By Rey Colon
The former WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-1, 27KOs) has passed his recent medical examinations, which took place after his first career defeat. On April 16 in Bayamon he was knocked out in eight rounds by Mexico's Orlando Salido. He says a rematch may take place on August 20 at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“I'm fine. I had a medical examination and it went very well. I'm very happy. We are looking at the date of August 20, which is was what we had for the Rafael Marquez [rematch]. If the company still has it [the date], we can make a rematch on that date," Juanma said. "Everything was fine [against Salido] but I had no speed. Actually I have no explanation for that. I can not make excuses because I trained well. I do not know what happened that night."
Lopez plans to start training in late May and says the last month and a half of training will take place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which fall in line with the recent demands of his promoter Bob Arum. According to Arum, the CEO of Top Rank, that constant distractions in Puerto Rico contributed to Juanma losing his WBO featherweight crown against Salido.
"God willing we will begin training in late May. For now we are resting and we are almost certainly going to attend the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley on May 7. I'm at about 145 pounds. I'm eating cleaner. And we will head out for the last month and a half to Fort Lauderdale. It will please Bob Arum. This is the first time that I'm doing this [training outside of Puerto Rico] and I hope to get it right," Juanma said.