By Cliff Rold

In a fight with thrills in several rounds, 33-year old former Featheweight titlist Orlando Salido (42-12-2, 29 KO) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, came off the floor three times and scored four knockdowns of his own to earn an eleventh round knockout of game 33-year old former title challenger Terdsak Kokietgym (53-5-1, 33 KO) of Bangkok, Thailand, in an instant classic Saturday night at the Auditorio Municipal Fausto Gutiérrez Moreno in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

With the win, Salido picks up an interim title at Jr. Lightweight and wins his third straight.  The loss snaps a seven-fight win streak for Kokietgym.  Both men weighed in at the division limit of 130 lbs.  The referee was Eddie Claudio.

It took no time for a fight to break out.  Battling at close quarters, the southpaw Kokietgym landed a crisp right hand to drop Salido less than a minute into the fight.  Salido beat the count and wasted little time getting close.  A low blow sent Kokietgym to the floor and the referee errantly ruled a knockdown.  Kokietgym was up and back in the fray, hurting Salido again in the final minute of a wild first round.

A fierce second round saw both men battling again inside, Salido seeming to get the better of it until the closing seconds.  A left hand down the pipe put Salido on the seat of his trunks and his face expressed as much surprise as the crowds.  He beat the count, up by eight, and the bell rang before any more punches could fly.

A short left inside wobbled Salido as they neared a minute to go in round three.  He kept his bearings and rocked Kokietgym with a right before the round was over and both men were launching bombs as the bell rang.

A Salido right hand landed in the fourth and Kokietgym hit the deck at mid ring but the referee correctly ruled their feet had been tangled so no knockdown.  Salido’s greater punch variety showed as he mixed it up to the head and body and laid it on the game Thai battler.  A right to the belly sent Kokietgym to the floor in the closing seconds to swing the momentum back in Salido’s direction and draw a roar from the crowd.  Kokietgym beat the count and fired back as Salido came forward before the bell.

Right away in the fifth, Salido pounced on Kokietgym with an all out attack to the body and paid a price.  A chopping left from Kokietgym sent Salido backwards, his gloves touching the floor to catch his fall for the fifth official knockdown of the fight.  Nonplussed, Salido kept grinding for the rest of the round while Kokietgym looked for the explosive counters that had paid dividends since the first.

Round six had some strange drama.  Outworking Kokietgym for most of the frame, Salido was on fire with a sustained attack and the referee jumped in leading some to believe he was calling the fight.  Salido began to celebrate.  Instead, the referee made clear he thought the bell had rung, which it had not.  They resumed action and the bell rang seconds later.

Trapping Kokietgym on the ropes in round seven, Salido nearly battered him out of the ring before nailing him with the knockdown blow.  Kokietgym beat the count of official knockdown number six and went right back into the trenches, landing a pair of notable uppercuts as time went on.  Both men exhausted, they caught their breath leaning into each other in the closing seconds of the round.

Salido hurt Kokietgym at the start of the eighth with a combination.  Kokietgym fired back and then covered as Salido dug to his body.  A right hand wobbled Kokietgym halfway through the round but he would not quit and winged back to stay in it.

The ninth began with both men landing hard, short shots inside but the pace was markedly slower as the round moved to the halfway mark.  It was ultimately a round off for both as Kokietgym moved more and Salido didn’t argue the point a ton.  He did in the tenth, steadily working over a Kokietgym who offered very little in return.

Moments into round eleven it was all over.  A left hook shook Kokietgym and left him open for a devastating right, left, right combination with a final grazing left for affect.  Kokietgym was down, out, and swarmed by ring doctors as referee Eddie Claudio waved their personal war complete at :16 seconds of round eleven.

With the win, Salido picks up an interim WBO title at 130 lbs.  Mikey Garcia currently holds the WBO title but Garcia is shelved by a promotional dispute.  Garcia won his first title, at Featherweight, by defeating Salido 

A vacant title was filled in the televised opener.

Fighting for the first time since June 2013, 23-year old Javier Mendoza (22-2-1, 18 KO), 108, of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, scored two knockdowns with body shots en route to a unanimous decision win for the vacant IBF Light Flyweight belt over twelve rounds against 32-year old former WBO Jr. Flyweight titlist Ramon Garcia (20-5-1, 12 KO), 108, of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.  It was the first time Mendoza had been farther than round seven and he made it count.

The referee was Roberto Ramirez Jr.

The clash of southpaws got under way with Mendoza playing the aggressor, Garcia looking for counter shots off the back foot.  After a testy feeling out first round, a light tap to the face from Garcia after the bell nearly started an incident but the referee quickly scuttled Mendoza to the corner.

Making Mendoza miss more in the second, Garcia boxed well and punched in effective combination.  It was more of the same in round three, Garcia wobbling Mendoza with a flush overhand left just before the bell.

A low blow from Mendoza, who had been flirting with the belt line from early on, brought a break to the action and a warning from the referee in round four.  A clash of heads drew blood on the forehead of Mendoza but it didn’t appear to affect his vision.  

The low blows continued in the fifth, but this time it was Garcia striking.  Moments after being hurt by a clean left to the body, a low blow had Mendoza wincing.  He bit down and kept firing.  In a sustained action round, Mendoza kept going to the body and it paid off.  A massive left downstairs dropped Garcia late in the round, changing the momentum of the contest.  Garcia beat the count and made the bell.

Both fighters were warned at the start of the sixth about keeping their blows above the belt.  When action resumed, Mendoza landed a good shot near the ropes to keep Garcia wary.  A left to the body had Garcia clinching.  Battling at close quarters, both men landed hard leather upstairs.  Garcia closed the round stronger with a series of flush blows to the head.

A blow to the hip and side of the butt cost Garcia a point in the eighth.  Before the round was out, Garcia would be hurt again to the body but managed to keep his feet.  With the knockdown earlier in the night, Garcia was getting into a place where he might need a knockout to win.

Moving his hands and feet, Garcia had a sort of rally round in the ninth but was rocked again late.  He punched his way through and may have won the round but the Mendoza body assault dropped Garcia again late in the tenth.  Again, he beat the count and came up swinging but it looked dire with two rounds to go.

Garcia almost found a miracle late in the eleventh, hurting Mendoza to the body and forcing him to hold.  Both men exhausted, they came out firing to start the final round.  For three minutes, they swung hard shots, fair and foul, with some clinches to along the way for sheer lack of breath.  Mendoza almost dropped Garcia one last time to the body and, as the bell rang, looked like the winner.  

The official scores confirmed the obvious at 116-109 and 115-110 twice, Mendoza winning his first major title.  The win was Mendoza’s ninth in a row, the first in the string to go the distance.  Garcia suffers his first defeat in five fights dating to a knockout loss to current Flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez in April 2012.

Garcia is the brother of former 105 lb. titlist Raul Garcia.

The card was broadcast in the US on BeIn Sports Espanol, promoted by Zanfer.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene and a member of the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com