By Rey Colon
Juan Manuel Lopez, the former WBO featherweight champion, will travel to Mexico with Peter Rivera, the vice president of PR Best Boxing, on July 23 to witness the first title defense of Orlando Salido, who snatched the Puerto Rican boxer's title. Juanma and Rivera will also be down there to negotiate a fight with the winner, which they want to take place in the first 15 days of October in Puerto Rico. Salido will face Mike Oliver on the July date.
"We are going to Mexico to witness Salido's fight and we are going to fight the winner. We are scheduled to fight between October 1 and 15 with Salido or against Oliver if he wins. But I hope it's Salido. And do not rule out a trilogy," revealed the boxer with a track record of 30-1 and 27 knockouts.
If Salido wins, and he is not available for a date in October, then Juanma says November 5 is available.
"We hope to do that fight. And a rematch with Rafael Marquez. I hope to do a couple of more fights at 126 pounds and then no later than early 2012 I'm going to move up to 130 pounds. It all depends but I'm going to have two more fights at featherweight," he said.
"The [mental] blow of losing the title went away a long time ago and I'm started to refocus on my career and soon I'm going back to the gym. I'm just waiting for that opportunity. I'm gong crazy to climb back into the ring again."
Finally, Lopez said his manager Orlando Piñero is recovering well after a successful operation for a heart condition.
