By Steve Kim
Orlando Salido, coming off his 12-round draw versus Francisco Vargas on June 4th, was slated to appear on December 17th against Takashi Miura at the Forum in Los Angeles on HBO. But a back injury knocked him out of that assignment and it was announced last week that Miura and Vargas would co-headline an HBO telecast on January 28th from the Fantasy Springs Casino.
So where does that leave the hard-nosed Mexican?
Sean Gibbons, who advises Salido told BoxingScene.com on Tuesday afternoon - "We had a couple of discussions with Top Rank, with Bob Arum, and all parties are very committed to making the (Vasyl) Lomachenko fight. That's a fight that Orlando's wanted for a long time."
Lomachenko, who is the reigning WBO 130-pound belt-holder who just recently defended his title against Nicholas Walters on Thanksgiving weekend, was defeated in his second pro bout by Salido in controversial fashion back in 2014.
"He's just sick of hearing about the weight and hearing about the low blows and hearing about every excuse someone can make for Lomachenko," lamented Gibbons.
"Lomachenko to his credit didn't make any excuses, he took the loss like a man. So with that said we need ot have closure to that whole incident - get the fight done. When Bob comes back we'll talk. He said,'give me that numbers, I want everything when I come back from New Zealand and we're looking to make the fight for March, absolutely."
Arum is currently out of the States attending the heavyweight title fight between Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz that takes place on Saturday in Auckland.
As for where this rematch might take place, Southern California seems to make the most sense. Gibbons says - "That's a question for Bob but my preference is that, it makes total sense. Salido has a tremendous fan-base anywhere in California and any of those venues. If not, Lomachenko's versus anybody is a little tiny fight in the Cosmopolitan, like he fought Walters.
"You get what you pay for in life. You want to buy a Cadillac, you go to a Cadillac dealer. You want to buy a Toyota or a Volkswagon you go to that dealer. Pay Salido what he's worth and he will come and give you the 'fight of the year' as he always does. And if you look at HBO last year the only fight they had on that network that was scheduled to be 50-50 across the board was with Salido. The rest of the fights you could practically pick a red corner and a blue corner, the loser."
Steve Kim is the news editor or BoxingScene.com.
