By Lem Satterfield
According to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, IBF featherweight champion Orlando Salido is the preferred choice to fight WBA champion Yuriorkis Gamboa on September 11 in Las Vegas. Salido, if approved by HBO, would replace the injured Elio Rojas. BoxingScene.com reported Monday night that Rojas, the WBC champion, suffered a shoulder injury in training camp, and his participation in the fight with Gamboa was unlikely.
Salido was originally scheduled to fight Gamboa on July 24, but he withdrew from the contest after suffering a cut which required additional time to heal.
"We've suggested a replacement for Rojas and HBO is considering it. It's another champion, Orlando Salido," said Arum. "Salido is a really big puncher and a fellow champion and that makes for a really good fight."
But, Celestino Caballero spoke to BoxingScene on Tuesday and said he was ready, willing and able to replace Rojas in the fight. Because of Caballero's physical dimensions, Arum says Gamboa would have to revamp his entire training camp and there is simply not enough time to make those kind of adjustments.
"Not for this fight, because Caballero is so much bigger and taller than these other featherweights, that Gamboa would have to train specially for Caballero," said Arum. "And there's just not enough time for that."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
