By Rey Colon
On Saturday, Mexico's Orlando Salido took very lucrative opportunity to challenge Juan Manuel Lopez for the WBO featherweight title in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The crowd of 10,000 became silent when Salido closed the show by stopping Juanma in the eight round to end the Puerto Rican boxer's unbeaten streak.
"I came to Puerto Rico to beat a great champion like Juan Manuel Lopez on his turf. I am very happy and I thank God that I'm leaving with the way I had things planned. We worked not stay in front of him and to avoid his punches. I felt that my punches were hurting him," Salido said.
Salido said the punches of Lopez weren't as strong as he expected so there wasn't any fear to stand there and trade because he felt stronger than the champion.
"He hits hard but not as hard as I thought. In the fifth I hit very well and I hurt him but I was cautious because he is still a puncher. He was dropping shots everywhere but he was still hurt. I felt that I had him but he escaped me. I believe that it was a good stoppage by referee in the eighth because [Juanma] had already lowered his hands and he wasn't really punching back," Salido said.
Salido argued that he is not afraid to give Lopez a rematch in Puerto Rico, even adding that he was never hurt by the Puerto Rican's punches but gave credit to Lopez for landing some good shots.
"I came well prepared mentally and physically. I came with a strategy and I started to use it in the first round. They say that maybe he struggled to make weight but he was under the limit at the weigh-in (125 pounds). Maybe he was already thinking about other fights," Salido said.
