(Photo Credit: Amanda Kwok/SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: Juan Manuel Lopez (31-2, 28 KO’s) couldn’t resist fighting Orlando Salido (38-11-2, 26 KO’s) again after getting stopped by him in the first fight last year, and Lopez really paid for it by taking another beating and getting stopped in the 10th round on Saturday night at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. did Lopez a huge favor by stopping the fight after he was knocked to the canvas by Salido in the 10th.

Instead of being thankful for the referee halting the fight before he really got hurt, Lopez struck back at the referee Ramirez Sr., saying “In the first fight his son stopped it. Now the father stopped it. The referee stopped the fight because he had gambling problems…I was dominating the fight. It was a tough fight but I felt I was dominating.”

This is so sad and it reminds me exactly of how Lopez reacted to the last time he got stopped, showing unhappiness at the referee instead of thanking him a 100 times for saving his hide by stopping it when he did. Salido was really pounding him in the first fight last April, and doing much the same in the rematch tonight. The referee did the right thing to halt the fight after Lopez hit the deck. What did Lopez expect the referee to do? Did he want him to stick his neck out by letting the fight go too long and risk getting second guessed for letting Lopez get hurt in his own country.

It’s wise for a referee to halt a fight when a guy is getting slaughtered the way that Lopez was by Salido. But it’s so sad that Lopez seems to have no clue how badly he was getting pounded in this fight. For a him to think he was actually winning the fight shows how deluded he was at the time of the stoppage. Perhaps the knockout clouded his judgement because it’s hard to see how he could think he was dominating the fight when he was getting shook up left and right by Salido.