved the fight off after Juanma was forced to absorb a barrage of punches whilst trapped on the ropes.

After the fight, the obvious questions were raised. Did Lopez have a bad night? Had he been hyped up to be more than he actually was in the first place? Did Salido have his number? For me, Lopez simply had a bad night, and so called hype jobs don’t blow out the likes of Daniel Ponce De Leon in one round as Lopez had in his coming out party back in 2008. As for Salido having his number, i guess that’s a question that will be answered this Saturday night.

If we’ve learnt anything from boxing history, its that rematches can be almost impossible to call in certain cases, and this is one of them. As difficult to predict as the outcome may be this time round, one things for sure, all will be revealed this weekend.