By Carlos Boogs
According to World Boxing Organization President Paco Varcacel, Orlando Salido (42-12-2, 29KOs) has been elevated to the status of "full" WBO super featherweight champion.
Salido captured the WBO's "interim-title" last month in a wild war with Thai fighter Terdsak Kokietgym, where there were seven knockdowns in the contest. Salido, who was down three times, closed the show with a knockout in the eleventh.
Varcacel stated that Garcia, who was the full champion at 130-pounds, vacated the belt to jump up in weight by two divisions to the junior welterweight limit of 140-pounds.
Salido has had a good year, starting things off with a twelve round split decision win over heavily favored Vasyl Lomachenko in March.
"Salido is honored to be recognized as the full WBO champion of the super featherweight division. The only thing that disappoints him is that he really wanted to fight Mikey Garcia in a rematch to settle things once and for all. But after watching Salido's victory last month, I don't blame Garcia one bit for moving up by ten pounds. Salido is going to take the rest of the year off to relax and spend time with his family. In early 2015 we'll sit down and discuss what's next," said Salido's manager, Sean Gibbons, to BoxingScene.com.