Lopez Apologises To Referee

Juan Manuel Lopez suffered his second loss of his career on Saturday night to the same man who handed him his first defeat, Orlando Salido. The two battled out it out in a toe-to-toe slug-fest for 10 rounds until the referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. ended the bout by awarding a TKO win to Salido.

The fight is currently the leading candidate for fight of the year as both fighters gave it their all and had everyone in the crowd on their feet for most of the fight. Lopez was happy with his own performance and credited Salido for being a tough fighter but he stated that he was very disappointed with the referee who he claimed suffers a very bad gambling problem.

''The referee stopped the fight because he has gambling problems'' said Lopez to Showtime's Jim Gray. ''I told the Commission the referee was a gambler, and they did wrong as putting him as the referee. It was very irresponsible for putting him as the referee knowing he has a gambling problem.''

Lopez quickly and publicly apologised for saying what he did.

Roberto Ramirez Sr.

''For my part, I apologise to Roberto for comments I had made after the fight with Salido... Roberto is one of the best referees in the world. He did a great job and I appreciate that I was protected because I was definitely hurt!'' Lopez announced in a statement by PR Best Boxing Promotions.

Orlamdo Salido was very happy with his win and said that he knew he had to win by knockout or beat Lopez decisively to win in Lopez's hometown Puerto Rico and the judges scorecards proved him right. When the fight ended, Michael Pernick and Cesar Ramos had Lopez ahead by 86-84 and Danny Nelson had it level at 85-85 even though Salido landed 235 punches compared to Lopez who landed 135. Salido now has a record of (38-11-2, 26 KOs).

It looks unlikely the two fighters will meet for a third time although both said they are willing to as Salido is looking to face Mikey Garcia who recently stopped Bernabe Concepcion in the seventh round.