By Jake Donovan
Orlando Salido celebrated his 18th anniversary as a prizefighter by becoming one of two fighters to ever hang a loss on Vasyl Lomachenko as an amateur or a pro.
The feat came with an asterisk: Salido showed up well over the contracted limit for what was supposed to be a featherweight title fight, thus forced to give up his belt at the scales. While the win extended his win streak, the title he vacated is now around Lomachenko’s waist, having won the crown in a walkover versus Gary Russell this past June.
“Losing the belt by not making weight was a letdown,” Salido admits of the events leading up to their fight this past March, in which he won a split decision in their non-title fight. “My body just wouldn’t give in any more and lose any more weight. It became a matter of whether I wanted to defend my title or win the fight. I wanted to still win, though it bothered me that I had to give up the title.”
Now six months into his 19th year as a pro, there’s little Salido can do to change that status. Amazingly, the 33-year old has managed to spent the majority of his career fighting at featherweight. This Saturday night marks a new path in the journey that began as a 15-year old bantamweight in Mexicali, with this opportunity coming roughly two hours away in Tijuana.
Now a full-fledged super featherweight, Salido will contend for a secondary title as he faces Thailand’s Terdsak Kokietgym this weekend. The bout will headline on beIN Español, marking his official arrival as a 130 lb. fighter following more than a decade spent hovering around the championship and contender level of the featherweight division.
“Training with these four extra pounds on my frame has definitely made me stronger,” Salido (41-12-2, 28KOs) believes. “I spent a long time at featherweight, those last extra pounds always the hardest to lose in training camp. I’m now doing things in training I didn’t think I was capable of doing.”
His upcoming challenge versus Kokietgym (53-4-1, 33KOs) may or may not how much stronger he is at the weight. The veteran Thai boxer is a crafty southpaw who is unbeaten in 25 of his past 26 starts and knows his way around a ring. The lone stoppage loss of his career came eight years ago, coming at the hands of the legendary Juan Manuel Marquez, against whom Salido dropped a decision in his first title fight ten years ago this Thursday.
The newfound strength in training camp doesn’t necessarily mean a knockout win. But leaving the ring with a title around his waist is an expectation Salido carries into Saturday’s bout.
“I expect a difficult fight, to be honest,” Salido envisions. “He’s a southpaw, and moves a lot more than most of the other fighters I’ve faced. I should be able to handle him, but I know it won’t come easy.”
Nothing has ever come easy in Salido’s career, one that began with an abysmal 11-7-2 start. Having turned pro at 15 years old, Salido spent most of his early years fighting without much of a purpose or goal in mind; his time spent in the ring simply meant putting money in his pocket.
He’s since won 30 of 35 fights, with three title reigns coming along the way - four if you count the few days spent as champ before testing positive for a banned substance following his Nov. ‘06 bout with Robert Guerrero.
A true career resurrection came in 2011, when Salido posted the first of two knockout wins over Juan Manuel Lopez to begin his second run as a featherweight titlist. Both his title winning effort and repeat win came on the road in Puerto Rico, but came to an end in New York City with a technical decision loss to Mikey Garcia last January.
“That’s a loss I still want to avenge” admits Salido, who is focused squarely on Saturday’s fight but is well aware of what’s at stake. “Winning this championship gets me closer to a rematch with Garcia (who holds the full version of the WBO 130 lb. title, with the interim version at stake this weekend). Once I get that belt around my waist, there’s no way he can avoid me.”
There actually is: Garcia hasn’t fought since a points win over Juan Carlos Burgos this past January, the lone defense of the 130 lb. title he acquired in a knockout victory over Rocky Martinez last November. An ongoing lawsuit with Top Rank in an attempt to get out his promotional contract has kept Garcia out of the ring, with the likely scenario that he doesn’t fight again in 2014.
Salido refuses to allow that to slow down his own progress. Having won two straight since the loss to Garcia, Saturday’s fight represents an opportunity to extend his run at the championship level. The belt at stake may not carry much weight in the grand scheme of things, but for Salido it marks the continuation of his time spent taking on all comers while still striving to be the best.
“I always work hard, and can compete with everyone in my weight class,” Salido says. “They say it’s easy to get to the top, but to maintain yourself and stay there is the hard part. For me, to still be at this level after all of this time, it’s a reflection of my hard work. I spent a long time grinding to make featherweight; now I’m going to push even harder to prove I’m the best (130 lb.) fighter in the world.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox