Mayweawther vs. Berto Undercard: Preview and Prediction for Martinez vs. Salido
In a fight that could end up stealing the entire show, Roman Martinez will rematch with Orlando Salido on the undercard for Saturday night's pay-per-view between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Berto. The WBO super featherweight belt will once more be on the line.
These two fought an exciting and competitive bout last April. Both men are experienced fighters with multiple world championship runs.
The inclusion of this fight on the card is a pleasant surprise and worth tuning in early for.
Tale of the Tape
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| Per Boxrec | Roman Martinez | Orlando Salido |
| Record: | 29-2-2, 17 KOs | 42-13-2, 29 KOs |
| Height: | 5'8" | 5'6" |
| Reach: | 67" | 67" |
| Weight: | 130 lbs | 130 lbs |
| Age: | 32 | 34 |
| Stance: | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown: | Vega Baja, Puerto Rico | Ciudad Obregon, Sonora |
| Rounds: | 226 | 393 |
These guys are both extremely experienced veterans with a lot of rounds at the championship level. Neither is a knockout artist, but they both have enough pop to get an opponent in trouble and finish him off.
While Martinez has been at super featherweight longer and has the edge in height, reach is even. And Salido was way overdue for a move up in weight, so he's not really a smaller man.
Main Storylines
2 of 7This is a rematch of a very good fight between Roman Martinez and Orlando Salido last April. Martinez knocked down Salido twice in that fight and walked away with the WBO super featherweight belt. Salido lost an additional point for a low blows in Round 11.
Without those three point deductions, it would have only been a majority decision for Martinez. One judge scored it seven rounds a piece, a second had it seven rounds to five for the new champion and a third eight rounds to four.
Both fighters are experienced veterans at the championship level. Martinez first won the WBO super featherweight belt in 2009 when he knocked out Nicky Cook.
Martinez lost his belt to Ricky Burns in September 2010, then reclaimed it after Burns vacated it when he beat Miguel Beltran by split decision in September 2012. He lost the belt in November 2013 when he was knocked out by Mikey Garcia in eight rounds.
Salido first became a world champion in November 2006, when he beat Robert Guerrero for the IBF featherweight belt. But he held that belt less than a week, because he failed a post-fight drug test.
He won the IBF title again in May 2010 when he beat Cristobal Cruz but lost the title on the scales prior to a unification fight with Yuriorkis Gamboa, who beat him in the ring, as well. In April 2011, Salido beat the previously unbeaten Juan Manuel Lopez by TKO to claim the WBO strap.
Salido lost that belt to Garcia but reclaimed it by beating Orlando Cruz, after Garica vacated and moved up. He lost it when he failed to make weight prior to his win over Vasyl Lomachenko in March 2014.
Salido won the vacant WBO super featherweight belt in September 2014 by Round 11 KO in a thrilling shootout with Terdsak Kokietgym. That fight featured a combined seven knockdowns.
Salido is the very definition of a well-traveled veteran. This could be his last shot at a world title, so expect him to put everything on the line in this rematch.
Strengths
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Roman Martinez has good movement and uses his jab well to set up the straight right hand. He's not a monster puncher, but he's got respectable power.
Martinez is a smart, tough veteran who knows how to ride out a storm and reset for a counter attack. That's an important quality against a rough-housing fighter like Salido.
Orlando Salido is an experienced and rugged fighter. He's an intelligent brawler who uses rough tactics in a controlled and strategic manner.
He's also a solid ring general who controls tempo well. He reads his opponents for openings and makes adjustments.
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Weaknesses
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Roman Martinez has a bad habit of letting his hands drop too low when he is flurrying in an exchange. He also has a tendency to lunge with his overhand right and also when trying to initiate a clinch.
Orlando Salido is a wide-open fighter who isn't tough to hit. He's taken a lot of punishment over the years, even at times in fights that he has dominated. He's a well-worn 34-year-old.
Roman Martinez Will Win If..
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Roman Martinez knows the keys to beating Orlando Salido. It's the same blueprint he executed so well last April.
Martinez has to use good movement to keep Salido at the end of his punches and to walk the brawler into big punches when moving forward. He also needs to pump a stiff jab and use it to set up the big, overhand right.
For a fight where Martinez scored two knockdowns and got an extra point on a foul, the last bout between these two was surprisingly close. Martinez needs to tighten up a bit on his own defense and avoid lunging forward in this bout.
He needs to do a better job of blocking punches and has to avoid giving up his height and bending into Salido's own big shots.
Orlando Salido Will Win If...
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To win this rematch, Orlando Salido will need to do a better job of cutting off the ring on Roman Martinez this time around. He's going to have to be a bit smarter and more tactical.
Instead of moving forward and following Martinez, he needs to focus more on moving to the side to keep Martinez in front of him. If he can slip left behind a good jab, he'll have a much better shot at eventually closing the distance so he can rough up Martinez on the inside.
There's no doubt that Salido wants to be his typical, bruising self in this fight. He's got to bang away at Martinez's body and string uppercuts and hooks off from the shot to the torso.
But he's got to be a little more tactical this time around, if he wants to reclaim his belt.
Prediction
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I'm very tempted to pick Orlando Salido to win this fight. He's got the kind of hard-knocks back story that I have always found appealing. He's a smart but entertaining brawler and has always been a favorite of mine to watch.
I also think he's the kind of fighter who is going to be tough to beat in a rematch.
But ultimately, I think the things that Martinez does well just give him too much of an advantage here. I'm expecting another competitive, hard-fought battle, with Martinez once more triumphing by decision.
The best fighter in the world at 130 pounds is Takashi Uchiyama of Japan. He's 23-0-1 with 19 KOs and holds the WBA belt.
I'd love to see the winner of this one go to Japan for a unification bout, or else have Uchiyama come over here. A more likely option would be IBF champion Jose Pedraza, who, like Martinez, is from Puerto Rico.
Either way, the 130-pound division is overdue for some unification fights.
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