Mexico’s Orlando Salido retained his WBO featherweight title on Saturday by handing Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico his second big defeat in under a year.
The 31-year-old Salido earned a technical knockout in the 10th round at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum to improve to 38-11-2 with 26 KOs, while Lopez fell to 31-2 with 28 KOs.
“That’s what we came for,” said Salido, who was warned several times for hitting below the belt.
Salido said he wanted to maintain constant pressure on Lopez, who knocked down Salido in the dying seconds of the fifth round with a forceful right.
Two of three judges had Lopez ahead on points when the fight ended.
In April last year, Salido handed 28-year-old Lopez his first loss with another technical knockout in the eighth round.
Cheering the fighters were Puerto Rican boxing greats Felix “Tito” Trinidad and Ivan Calderon, along with Mexican greats Julio Cesar Chavez, Jorge Arce and Juan Manuel Marquez.
The judges included Puerto Rican Cesar Ramos, who replaced Raul Nieves, along with Michael Pernick and Dennis Nelson of the US.
During Friday’s final weigh in, Salido tipped the scales at the maximum 57.15kg and Lopez came in at 57.04kg.
Salido, who is known for his powerful right hand, previously won two other fights before Saturday’s rematch.
He beat Weng Haya of the Philippines in an eighth-round TKO in a non-title bout in December and obtained his first title defense against Japan’s Kenichi Yamaguchi in an 11th-round TKO in July last year.
Lopez previously fought Mike Oliver (25-3, 8 KOs) in October last year, a non-title fight that he won in the second round.
Since June 2006, Lopez has won 16 of his last 18 fights by stoppage.
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