By Dan Ambrose: Sometimes it’s better for fighters to move on and swallow their pride rather than facing guys that really have their number like Orlando Salido does with Juan Manuel Lopez. The two fighters will go at it this Saturday night in a rematch at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Salido, 31, didn’t really need to take the fight because he already whipped Lopez nice and good last April in a one-sided 8th round TKO victory. It’s Lopez who wants the fight so he can try and prove that his beat down by Salido was just a blip on his career fight screen. Normally fighters try to avenge their losses unless it’s one of those real beatings where you just know that the outcome will be the same no matter how many times the two fighters go at it.

I see this fight as being like that. Lopez is just so wide open for right hands and I don’t think anything will ever change that. His defense has always been his offense. That’s the thing that has bailed him out in fights where he likely would have been knocked out if the bouts went into the deeper rounds.

Against Salido, Lopez’s offense was useless because Salido, who has a great chin, could take anything and everything Lopez dished out. What this meant was that Lopez was going to have to have his own tender chin checked again and again by Salido. As everyone knows by now, Lopez failed the test big time and was blasted out in eight rounds. It was a fight that was destined to be stopped by the 6th round when Lopez was reeling around the ring like a drunk after eating some right hands thrown by Salido.

I think this Saturday night Lopez is going to be kicking himself in the behind asking himself why on earth did he agree to take the rematch with Salido, because he’s going to get knocked out in front of all of his Puerto Rican fans and his career is going to be in tatters. One loss is one thing, but two losses in consecutive years is going to knock Lopez down a notch in the featherweight division and I’m not sure he can ever regain his toehold that he once had.