SALIDO-GARCIA IN WBO TITLE TILT TOPS INITIAL 2013 HBO CARD
Orlando Salido-Mikey Garcia
San Francisco, CA– With the 2012 boxing season punctuated in December when Manny Pacquiao was put to sleep by Juan Manuel Marquez, I can’t remember a pugilistic year coming to such a climactic ending. Simply put, if boxing were a TV show then Marquez-Pacquiao was the best season cliffhanger ever written! That being said, how can WBO 126 lb. kingpin Orlando Salido and Mikey Garcia follow or top an act like that when they meet Saturday on HBO?
TWO OTHER FIGHTS LOOK GOOD ON PAPER
Actually, there are two other significant bouts on the card as Puerto Rican Roman Martinez (26-1-1, 13 KOs) defends the WBO 130 lb. diadem against Mexico’s Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1, 20 KOs). In addition, unbeaten WBA middleweight (160) titleholder Gennady Golovkin, (24-0, 21 KOs) in his eighth WBA title fight will defend against Philadelphia’s Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KOs)
GOLOVKIN BECOMING AN ATTRACTION
Even though former eastern block native Golovkin (who now resides in Germany) and Martinez of Puerto Rico are probably the live gate draws at Madison Square Garden, the boxing world is taking keen interest in Salido-Garcia than the other two scraps.
NOBODY IS PICKIN’ SALIDO
When I polled the crew this week on the WBO 126 lb. title tilt between Orlando Salido (39-11-2, 27 KOs) of Mexico and Oxnard, CA’s Mikey (Miguel Angel) Garcia (30-0, 26 KOs), I was the only one thinking Salido might indeed prevail.
MIKEY LOOKING TO MATCH BROTHER ROBERT
Having watched ex-IBF 130 lb. guy Robert Garcia’s kid brother Mikey rise in the ranks, I can tell you that I’m not all that impressed. And after looking at his record “fight by fight” I was even more under impressed.
LOSING IS A “HARD HABIT TO BREAK”
As for Salido, “How do you handicap a guy that has lost 11 fights?” Those were the words of boxing historian Ron Marshall. The champ’s claims to fame are his double dribbling (two KOs) of Juan Manuel Lopez, losing to Yuri Gamboa and testing positive for steroids.
CHAMPION NOTHING MORE THAN RUGGED?
Although Salido is a rough customer who had Juan Ma’s number, there is nothing he does that would one could call superlative. Orlando is rough, tough, willing to eat punches in bunches to get his in, and has shown an ability to take a licking and keep ticking.
TIME FOR THE REALITY CHECK!
Looking at both men closely, Garcia has good tools, is younger, faster, and has is on an upward plane. Salido on the other hand has lost 11 times and outside of licking Juan Ma, losing to Gamboa, what stands out is his losing to aged veteran Cristobal Cruz a few years back.
CLEARED MIND SEES IT LIKE THIS
While I may have given him a significant chance to win before, Salido’s only shot is to get the win here is to force Mikey Garcia to war and hope he wilts down the stretch. If Orlando can’t do that, Garcia will paint him like a picket fence.
Pedro Fernandez