Mikey Garcia has decided to vacate the WBO junior lightweight belt and leap frog the lightweight division to campaign at junior welterweight. As a result of Garcia's move up in weight, the WBO elevated interim belt holder, Orlando Salido.
Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs) won the WBO junior lightweight title last November by knocking out Roman Martinez (27-2-2, 16 KOs) in eight rounds. Garcia defended the belt once in January, scoring a unanimous decision against Juan Carlos Burgos (30-2-2, 20 KOs).
Salido (42-12-2, 29 KOs) won the WBO's interim belt in a Fight of the Year contender slug-fest against Terdsak Kokietgym (53-5-1, 33 KOs). The two warriors exchanged seven knock downs, with Salido getting off the canvas in the first, second, and fifth rounds to put Kokietgym down for good in the eleventh round.
Salido and Garcia fought in January 2013. At the time, Salido was the WBO featherweight champion, and for Garcia, he was a big step up in the quality of competition. Garcia put Salido down twice in the first round and once in the third and fourth rounds before the fight went to the score cards after Garcia suffered a broken nose caused by an accidental headbutt. The result was a unanimous decision for Garcia.
Though there's been no news as to when or who Garcia or Salido will fight next, Salido recently stated that he'd welcome a rematch with Garcia, while Garcia talked about a potential showdown with either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, Jr.