Orlando Salido celebrates after his split-decision victory over Vasyl Lomachenko on March 1, 2014. Photo by Chris Farina – Top Rank.

Orlando Salido has been declared the WBO’s junior lightweight beltholder in the wake former titleholder Mikey Garcia’s rise to junior welterweight, according to WBO General Secretary Jose Izquierdo.

“We received a letter to the WBO informing us of Mikey Garcia’s intention to move up to 140, and, at the same time, he is asking us to consider him for the next version of our rankings at 140, which should come out soon,” said Izquierdo. “Salido has been recognized for his interim champion status, but now he has been elevated to the title of champion.”

WBO President Paco Valcarcel also announced the move on his Twitter account.

A two-division titlewinner, Garcia (34-0, 28 knockouts) won the belt with an eighth-round knockout of Rocky Martinez in his 130-pound debut last November, and was last in action for a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Burgos in January.

Salido (42-12-2, 29 KOs) won the WBO’s interim belt in September with an 11th-round technical knockout over Terdsak Kokietgym following a thriller in which the fighters combined for seven knockdowns. Salido, 33, rose from knockdowns in the first, second and fifth rounds while Kokietgym was down in the first, fourth, seventh and 11th rounds.

The triumph over Kokietgym came on the heels of Salido’s split decision over Vasyl Lomachenko in March, despite having already lost his WBO featherweight title on the scales due to being overweight. Salido had lost the same title two fights earlier with an eighth-round technical-decision loss to Garcia before regaining it with a seventh-round stoppage over Orlando Cruz.