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A potential rematch between Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido is looming following Lomachenko's move up in weight this past Saturday night on HBO, which resulted in a fifth round knockout of Roman "Rocky" Martinez, and netted the Ukrainian the WBO super featherweight title.
Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KO) had attended Salido’s fight with Francisco Vargas, which wound up a draw, the previous weekend in California, and Salido (43-13-4, 30 KO) was in attendance for Lomachenko’s win over Martinez. It’s also worth noting that Salido went 24 rounds with Martinez in two fights last year, a close loss and a disputed draw.
There were some words about a potential rematch at the post-fight press conference, with Salido, 35, saying he’s interested in the rematch. He's the only fighter to beat Lomachenko thus far in the pro ranks, a split decision win in Lomachenko’s second pro bout in 2014.
The two are also coming at it from different perspectives, at least publicly:
From ESPN.com:
Lomachenko: "For me and Salido it's personal. He did a lot of bad things in our first fight but we never said a word after that fight. But it ate at me. I want Salido next."
Salido: "I don't care what Lomachenko said. Me and him are not personal, at least not by me, and I have no problems fighting him again."
Salido did employ a lot of "rough" tactics in the first fight, dirtying things up when necessary, and it was arguably the biggest reason he was able to hold off Lomachenko, 28, whose pure talent level is generally agreed to be significantly higher. It also has to be said that Salido missed weight for that fight by over two pounds, then moved up to super featherweight.
But that fight did teach Lomachenko a bit about the transition from the amateurs to the pro game, too, and was at the very least a valuable learning experience.
If the rematch does happen, do you see Lomachenko outclassing Salido this time around, or will Salido's particular brand of roughhousing and veteran savvy still be a significant factor in the matchup?