WBO featherweight champ Orlando Salido (36-11-2, 24 KOs) returns to the ring this Saturday at the Palenque de la Feria in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico in a 10-round non-title bout with Filipino Weng Haya (14-4, 8 KOs).
Despite rumors to the contrary, Mexico’s Salido is still entertaining offers related to his title fight options for 2012 and has not yet signed to face Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez in a return bout to his upset TKO 8 title-winning victory last April.
In Salido’s last bout, he stopped overmatched Japanese contender Kenichi Yamaguchi in the 11th round of their scheduled 12-rounder.
His opponent, Haya, is an unknown entity who has only fought once outside the Philippines (a 2009 six-round unanimous-decision loss to super featherweight contender Terdsak Kokietgym in Thailand).
Added to the card is two-time super flyweight world titlist Cristian Mijares (43-6-2, 19 KOs), who vacated his IBF super flyweight belt last summer, in a junior featherweight contest against veteran journeyman Alejandro Valdez (25-6-2, 19 KOs).
Valdez, once a moderately well-regarded prospect, has been the subject of controversy since being hospitalized after a TKO loss to Nehomar Cermeno in 2009 and diagnosed with bleeding on the brain. Since the injury, Valdez has fought five more times, compiling a record of 3-2.
