Fight fans were disappointed a rematch between Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido never materialized following their hellacious June 4 war. The two junior lightweights fought to a 12-round draw in what is viewed as the front-runner for Fight of the Year.

That disappointment turned into excitement as rumors of another potential ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate is now a reality.

Salido will face hard-hitting Takashi Miura on Dec. 17 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, Sean Gibbons told RingTV.com Thursday night.

Gibbons manages Salido.

The 12 round bout will air live on HBO.

There was talk of Salido fighting Vasyl Lomachenko in late November.

Earlier this week, Top Rank announced Lomachenko would fight Nicholas Walters on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas.

Despite these developments, Gibbons said Salido had options to close out 2016.

“We could have fought in Mexico for $100,000,” Gibbons told RingTV. “The idea of this fight was presented to us two months ago at the Crawford-Postol fight.

“We were even eyeing a fight in January, but when Canelo Alvarez was hurt and was out for 2016, it freed up money for HBO to utilize. This is the most dangerous fight for Orlando. He is never given an easy fight. Why change that?”

Salido seemed to be at the end of his career in January of 2013, when he was dropped four times in route to a one-sided decision loss to Miguel ‘Mikey’ Garcia.

Salido (43-14-4, 30 KOs) won his next three fights, including wars against Vasyl Lomachenko and Terdsak Kotiegym.

Prior to the Vargas fight, Salido fought twice against Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez, losing by decision in April of last year and fighting to a split decision draw five months later.

“There was talk of us landing on Nov. 26, but Orlando asked for another three weeks to prepare. He rested two-three months after the Vargas fight, but Orlando asked for another three weeks to rest. He has that down to a science, as theoretically, any fight could be the last fight for ‘Siri.'”

Miura (30-3, 23 KOs) knocked out overmatched Jimmy Borbon in the first round on May 7. It was his first bout since his ninth round knockout loss to Francisco Vargas on Nov. 21, a fight that was voted as ‘Fight of the Year’ for 2015. Miura lost the WBC 130-pound title to Vargas in that fight.

Gibbons is confident Salido will give another excellent performance and is grateful for the platform Salido has.

“We could have not taken the fight, but we’re rolling the dice with the Miura fight. We pushed for the fight and we thank (HBO Executive Vice President) Peter Nelson for green-lighting this fight.”

“In a way, this is a great way to end 2016 and a gift to the fans for putting up with some mismatches in boxing. Mexicans and boxing fans know who Orlando Salido is. He is the Ultimate Warrior.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing