Complete Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Orlando Salido 2 Results, Pictures & More from a Wild Night in Puerto Rico
The rematch between Juan Manuel Lopez and Orlando Salido did not fail to live up to the lofty expectations which were set for it. In fact, the rematch proved to be even better than anyone could have hoped.
JuanMa vs. Salido II was a whirlwind of a fight from the get go, and enters the clubhouse here in early March as a strong candidate for Fight of the Year for 2012. When all was said and done, Siri Salido worked his magic for a second time, and stopped Lopez in front of his boisterous crowd of hometown fans, earning a 10th round TKO and maintaining his status as WBO featherweight champion.
JuanMa Lopez vs. Salido II Results
The fight began with a quick pace, and Salido wasted no time getting down to business. Everyone in the building and watching at home on TV knew what the plan would be – pressure JuanMa until his porous defense allowed some big shots to get home, and continue throwing the overhand right until it connected.
That’s what Salido set out to do, and he was seeing great success early. Not only was JuanMa timid to engage, but he also still wasn’t properly protecting himself as he continued leaving his chin out there in the open, and backing straight away from shots.
In the 5th, Salido dominated the action but Lopez clipped him with a quick counter right hook right at the point of the chin before the bell, and Salido went down. It wasn’t a flash knockdown either – he was barely able to get up at all.
It seemed as if the momentum of the fight would change. Indeed, after the knockdown Lopez did enjoy more success, particularly as he became confident in his own offensive attack. Salido though wouldn’t stop coming, even with bad swelling developing under both of his eyes.
The intense action continued into the 9th, which was a thrilling three minute stanza of nonstop, back and forth action at a ridiculous, frenetic and violent rate. By the end of the round, it seemed as if perhaps JuanMa had asserted control of the bout, his chin holding up to Salido’s shots while his own power punches were leaving their mark.
However, Salido thought otherwise. As the 10th opened, Salido and Lopez met in the middle of the ring and began exchanging. Salido landed a crushing right hook that turned JuanMa’s face around, and followed it up with a sick double-uppercut combination, before punctuating it all off with a stiff left. JuanMa, freshly bloodied, mouth gaping, was sent streaming to the canvas. He was able to beat the count but could hardly stand up straight or focus his gaze, and the referee wisely halted the action at about 30 seconds into the 10th.
JuanMa vs. Salido II Photos
Salido strikes again, and for the boxing bettors out there, if you got 9-1 or 10-1 the first time they met, you still could have won big tonight, as Salido was a 2-1 underdog despite the results of their first meeting.
After the fight, an exciting evening turned a little bit sour. In the post-fight interviews, JuanMa apparently began to blame the referee for stopping the fight, and accused him of having a gambling problem, which according to Lopez is why he waved off the bout. To their credit, the translator in the ring was hesitant to repeat the remarks of Lopez and even the detestable Jim Gray offered Lopez a chance to back away from his statements, but JuanMa would not. In addition, he also said he was dominating the fight until it was called off.
The comments about the referee were a clear low blow, and in no way, shape or form was JuanMa Lopez dominating the fight – in fact, he was pretty clearly losing by a healthy margin.
However, the judges ridiculously had agreed with JuanMa. Shockingly, after 9 rounds, the judges had Juan Manuel Lopez ahead via scores of 86-84, 86-84 and 85-85, which would have been good enough for a majority decision win at that point in time.
So it’s a good thing that Salido closed the show and didn’t allow the fight to go to the cards.
Nevertheless, JuanMa showed himself once again to be a true warrior, and displayed all of the heart you could ask for in a fighter. As did Salido, who went into Lopez’s backyard as an underdog and pulled off another upset to hush up the critics, wading through heavy artillery all evening to get the job done.
Congratulations to Siri Salido for striking for the second time, and defending his championship. It was a fun evening of boxing, and it seemed like an amazing fight crowd in Puerto Rico, and a great addition to the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico boxing rivalry. It’s just a shame that things got messy at the end with JuanMa’s reaction to the loss, and the verdict the judges would have rendered.
In earlier action, undefeated featherweight Mikey Garcia defeated Bernabe Concepcion via 7th round TKO. Garcia took control of the fight from the get-go thanks to his tight, technical boxing, and his superior firepower, and largely shut down Concepcion’s attack en route to his decisive win.
Of course, that was no surprise, as this was a clear mismatch on paper. It’s now long past due for Top Rank to put Garcia in there with a real opponent.
Thanks for checking out out coverage of the JuanMa Lopez vs. Salido II results, and check back later this weekend for more boxing news updates and post-fight coverage and aftermath.
