Lopez needs to retire from fighting Salido

By Boxing News - 03/11/2012 - Comments

Image: Lopez needs to retire from fighting SalidoBy Allan Fox: If there’s anything that Juan Manuel Lopez (31-2, 28 KO’s) proved last night in losing to WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (38-11-2, 26 KO’s) in their rematch in San Juan, Puerto Rico, it’s that Lopez can’t beat his style. I don’t agree that Lopez is a shot fighter, because there are few guys in the featherweight division that could have stood up to the big shots that Lopez landed in the first eight rounds of the bout.

Salido, 31, just happens to be one of them due to his iron chin. He can take tremendous punishment and has excellent power and a high volume work rate that makes him nearly impossible for a fighter like Lopez to beat right now. That’s not to say that Lopez won’t be able to beat Salido in the future after he ages to the point where he starts losing his skills, but right now Lopez can’t afford to fight this guy any time soon if he cares about keeping his boxing career afloat.

Salido hits too hard and just never stops coming ever. What Lopez needs to do is stay far away from Salido unless Showtime is ready to wave a lot of cash in front of Lopez’s nose for a third fight between him and Salido. But I still think Lopez is better off career back on track by destroying one of the three weaker featherweight champions Chris John, Jhonny Gonzalez and Billy Dib. I think those are decent fighters, but none of them can hold a candle to Lopez and will take a beating from him. Gonzalez might give Lopez some problems but not a lot. He’s pretty basic and utterly beatable, as is the light hitting John.

The problem Lopez has right now is he’s no longer the champion, so he might have to fight John in Indonesia and I wouldn’t like Lopez’s chances of winning a decision over there even if he could somehow get the fight. I don’t think it would do to decision, though, because Lopez would destroy a guy like John without any problems. The same goes for Dib. Beating them won’t give Lopez a lot of press, because those fighters are terribly flawed and not exactly popular, but at least Lopez would end his two fight losing streak and pick up another title. He could then milk the title against the mostly weak opposition in the featherweight division. The division used to be one of the best in boxing but is now littered with mediocre fighters from top to bottom.



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