A title fight that has classic written all over it, Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez gave the fans a war. Salido retained the WBO featherweight title that he won from Juan Manuel Lopez last April, by stopping Lopez. Salido traveled once again to Puerto Rico, this time to defend his title.

Orlando “Siri” Salido (38-11-2, 26 KO’s) was determined to leave Puerto Rico with his title and prove to the world the first fight was no fluke. Salido applied relentless pressure on Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez (31-2, 28 KO’s) all night, not allowing Lopez to find his rhythm.

Rounds 1 was a feeling out round for both fighters, as Salido pushed forward trying to entice Lopez to engage with him. Lopez kept his distance and boxed Salido, moving laterally and never standing still. In the 5th round Salido hurt Lopez with a series of power shots that made Lopez backpedal, so he could gain his legs from underneath him. As the round drew to a close, Juanma threw a short right hook that caught Salido coming for the kill, scoring the knockdown for Lopez. Salido still hurt from Lopez’s right hook was able to beat the count as the round came to a close. Salido regained his legs and came back to land power shots in the sixth and seventh round that hurt Lopez, as both fighters traded power punches, but it was Salido that landed the cleaner and hard punches.

Abandoning his game plan of boxing Salido, Lopez decided in the eighth and ninth round to go toe-to-toe with the Salido. Both fighters slugged it out all over the ring, trading power punches after power punches. Lopez seemed to be taking more of the punishing blows than Salido was receiving. Both fighters appeared to be exhausted from the slugfest at the end of round nine. In the tenth round Salido was finally able to get to Juanma, catching Lopez with a beautiful combination, a straight right followed by a right cross and a hook-uppercut that put Lopez on his back. Lopez was able to beat the count, but was stumbling around the ring, still feeling the affect of Salido’s well put combinations. Referee Robert Ramirez Sr. gave Lopez time to gain his feet from underneath him, but saw that Lopez was not capable of continuing stopping the fight :32 seconds into the tenth round.

Salido vs Lopez II did not fail to entertain the boxing fans, giving them none stop action. In my opinion this fight is candidate for Fight of the Year, Round of the Year (9th) and Knockout of the Year written all over it. Despite the great performances by Salido, we later find out the judges once again had questionable scorecards. Two Judges had Lopez winning while the third judge had it a draw at the time of the stoppage. Judges Dennis Nelson scored the 85-85and Michael Pernick and Cesar Ramos scored it 86-84 for Lopez. Luckily for Salido, he was able to stop Lopez before the fight went into the hands of these judges and witnessed another tragedy in boxing