by Robert Earle Stanton – Author of “Selling the Pain” – For a guy that started in 1996 and lost his first fight to hold a record of 6-5-1 by 1998 to take a break of around two years to go on and beat 44-3-1 Regilio Tuur to then beat 28-4-1 Alfred Kotey, getting up off the canvas to do so, it would seem he would get his dream in a shot for the WBA/IBF featherweight titles in ’04 yet lose a UD to 42-2-1 Juan Manuel Marquez. That was not the end.
He would come off that fight with a big win over Cesar Soto in ’05 and in ’06 he would win the IBF featherweight title over 19-1-1 Robert Guerrero by UD yet test positive for steroids and it would be turned into a NO CONTEST.
In ’08 he would get another shot at the IBF title vs Cristobal Cruz and lose a Split Decision but in 2010 in the rematch he dropped Cruz twice en route to a UD win for the IBF title.
Now Salido was an IBF Champ on a 20-2 winning streak and would get a chance to unify the IBF/WBA titles vs 18-0 Champion Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Gamboa was a future star and this was a test for him. Salido, however, dropped him in round 8 and Gamboa was also penalized two points yet Salido was down in the 12th and would lose a UD. This turned into the opportunity he needed.
In 2011 Salido would face another star like a Gamboa, getting a shot at the WBO featherweight title now against 30-0 knockout artist Juan Manuel Lopez. Again, Salido was a test for Lopez since Salido did well against Gamboa. What should have been a showcase for Lopez was a close fight until Salido would be the first to not only beat him, but shockingly stop him in the 8th, winning the title. A rematch would be set, and as Lopez regrouped with a win Salido knocked out two guys and in 2012 the now 31-1 Juan Manuel Lopez was doing what he should have done the first time, by knocking Salido down in the 5th, however Salido came back and even though Salido was down on two of the three scorecards he dropped Lopez in the 10th and stopped him again. This would be the end of Juan Manuel Lopez as we knew him.
Salido was now a major player in 2013 and would defend his title vs 30-0 Mikey Garcia. Salido was down in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th round but broke Mikey’s nose and the fight was stopped and Salido lost the title on a TD on points.
Nine months later Salido would knock out 20-2-1 Orlando Cruz winning the WBO title again.
In 2014 Salido would be another test for an outstanding amateur – so outstanding in fact that Vasyl Lomachenko wanted his first pro fight to be for a world title, yet since that could not happen he won his first fight by an impressive knockout and then would get a crack, at 1 win and 0 losses, versus WBO Champ Salido. Salido was overweight and he lost the title on the scales, so the the title was only up for Vasyl Lomachenko if he won, which now seemed even more likely. Again, Salido would defy odds and win a UD giving Vasyl Lomachenko, now a major player, his first and only defeat.
Even though Salido did not hold the title it made a statement and gave him an an opportunity not to just move up in weight but to fight for the WBO Jr lightweight title vs 53-4-1 Terdsak Kokietgym. This could have been Fight of the Year in 2014, yet was overshadowed by HBO’s broadcast of Crawford knocking out Gamboa and Showtime’s broadcast of Matthysse knocking out Molina Jr.
Salido and Kokietgym were both down in the 1st round while Salido was down in the 2nd and then put Kokietgym down in the 4th, and in the closing of the 6th round Kokietgym was taking major punishment and with around 8 seconds left in the 6th the referee stepped in as if to stop the fight – Salido was even celebrating victory yet the ref waved off his call and they continued to finish the round going into the 7th where where Salido dropped Kokietgym through the ropes yet Kokietgym got up and looked like a beaten fighter, as Salido was all over him and going into the 8th they stood toe to toe and Kokietgym was rocked a couple times. The 9th and 10th they would continue to stand toe to toe with Salido getting the better of the action. In the 11th Salido came right out after him and after a big shot a three punch combo put Kokietgym flat on his back whereas the referee did not even have to count to ten.
And Salido started a new career at Jr Lightweight and is
holding another new title to add to his vast collection.
You name someone who has fought JM Marquez, Robert Guerrero, Yuriorkis Gamboa, stopped an undefeated JM Lopez and stopped him again in the rematch, Mikey Garcia, beat Vasyl Lomachenko all at featherweight and just moved up to Jr Lightweight and won a title in an over 18 year career. And that’s leaving a lot out.
This gives Salido, the 18 year veteran from Mexico, living out of Arizona, only 34 years old, his first defense of the WBO Jr Lightweight title this coming Saturday Night, April 11th vs 28-2-2 Roman Martinez. Martinez is no joke. He has been at 130 a lot longer.
Martinez is 32 and had a career completely unlike Salido. He started in 2001 and by 2010 he was the WBO Jr Lightweight Champion making the 3rd defense of his WBO Jr lightweight title when he went to the UK to fight Ricky Burns, even though he dropped Burns in the 1st he would ultimately lose a close UD and lose his title. He would come back and win the vacant title from 27-1 Beltran Jr, fight to a draw with 30-1 Juan Carlos Burgos and beat 23-0 Diego Magdaleno. He was then 27-1-2 and ironically in 2013 fought for the title Salido lost – vs Mikey Garcia. Even though Martinez dropped Garcia in the 2nd round he got stopped for the first time. Martinez took off a lot of time after that, almost a year and would end up fighting in December 2014 as he knocked out a 12 win, 9 loss Herbert Quartey easily, as he should have.
So Saturday Night Orlando Salido vs Roman Martinez for Salido’s WBO Jr Lightweight Strap as Roman Martinez is ranked number 5 and Orlando Salido is ranked number 6 by Ring Magazine.
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