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Orlando Salido gets the short end after a long night

Fighters Network
14
Sep
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Another day, another controversial decision.

“SSDD,” you know what that stands for…

We saw it again on Saturday night. The guy I thought, you thought, the announcers thought – most everyone thought won – didn’t.

This time Orlando Salido was the injured party, as he engaged in a bell-to-bell rumble with WBO junior lightweight titlist Rocky Martinez, in a sequel to their first war…and two judges banded together, saw their own reality and, thus, the tussle was termed a draw.

Now statistics don’t tell the whole story. You have to watch the scrap for yourself – and you will be able to – on Showtime, on Saturday. But CompuBox button-punchers said Salido out-threw the 29-2-3 Martinez, 1,037 to 691. That’s an eye-opener…



And he landed more, 285 to 189. And those punches landed had something on them, as he out-scored Martinez, 249 to 169, in power punches (non-jabs).

We’re all used to this by now.

Salido afterward is dejected, deserves better than having a draw added to his 42-13-3 (29) ledger. And we see social media scorn for Patricia Morse Jarman, who scored it for the 32-year-old Puerto Rican, Martinez, 115-113 (Burt Clements got it right, IMO, 115-113, Salido – while Glenn Feldman, must be a Libra – had it 114-114.) And then we move on to the next travesty or, at least, screamingly controversial screw-job.

Sean Gibbons has managed the Mexican-born Salido, age 34, for 11 years. He told me he thinks the decision was horrid. “I was flabbergasted,” Gibbons said. “I watched it live, then at home. Being nice, you could have 8-4, really nice 7-5, but nowhere more than that. How do you explain Morse Jarman?”

People have their theories, of course. Seems like, often, the hometown guy, or the better connected guy, gets the W…but we all must remember, scoring is subjective and it isn’t fair to say that just because Al Haymon advises Martinez, he got more love from judges. You cannot and should not be flippant with such assertions without proof.

Anyway, Gibbons said this bout reminded him of the third Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez classic and he’s keen on having his kid and Martinez do it again, shoot for a thrillogy. “A third fight makes sense to everybody, financially and otherwise. We need to get it out of that dead zone [in Las Vegas, on a pay-per-view undercard] and make it a main event.” Hopefully, he said, with all eyes on a rubber match, his kid wouldn’t get jobbed.

The bout will be shopped around to all parties and what makes best sense for the two scrappers will be chosen. I think we could see a third fight in the first quarter of 2016…

This time, I hope the judges all bring their eyeglasses.

 

Make sure to bring your eyeglasses if you need ’em. Can’t follow Woodsy without ’em!

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