Fight of the weekend
Posted: 09 Apr 2015, 05:45
...isn't in NYC or on PBC.
Saturday night, Orlando Salido takes on Roman Martinez in Puerto Rico. Anyone who saw Salido twice go to PR to essentially ruin Juan Manuel Lopez knows what to expect: the locals will bay for his blood in some colosseum that'll look like it came straight from some Alexis Arguello fight from 1974; the local lad will probably be buoyed by the kind of atmosphere that you could charitably call "rabid" & also "completely arse-loosening" without batting an eyelid; the increasingly vulnerable Siri will get knocked down, cut, wobble all over the place; he will throw a hundred punches a round as he flings himself forward with what I only slightly hesitate to describe as "gay abandon" and tries to grind Martinez down.
In his last fight, against perennial nearly-man & southpaw bomber Terdsak Kokietgym, Salido did what he does best: swarm forward & lamp his man anywhere, hard. I lost count of the number of knockdowns, official & unofficial. Salido is a dirty, dirty bastard & should've probably been disqualified for some of the low blows, headbutts & elbows he landed. Which is not to mention his hideous weight-gaming tactics the night he beat Olympic golden boy Vasyl Lomachenko...
He's a bad man. He should have a black hat stitched to his head. I can't believe he's still fighting at any level, after all the wobbles, setbacks, knockdowns, cuts & fvck-knows what else. About a trillion years ago, he got outlcassed by JMM at featherweight. He's still only 34.
Martinez--a likeable if faded lug--can do nothing if not punch; he looks too lanky to fight as clumsily as he does & his right hands go wide & sloppy but have always landed with force, enough to dump the solid-chinned likes of Miguel Angel Garcia & Ricky Burns before succumbing.
Garcia dropped Salido multiple times before winning on a tech decision; Martinez scored a knockdown before being worn down & overwhelmed.
Two faded, face-first fighters. Mexico vs Puerto Rico. Two guys who you'd think would kinda get annoyed if you miss them (but at least in Siri's case are capable of some quite extraordinary bob & weave pressure fighting, when he gets into his groove & Martinez is capable of some surprisingly neat long-armed jabbing, sniping economically from the outside). Two guys who could--based on the vast amount of knockdowns they've scored & suffered--go at any time. A proper trade fight.
Essential viewing, imo.
Salido vs Lopez I & II:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqWstJ02-zE
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrapgq ... z-ii_sport
Salido vs Terdsak Kokietgym
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSOtYWhtbo
Martinez vs Beltran Jr
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtmx3d ... n-jr_sport
Saturday night, Orlando Salido takes on Roman Martinez in Puerto Rico. Anyone who saw Salido twice go to PR to essentially ruin Juan Manuel Lopez knows what to expect: the locals will bay for his blood in some colosseum that'll look like it came straight from some Alexis Arguello fight from 1974; the local lad will probably be buoyed by the kind of atmosphere that you could charitably call "rabid" & also "completely arse-loosening" without batting an eyelid; the increasingly vulnerable Siri will get knocked down, cut, wobble all over the place; he will throw a hundred punches a round as he flings himself forward with what I only slightly hesitate to describe as "gay abandon" and tries to grind Martinez down.
In his last fight, against perennial nearly-man & southpaw bomber Terdsak Kokietgym, Salido did what he does best: swarm forward & lamp his man anywhere, hard. I lost count of the number of knockdowns, official & unofficial. Salido is a dirty, dirty bastard & should've probably been disqualified for some of the low blows, headbutts & elbows he landed. Which is not to mention his hideous weight-gaming tactics the night he beat Olympic golden boy Vasyl Lomachenko...
He's a bad man. He should have a black hat stitched to his head. I can't believe he's still fighting at any level, after all the wobbles, setbacks, knockdowns, cuts & fvck-knows what else. About a trillion years ago, he got outlcassed by JMM at featherweight. He's still only 34.
Martinez--a likeable if faded lug--can do nothing if not punch; he looks too lanky to fight as clumsily as he does & his right hands go wide & sloppy but have always landed with force, enough to dump the solid-chinned likes of Miguel Angel Garcia & Ricky Burns before succumbing.
Garcia dropped Salido multiple times before winning on a tech decision; Martinez scored a knockdown before being worn down & overwhelmed.
Two faded, face-first fighters. Mexico vs Puerto Rico. Two guys who you'd think would kinda get annoyed if you miss them (but at least in Siri's case are capable of some quite extraordinary bob & weave pressure fighting, when he gets into his groove & Martinez is capable of some surprisingly neat long-armed jabbing, sniping economically from the outside). Two guys who could--based on the vast amount of knockdowns they've scored & suffered--go at any time. A proper trade fight.
Essential viewing, imo.
Salido vs Lopez I & II:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqWstJ02-zE
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrapgq ... z-ii_sport
Salido vs Terdsak Kokietgym
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSOtYWhtbo
Martinez vs Beltran Jr
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtmx3d ... n-jr_sport