Usually when a rematch rolls around, it’s the losing fighter who has something to prove. Yet in the case of the March 10 sequel between Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez, it’s the reigning titlist who finds himself on the defensive.
Trainer and manager Orlando Pinero is calling Juan Manuel Lopez "a new man." He says the fight is more focused and more dedicated to his training camp. Juanma (31-1, 28KOs) is training to avenge the first defeat of his career. He wants revenge for last April's knockout loss to Mexico's Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 35KOs). The rematch takes place on March 10th in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Juan Manuel Lopez promised his faithful Puerto Rican fans that he’ll atone for his lone loss March 10 in San Juan.
The war of words continue. Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, and Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, exchanged words over the details related to a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao welterweight fight. De La Hoya wants the fight to take place on May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Arum wants the fight to take place in late-May in an outdoor arena on the Las Vegas strip.
San Juan, Puerto Rico --- (L-R) Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez pose during a press conference Tuesday to announce their upcoming WBO World Featherweight title rematch, March 10 from San Juan,Puerto Rico and televised on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing. --- Photo Credit : Chris Farina/Top Rank
Undefeated featherweight Miguel ‘Mikey’ Garcia is said to be just one fight away from a world title shot and has set his sights on fighting the winner of the WBO title rematch between champion Orlando Salido and challenger Juan Manuel Lopez.
According to WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 25KOs), his proposed rematch with Juan Manuel Lopez (31-1, 28KOs) will probably take place on March 10th in Puerto Rico. Salido had one of the biggest upset wins in 2011, when he stopped Lopez in eight rounds to capture the WBO crown. He followed up his victory with two stoppage wins, Kenichi Yamaguchi in July and Weng Haya in December. Lopez returned from the loss to stop Mike Oliver in two rounds.
By Jake Donovan - Networks love comparison fights, especially when the goal is to eventually match two fighters in a perceived super fight somewhere down the road. The two-year long tease was that – after properly marinated – boxing would get the mother of all featherweight collisions between unbeaten titlists Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez. A comparison performance had already come the year prior, when Gamboa beat the stuffing out of Rogers Mtagwa just three months after Juan Manuel Lopez went life and death with the very same fighter one weight class below. Still, Lopez enjoyed a brilliant enough 2010 campaign to where his handlers apparently thought he was bulletproof, and that taking on a version of Orlando Salido coming off of a hard-fought points loss to Gamboa was a good way to further pique interest in a future head-on collision. What instead came about was a game-changing moment for the featherweight division, and the measuring stick for all other title fight upsets.
Puerto Rico's Juan Manuel Lopez nearly had a planned rematch go down the drain. The boxer is scheduled to face WBO featherweight champion Orlando "Siri" Salido in the first quarter of 2012. Last Saturday in Mexico, Salido (37-11-2, 25 KO) fought lightly regarded Weng Haya (14-5, 8 KO) in a ten round non-title bout. In the third round, Salido was badly hurt and went down after a counter left hand on the chin. Another straight shot in the fourth would put him down for a second time. Salido had to battle back in the later rounds to stop Haya in the eight.
Juan Manuel Lopez, the former WBO featherweight champion, wished Orlando Salido luck with his scheduled ten round tuneup, which takes place this Saturday against Weng Haya in Durango, Mexico. Despite rumors, Juanma advised BoxingScene.com that a rematch with Salido is going to happen in the month of March, in Puerto Rico, at the José Miguel Agrelot or Roberto Clemente Coliseum - and fight will be televised by Showtime. In April, Salido stopped Lopez to capture the WBO crown in Puerto Rico.