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Orlando Salido Searching for Respect

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Orlando Salido Searching for Respect

Orlando Salido had hoped that July 24 would be a banner night for him. He was scheduled to put his IBF featherweight title on the line in a unification bout in Las Vegas on HBO against WBA featherweight king Yuriorkis Gamboa. A victory over Gamboa would have lifted Salido (34-10-2, 22 KOs) to the ranks of the top fighters in the division and silenced critics who questioned his championship credentials. Most importantly, a win could have earned him new fans in America and more big money fights in the future.

However, ghosts from Salido’s past conspired to keep him from the date with Gamboa. More specifically, it was the remnants of his upset victory over Cristobal Cruz for the IBF title on May 15 which forced him to drop out of the bout against Gamboa. He suffered several cuts while earning a gritty split decision victory over Cruz to win the title, and the cuts did not heal in time for him to properly train for Gamboa.

Rather than postpone the fight and give Salido time to heal, Gamboa instead kept the date and kept the fight as a unification bout; in this case he’ll be taking on WBC featherweight champion Elio Rojas instead of Salido. This leaves Salido temporarily on the outside looking in when it comes to major fights. The effects of the cut suffered against Cruz might have a deeper impact than costing him one fight against Gamboa — dropping out of the contest might have put a major dent in Salido’s short-term hopes for major fights.

Salido’s injury came in the biggest moment of his career — claiming the IBF crown in a bruising battle against Cruz (39-12-2, 23 KOs). It was a rematch of a bout in October 2008 which was for the then-vacant IBF featherweight title. Both fighters had their moments but Cruz surged in the later rounds, doing enough to earn a split decision in a fight that Salido felt like he should have won.

The decision against Cruz wasn’t the first time that Salido has been involved in controversy during his career. The most infamous moment came in November 2006 when he earned an apparent unanimous decision victory over Robert Guerrero for the IBF featherweight crown in a major upset. However, Salido’s joy was short-lived after he tested positive for the steroid nandrolone after the fight. Salido contended that the test was false and said that a test at a leading independent lab the day after the fight came back negative for steroids. However, Salido was stripped of the title as the bout was ruled a no-contest and he was eventually suspended from boxing.

The loss to Cruz in their first meeting was the only setback for Salido since his return from the steroid suspension in September 2007. While Salido has won the majority of his fights, he’s also mainly fought lesser opponents. The victory against Cruz was his first fight against an opponent of note since the no-contest against Guerrero; some of his victories since his comeback have included journeymen like Marty Robbins, Ernesto Aboyte and Leonardo Resendiz.

Salido is a tough fighter with good power. However, he has never been the fastest fighter in the division and he has seemed to slow down even more in his last few fights. Cruz was a perfect opponent for him since they fought similar styles and had similar strengths and weaknesses. Dropping out of the bout against Gamboa might have been a blessing in disguise as the younger, quicker and more skilled Gamboa likely would have been too much for Salido to handle.

Salido might be a champion but he has yet to prove that he belongs among the elite fighters in the featherweight division. He’ll need several title defences against legitimate contenders before he’s worthy of being mentioned alongside fighters like Gamboa, Chris John or Juan Manuel Lopez.

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