By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-1, 27 KO’s) is in a hurry to try and avenge his loss to Mexican Orlando Salido (35-11-2, 23 KO’s) and plans on fighting him in August. The 27-year-old Lopez was over-powered by Salido last Saturday night in an 8th round TKO loss. The loss had a bit of controversy around it due to referee Roberto Ramirez Kr. Stopping the fight in the 8th with a badly hurt Lopez still fighting back while getting pounded in the corner.
It looked like a good stoppage because Lopez had lost the little bit of power that he had and was just absorbing big shots. He was no longer competitive and his power had no effect on Salido. The referee did Lopez a favor by halting it when he did because Lopez looked like he wasn’t going to make it out of the ring.
Salido wanted to squeeze in a voluntary defense before facing Lopez in a rematch, but it appears that they’re offering Salido good enough money for him to take the Lopez rematch immediately.
It might be a big mistake for Lopez to be facing Salido again. Salido has a lot of power, an excellent chin and a heavy pressure style of fighting. He gave Juan Manuel Marquez and Yuriorkis Gamboa a lot of problems in losing. He’s not someone that a fighter with a fragile chin like Lopez should be messing with. Lopez doesn’t have good enough defense to avoid Salido’s big shots, and Salido will be right on top of Lopez like he was last Saturday.
Lopez tried to retreat from Salido after getting hurt in the 5th, but Salido stayed with him and continued to punish Lopez. I see this as another loss for Lopez. Hopefully, the referee stops the bout before Lopez takes too much of a beating. The fact of the matter is Salido has Lopez’s number and will beat him just as bad in the rematch. Lopez looked terrible last Saturday, and I can’t see the outcome being any different in a rematch. Salido appears to be a cut above Lopez. You have to remember Salido easily handled Robert Guerrero not too long ago. That tells you how good he is.
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