Orlando Salido Man-Handles Juan Manuel Lopez In 10

By Ronald "RC" Cameron

For many years, it has always has been said in boxing that styles makes fights and tonight was no different.  The reigning WBO Featherweight champion Orlando Salido proved once again that he is too much for Juan Manuel Lopez as he went into his backyard and stopped Lopez in the 10th round in a very good fight. 

As he did in their first fight, Salido took the fight right to the Puerto Rican sensation and applied constant pressure, landing looping over-hand rights and left hooks that Lopez did not have an answer for. Salido easily won the first 4 rounds and Lopez looked shaky and unsure of himself early on. But late in the 5th round, Lopez caught champion with a hard counter-right hook that dropped him. Salido did make it to his feet and luckily for him, the round was over.

Salido recovered from that knockdown and he out-worked Lopez and he won the next 3 rounds by landing the harder, cleaner shots. Lopez had his moments, but he could not put together more than once punch at a time. The 9th round was one of the best rounds in recent memory as the two took turns thrashing each other. At the end of the 9th round, Salido's eyes were both swollen, but it was Lopez who looked like he was out of gas and defeated.

In the 10th round, the Mexican warrior stepped it up and midway through the round he hurt the challenger with a solid right hand and he landed another hard right hand that sent the challenger to the canvas. Lopez got up but his legs were shaky and his eyes were glossy. The referee took a good look at him, asked him if he could continue, but Lopez was still unsteady so the referee had no choice but to stop the fight. A good stoppage in my opinion because Lopez had nothing left and he needed a miracle to win at that point.  Orlando Salido once again went into the lion's den and came out of it unscathed.

Now I said earlier that Lopez needed a miracle to win the fight after the 10th round, but did he? At the end of the 9th round, two judges had the fight scored 86-84 for Lopez and one judge had the fight scored even.  

Now I know this might sound like nit-picking, but far too often, great fights have been over-shadowed by terrible referees and in this case, lousy judges. Those three judges should be investigated for their lackluster performance tonight. I had the fight scored 88-82 at the time of the stoppage and I even gave Lopez a 10-8 round in the 5th when I could have easily scored it 10-9 because Salido was winning the round before the knockdown.

And to top it off, after the fight Lopez complained about the stoppage, saying that he stopped the fight too soon.  Lopez also said that he thought that he thought he was winning the fight before the fight was stopped. I respect Lopez, he's a good fighter who showed tremendous heart but if he thinks he was winning the fight, he should go get his head examined.  This fight was not close.

So where do both fighters go from here? For Salido, I'd like to see him fight Chris John, or even Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia. Either way, when Salido fights again, I will be tuning in because he's an exiting fighter with a non-stop motor.  

As for Lopez, I believe he needs to think about changing trainers. No disrespect to his current trainer, but I did not see any improvement in Lopez in this fight. Maybe it's just a case of Salido just having his number, but Lopez looked timid and unsteady early in the fight and he never adjusted to Salido's constant pressure and could not avoid his over-hand rights and left hooks. Lopez should consider seeking out a defensive wizard, someone who knows how to fight southpaw and teach Lopez how to avoid a right hand. Why not acquire the services of the GREAT Pernell Whitaker?  In any case, Lopez needs to work on his defense.

But still this was a very good fight, considering the battle was somewhat one-sided. And thanks to Orlando Salido closing the show in the 10th round, this fight was taken out of the judge's dirty hands.

Banning Dereck Chisora Proved Once Again That The WBC Is A Joke

By Ronald Cameron

"Money talks and bullshit runs a marathon!" - Drug kingpin Nino Brown, from the movie New Jack City.  

This is what Nino Brown told that helpless guy who was hanging upside down by his feet by one of Nino's goons on a bridge in the classic movie, New Jack City. While Heavyweight contender Dereck Chisora is not fighting for his life, he was banned indefinitely by the WBC this past Tuesday for slapping WBC Heavyweight Champion, Vitali Klitschko before their fight and for getting into an altercation with former Heavyweight title holder David Haye a few hours after coming up short in his WBC title fight with Vitali.  While there is no doubt that Chisora was clearly out of line for attacking Haye in that manner, I have a HUGE problem with this suspension and I have a theory as to why Chisora was suspended by the WBC. 


First let's start with the suspension. I'm not going to go into great detail about the incident with Vitali because it was just a slap. Vitali settled things in the ring, so there is really nothing to discuss. But the incident with David Haye was a bit more serious.  Chisora did confront Haye, but Haye did throw and land a  punch and Haye was not suspended. In my opinion, the reason why David Haye was not suspended as opposed to Chisora is because Haye is a PPV draw and Chisora could not draw flies to feces. Does anyone remember when Mike Tyson attacked Lennox Lewis before their big fight and bit him on his leg? Did Mike Tyson get suspended for that? Exactly.  


I'll give you 2 more examples and I will compare them both: Before his fight with Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito got busted for trying to put illegal hand wraps on. Margarito was suspended for a year, but he has since been reinstated and he has fought in 2 PPV fights.  About 30 years ago, a similar incident occurred when journeyman Luis Resto took on undefeated contender Billy Collins. Resto gave Collins a severe beating, winning a 10 round decision but after the fight, Collins father and trainer Billy Sr. discovered that Resto's gloves felt thin and he demanded that the New York State Athletic Commission impound those gloves. The Commission did investigate this and they discovered that someone (Resto's trainer Panama Lewis) removed an ounce of padding in both gloves.


Sadly, Collins suffered permanent blurred vision from the injuries he sustained in that fight and he died a few months later in a car accident.  As for Resto and Lewis, both were eventually banned  from boxing for life and they were both found guilty of assault and conspiracy and both of them did some time in prison for their actions. For more information on this incident, I strongly suggest you watch the HBO special, "Assault in the Ring."  


The point I'm trying to make is that Luis Resto was a journeyman, who did not draw any money and he was banned for life for his actions and Margarito, even though they busted him before his fight with Mosley, the intent was there and he was only banned for a year and I strongly believe that the reason why he was allowed to fight again is because Margarito is a PPV draw who could in turn make money for the WBC and other boxing organizations. Money talks and BS runs a marathon.

Now let's get back to Dereck Chisora's incident. As I mentioned, Chisora is not a PPV draw, so it was like water under a bridge for the WBC to suspend him indefinitely because he's not someone who will put butts in the seats which would in turn put money in their pockets. There have been so many incidents that took place outside of the ring with fighters over the years and most of them did not result in any suspensions in part because most of the guys who got into those altercations were fighters who could draw money.  There is only one man I blame for this and that's the WBC President Jose Sulaiman.  I'm going to refrain from taking shots at him (Although I could write several articles just on some of the terrible decisions he has made over the years) but I will just say that  the WBC has been anything but respectable for many years and most of that has to do with him.

Dereck Chisora should have been fined for his actions a couple of weeks ago, but not suspended indefinitely.  I'm going to leave you all with this question: Do you think that the WBC would have suspended Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. if he did the exact same thing that Chisora did?  Money talks and .......you know the rest.