By Dan Ambrose: The rematch between former WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-1, 27 KO’s) and the current World Boxing Organization champion Orlando Salido (36-11-2, 24 KO’s) will have to wait until the early part of 2012, because Salido injured his right hand in his dominating win over Japanese challenger Kenichi Yamaguchi on July 23.

Salido completely destroyed Lopez last April in an 8th round beat down that left Lopez swollen around his entire face with bloody lips and looking slightly disoriented. Salido might actually be helping Lopez by not taking the rematch now, because even with a bad right hand, I’d pick Salido by an easy 9th or 10th round knockout. It’s not just the power of Salido that makes him so much better than Lopez, it’s his boxing skills and his overall toughness.

Salido is just a much more polished fighter. He’s a complete fighter with few weaknesses, while Lopez is just a harder puncher with fast hands but a questionable chin and poor stamina. A rematch would be the same. Lopez would pour it on in the first four to five rounds, then run out of gas and take a terrifying beating until the referee likely steps in and halts the fight to save Lopez from taking any more punishment.

With the fighting being put off until early 2012, this will help Lopez because he can take a badly needed tune-up to shake the cobwebs off before facing his doom in a rematch against Salido next year. Lopez needs someone that will give him some rounds. However, they can’t make it someone too good like Rogers Mtagwa, because he had Lopez out on his feet in the 12th round in their fight in October 2009. Had there been another 20 seconds in that fight, Lopez would have likely been knocked out. Lopez needs someone with a good chin, but who doesn’t throw punches back at him so that Lopez can work on his stamina without the risk of getting pummeled again.