Gibbons: Martinez-Salido III on Feb. 20

HVR Sports   i 8 1006x285 Gibbons: Martinez Salido III on Feb. 20
December 28, 2015
HVR Sports   i 8 Gibbons: Martinez Salido III on Feb. 20

Although the television outlet and venue have not been determined, junior lightweight titlist Rocky Martinez will fight Orlando Salido for the third time on Feb. 20, Salido manager Sean Gibbons told ESPN.com.

Puerto Rico’s Martinez and Mexico’s Salido waged two ultra-exciting fights in 2015 to add to the great boxing rivalry between their countries.

On April 11, in San Juan, Martinez, 32, knocked down Salido, 35, twice, with Salido also getting a point deducted for low blows in an otherwise highly competitive fight. In the end, Martinez won a unanimous decision in a fight of the year candidate and took Salido’s 130-pound world title.

They met in a rematch on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas on the Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto undercard and put on another tremendous show. This time Martinez (29-2-3, 17 KOs) retained the title by split draw in another furious battle that most thought Salido (42-13-3, 29 KOs) deserved to win.

A third fight was approved in October at the WBO’s annual convention and now the date is locked in.

“We just need to work out the site and TV is still in the works,” said Gibbons, although the likely TV outlet would seem to be either Showtime or a Premier Boxing Champions card.

While Martinez’s camp would like for the third fight to be in Puerto Rico, Gibbons said their side would prefer for the fight to be either in the United States or Mexico.

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