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.