Lopez Readies for Another Defense

Writes Dan Rafael at ESPN.com:

Featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez will make his third defense on April 16 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, against Orlando Salido in a fight that will continue the comparisons between Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa, the fellow titleholder he is on a collision course with.

Lopez-Salido will headline a “Showtime Championship Boxing” card at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum. A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Puerto Rico.

” ‘Juanma’ is one of the top four television fighters today. He makes great fights,” Top Rank’s Carl Moretti said. “No matter who he is in with, you’re going to be entertained. We’re at a great arena in Puerto Rico that will have 8,000 to 10,000 people and I think it will be a good evening all around.”

Lopez, of Puerto Rico, and Gamboa, a 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist, are being kept apart by Top Rank chairman Bob Arum until he feels the fight is big enough to match them. So they both continue to fight, just not against each other. Lopez-Salido will be another way to compare Lopez and Gamboa.

In his last fight in September, the 30-year-old Salido (34-11-2, 22 KOs) lost a competitive decision to Gamboa, whom he knocked down in the eighth round. Salido, of Mexico, had been stripped of his belt on day of the fight because he had gained more than the 10 pounds the IBF allows between the official weigh-in the day before the fight and a weight check on the morning of the fight.

Now it’s Lopez’s turn to see what he can do against Salido.

Read the full report HERE.