Orlando Salido and Mickey Roman battle this Sat.

By Boxing News - 12/07/2017 - Comments

Image: Orlando Salido and Mickey Roman battle this Sat.

By Dan Ambrose: Orlando ‘Siri’ Salido (44-13-4, 31 KOs) has a tough but winnable fight on his hands this Saturday night against #5 WBC Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman (57-12, 44 KOs) for their fight on HBO at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Salido vs. Roman will be the main event on Saturday’s card in Vegas.

Roman is a replacement opponent for Salido. He was supposed to be fighting WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt (32-1, 28 KOs) for his title, but he suffered a hand injury and couldn’t take the fight. Luckily for Salido, Roman was available. It’s not a great fight, but it’s a decent one. Depending on how much pressure Salido puts on Roman, it could be a good scrap for as long as it lasts.

Roman isn’t one of the better fighters in the division, but he’s a good contender level guy. It would be a lot more interesting to see Salido fight some younger guys with talent like Gervonta Davis, Tevin Farmer or Jesus Andres Cuellar, but they decided to go with Roman as the replacement opponent. Davis isn’t the type of fighter that can be picked out as a substitute opponent unfortunately. It’s good that Roman was available and willing to step in and take the fight with Salido. A lot of fighters wouldn’t have been so eager to get inside the ring with a talented fighter like Salido as a replacement. The money must have been too good for Roman to turn down.

If Salido beats Mickey Roman, then he’ll likely challenge WBC champion Berchelt once he’s healthy and ready to go.

This is a 10 rounder with no titles on the line. Salido was arguably robbed of his WBO super featherweight title against Roman Martinez in April 2015. In the rematch, the judges scored it a 12 round draw in September 2015. That was another fight that Salido appeared to win. Salido gave Martinez such a bad beating in that fight, if there was a third fight, it likely would have been over with right away. In fact, Vasyl Lomachenko fought Martinez after Salido and he destroyed him in 5 rounds. Martinez was worn down from his 2 fights with Salido, and he had nothing left by the time he fought Lomachenko. The scoring in Salido’s fights has been terrible in the last 2 years of his career. He’s been robbed of wins repeatedly.

Salido vs. Roman will be televised this Saturday night on HBO Boxing After Dark at 10:20 p.m. ET. It promises to be a fun little slugging match for as long as it lasts. Salido can probably end the fight early if he attacks Roman all out. I don’t know if he will, but that’s definitely the way to beat him.
The 37-year-old Salido comes into the fight ranked #1 by the World Boxing Council. He hasn’t done much since his back to back 12 round draws against Francisco Vargas and Roman Martinez. Salido fought once this year in beating Aristides Perez by a 7th round stoppage last May. Salido did not look good in that fight. If Salido fights like that against Roman, he could lose. I doubt it though, because Roman is largely an aging, fringe level guy with an inflated record. Roman is not someone that has any chance of beating any of the super featherweight champions like Vasyl Lomachenko, Miguel Berchelt and Alberto Machado.

This could be an easy fight for Salido if he’s in shape. Roman falls apart when he meets stiff resistance. Roman, 32, was knocked out in the 12th round earlier this year by Takashi Miura. Roman likely would have been knocked out earlier in the fight if Miura was capable of throwing combinations rather than single punches. It was an exciting fight. Roman gave Miura some problems before folding in the 12th. Once Miura figured out that he could hurt Roman by putting his punches together, he knocked him out. After that defeat, Roman came back to defeat journeyman Nery Saguilan (38-9-1, 13 KOs) by a 12th round knockout on June 24. That was not an easy fight for Roman, but he got the win. That’s the main thing.

Roman was knocked out in 5 rounds by Antonio DeMarco in 2012. DeMarco put his power punches together and blasted Roman out quickly. That’s the way to beat Roman. He falls apart when he gets hit with combinations. The rest of Roman’s resume is largely filled with wins over power puff opposition in Mexico.

Roman has won a lot of regional titles during his career. During Roman’s 14-year pro career, he’s captured the Mexico super featherweight title, WBC FECOMBOX and WBC International super featherweight titles. He’s also won the Mexico super bantamweight title, and the WBC Youth World super bantamweight belt. Roman lost a lot of fights earlier in his career. Most of the guys Roman lost to were obscure fighters. However, he does have some losses to good fighters like Antonio Escalante, Miguel Beltran Jr., Jonathan Victor Barros, Javier Fortuna, Antonio DeMarco, Dante Jardon and Takashi Miura. Most of Roman’s losses have been decision defeats. He’s been stopped 2 times during his 69-fight career. That’s quite an accomplishment. Of course, Roman hasn’t faced a lot of big punchers either. He’s fought 2 big punchers during his 14-year career, and he was knocked out by both of them. Salido will be Roman’s third big puncher.

“I feel that I am finally getting what I earned and worked so hard to have achieved. I have always gone into the ring and given the fans the best and most entertaining fights that I can give them… Against Miguel Roman, I will give them another fight to remember,” said Salido to ESPN.com. “I have always been the Part B of the many main events in the biggest fights throughout my career, and thanks to [HBO Sports executive vice president] Peter Nelson and HBO, I feel that I am finally getting what I earned and worked so hard to have achieved. I have always gone into the ring and given the fans the best and most entertaining fights that I can give them,” said Salido.

Salido always being the B-side opponent for big names might explain why he’s been robbed so many times during his career. When you come into fights as the opponent rather than as the A-side fighter, you tend to see the B-side guy getting the business. That’s the way boxing is unfortunately. It’s good news that Salido will be the A-side fighter for his match against Roman. This means that if Salido loses the fight, it’ll likely be because he really lost.

Against Miguel Roman, I will give them another fight to remember. Because of our styles, this fight has the making of a war and there will be fireworks from beginning to finish,” said Salido.

Salido fought a 12 round war against former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas last year on June 4. The fight wound up as a 12 round draw. It was a fight that Salido won in the view of this writer. Vargas was very lucky not to have been given a decision.

Salido’s 2 fights against Juan Manuel Lopez in 2011 and 2012 are what made a name for him. Salido stopped Lopez in both fights. However, in 2013, Salido lost an 8th round technical decision to Mikey Garcia. The fight was stopped in round 8 after Mikey suffered a broken nose from a head clash. Mikey had knocked Salido down 4 times in the fight in dropping him twice in round 1, once in round 3 and 4. However, by the 7th, Mikey was tiring and getting worked over by Salido. When Mikey suffered an injured nose, he chose to let the fight get stopped rather than toughing it out the way Salido was with his broken nose. It looked like weakness on Mikey’s part in him choosing to quit when things were no longer going his way. Mikey was allowed to hold his left arm way out in front of him the entire fight. Mikey used his left arm to shove Salido frequently keep him from being able to fight in close. It was an illegal move on Mikey’s part, but the referee that was assigned to the fight let him do this. Salido was frustrated by the illegal tactic from Mikey. You could see the frustration on Salido’s face each time Mikey would shove him with his outstretched left arm. The fight would have been different if a good referee working the fight that knew how to enforce the rules.

Salido had grueling fights with Roman Martinez [x 2] and Terdsak Jandaeng. He arguably won all 3 of those fights, but failed to get the decisions against Martinez.

“I was hoping to be facing Berchelt in this fight, but unfortunately he got hurt and now I must defeat the tough fighter Roman to get the opportunity to fight him for the WBC belt,” Salido said.

Salido and Roman were originally supposed to be fighting for the interim WBC super featherweight title. The World Boxing Council had sanctioned the fight to be for the interim belt while Berchelt was injured. However, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced this week that HBO decided they preferred Salido vs. Roman to be for 10 rounds instead of 12. This meant that the interim WBC title wouldn’t be up for grabs in the fight.

Roman believes he has the youth to defeat Salido, who he feels has a lot of mileage on him due to his age and his many ring wars. It’s possible that Roman is catching Salido at the right time in his career to defeat. There’s no way that Roman would have beaten Salido during his prime. But if he’s worn down enough from age and ring wear, Roman could pull off the upset. In that case, it’ll be Roman who faces Berchelt next rather than Salido. I can’t see Roman getting past the unbeaten Berchelt. That’ll be a mismatch.

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