Salido wants Rafel Marquez, Chris John, Johnny Gonzalez or Caballero next

By Boxing News - 03/25/2012 - Comments

Image: Salido wants Rafel Marquez, Chris John, Johnny Gonzalez or Caballero nextBy Allan Fox: If WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (38-11-2, 26 KO’s) gets his way he’ll be fighting one of these guys next: Chris John, Rafael Marquez, Johnny Gonzalez or Celestino Caballero. Salido, 31, is coming off of his 2nd TKO win over Juan Manuel Lopez on March 10th and he wants to get a well known opponent next, preferably in a unification bout.

Salido told ESPN on Friday “I want to fight Johnny Gonzalez in a unification bout, Rafael Marquez, Chris John, even Celestino Caballero. I think the closest one would be Johnny Gonzalez.”

That would be a good fight but perhaps not too entertaining because Salido would likely stop Gonzalez too early, especially if he goes to the body where Gonzalez is vulnerable. Salido needs a tough opponent that take shots. I would say Chris John but it might be a problem getting him over to the U.S for the fight.

A Rafael Marquez vs. Salido fight is much less interesting because Marquez was beaten by Lopez, so there’s no point in Salido fighting him. An ideal opponent would be WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire if he was willing to move up to featherweight to take the fight. It’s doubtful that Donaire would be allowed to take the fight by his promoter Bob Arum, because he’s matching him very carefully and Salido would take the gravy train off the tracks if he was allowed to fight Donaire. Salido is too tough for Donaire and he’s rip through him even easier than he did Lopez in their two fights.

Caballero would be an interesting fight due to his brawling style of fighting. However, he’s too slender and sturdy enough to hold up under the pounding that Salido would be putting him through. It might be an interesting fight for two or three rounds, but after that Salido would really punish Caballero and end up stopping him.

I can’t say I’m interested in any of the guys that Salido mentioned. Gonzalez will fall apart with a strong body attack; Marquez is too old and will run out of gas and get stopped, likely by an injury. John isn’t in Salido’s league and is better off facing guys like Rocky Juarez than facing a top fighter like Salido.



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