Orlando Salido vs Juan Manuel Lopez II

Juanma was slow, lethargic, and fought a really stupid fight first time around. As a fan of his, I'm tired of him thinking he can just show up and blow the other guy out. Even after he had been badly rocked, he went back to trying to blast Salido out rather than trying to compose himself. He's actually a decent boxer when he wants to be, and if he focused on that I have no doubt he would've beaten Siri.

I've always had and have given huge respect to Salido though, he's an extremely tough man, and fought a much more intelligent bout than he was credited with in my opinion. He applied pressure relentlessly but also smartly at the same time. He knew how vulnerable Lopez was to the right over the top, and made sure to keep it in his face all night. His will to win was extraordinary, even after Juanma came storming back at him he kept his cool and got back to work.

Judging from the debacle against Haya I think the inaugral Lopez fight might have taken a lot out of him though, he certainly seems to have lost a bit of that capacity for punishment. That's how I interpreted it anyways, I know other people have viewed it differently. It's all conjecture until we see what happens on Saturday I suppose. Hopefully Juanma does learn from past mistakes this time, fights with some intelligence and takes Salido out late after some initial difficulty with Salido looking to force the issue again.

 

salido KO

 

JuanMa showed some nice flourishes but since the weight struggles and anticipated (and attempted) blow out of Mtagwa left him drained, he has consistently shown his flaws, even against Luevano; lack of defence, stamina and patience.

But Salido's punch resistance might be on the wane now. He's a gold fighter IMO though and I'd like to see him do it again. But I think Lopez will get to him more consistently this time around.

 

It made me laugh.

 

:blurp

 

:happy Salido a G :deal

 

:hey