By Dan Ambrose: Jeff Mayweather, the uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr., thinks WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-1, 27 KO’s) was lucky that the referee stepped in and stopped his fight with Orlando Salido (35-11-2, 23 KO’s) last Saturday night. Lopez, 27, had been knocked down hard in the 5th and further hurt in the 6th and 8th rounds by heavy shots from Salido. Lopez was on his feet when the fight was stopped in the 8th, and he along with his fans felt that the stoppage was too quick by referee Roberto Ramirez Jr.

Mayweather doesn’t feel that way, saying in an article at the examiner.com, “I thought he [Lopez] was clearly getting beaten. I think they saved him some embarrassment when they did because it looked like he was going to get knocked out anyways as opposed to physically stopped. He showed good moments in the fight as well but for the most part Salido owned Lopez.”

He sure did. Salido had no problems taking Lopez’s punches. It was like he was fighting someone two or three divisions below him in strength. Both fighters were the same size, but Salido was so much stronger that it wasn’t even funny. He wasn’t bothered in the least by Lopez’s shots and had him fighting for his life from the 1st round. Lopez tried to box but Salido kept coming forward and forcing Lopez to fight going backwards. To his credit, Lopez fought very well while backing up but he was forced to use too much energy and he clearly couldn’t keep up that kind of pace for long. His chin just wasn’t strong enough for him to stand and fight Salido without needing to run.