Salido, Lopez place for featherweight title rematch in March
Orlando Salido surprised the boxing world when he stopped up Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round last April, handing the increasing Puerto Rican star his first loss and taking "Juanma's" WBO featherweight belt.
Lopez (31-1, 28 KOs) will try to win back that belt when he take on Salido (37-11-2, 25 KOs) in a highly predictable 12-round featherweight title rematch on March 10 (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) in Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, P.R.
The rematch was officially announced during a press meeting in San Juan on Tuesday. Salido, from Mexico, has fight twice since his upset win, winning both by strike over Asian journeymen Kenichi Yamaguchi and Weng Haya.
Lopez, 28, scored a second-round TKO beside overmatched American Mike Oliver last October in Bayamon, P.R. in his only fight since the loss.
"I am very happy to have the chance to fight in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum where my idol Tito Trinidad had so many fights and this is a vision come true for me," Lopez said Tuesday.
"I want to thank Salido for approaching back to Puerto Rico and giving me this opportunity. I knew Salido was a hard fighter and he came ready and beat me and I accessible no excuses."
Salido, 31, says he expect a different fight in some ways this time around. "I know he will be better than last time," Salido said. "But I don't see him varying much. He might try in the start to fight in a different style but he will come back to his strengths. He is going to feel that he is the better and stronger man, and that he is not."
Salido says he wants to confirm that his win last April was no fluke.
"I came back to fight in Puerto Rico because he gave the chance to me to fight for a world championship here and I have never had any difficulty winning in an opponent home base," he said.
Fighting on the under card is undefeated No. 1 featherweight competitor Mikey Garcia (27-0, 23 KOs), in a 10-round featherweight bout next to an opponent to be named.
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