Adrien Broner and Orlando Salido Trade Words, Salido Makes the Challenge

WBO featherweight titleholder Orlando Salido is riding high following his second knockout of Juan Manuel Lopez in March, and though he's got a tentative July 21 date set for the time being, he's looking to move up to 130 and is targeting a big fish: WBO super featherweight titlist Adrien Broner.

Salido had some strong words for Broner in an interview with Chris Robinson of the Examiner:

"I would love to fight Broner at 130, but with one condition. After the fight, after I knock out Broner, I want his father to brush my own hair. ... He’s always cocky because he never really fought anybody. He fought finished fighters or nobodies and he’s so arrogant that I want to shut his mouth. The only thing I’m thinking of now is Broner. He has a big mouth and he likes to dance but I want to break his jaw. I will do exactly the same thing to him that I did to Lopez."

In short, Salido is not messing around with this trash talk. He's cutting right to the bone, taking to task what the doubters are all point out about Broner, which is that he's being pretty clearly protected. If there was any doubt about that, the fact that he's set to face Gary Sykes on May 19 probably erased that.

But Broner, who says he doesn't read anything or listen to what people say, pretty quickly responded.

Robinson followed up with Broner, who offered his usual:

"He’s fighting on Showtime and he’s a Showtime fighter. He’s trying to get to where I’m at. He beat Lopez twice. To me, that’s a B+, B- fighter with no chin. I don’t knock him down, I congratulate him on that but they need to stay in their lane. I’m just on a different level. ... I’m not a promoter, I’m a professional boxer and I’ll fight anybody they put in front of me. I don’t care who it is. It could be Sykes, it could be Koo-Wan, it could be Hu-Han, I’m ready."

Look! A notable quotable! Another canned line! The thing is, it is Sykes, and Sykes isn't a fitting opponent for Broner. I can't imagine any boxing fan, no matter how much they're in love with Broner's talent, thinking that's a good fight.

Who would you pick here? I'd have to lean to Broner -- he's a big 130, and his speed and power are real. Salido is a tough scrapper and a good fighter, but Lopez just seems tailor-made for him, and while he's certainly no easy out and has been in with hyper-fast guys and not embarrassed himself (Yuriorkis Gamboa), I just couldn't pick Salido if the fight does happen. And it could happen, since Salido isn't on the Top Rank payroll.

Most likely, though, we won't see it any time soon, unless Salido can talk his way into it. Golden Boy and Al Haymon seem to have Broner set for a win over Sykes, followed by an August date on HBO, where he'll likely be facing Vicente Escobedo.