Orlando Salido, Roman Martinez battle to controversial draw in thrilling slugfest

Roman Martinez, right, throws a punch at Orlando Salido. (Joe Camporeale, Paste BN Sports)

Orlando Salido and Roman Martinez delivered yet again, five months after their thrilling first encounter.

The warriors went at it for 12 action-packed rounds, and this time, there was no victor with the fight ending in a split draw. The scores were 115-113 each way and then 114-114 in a Fight of the Year candidate from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Martinez, who won the first bout, retained his WBO lightweight title in the co-feature to Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto on Showtime PPV, but most observers felt Salido deserved the nod this time around.

"I thought I won the fight," Salido, 34, said through translator Felix DeJesus. "I thought in the first couple of rounds we were kind of even, but then I took the fight afterwards. I was definitely looking for the championship. I threw more of the punches in this fight and I definitely won the fight. I dedicated so much of this fight, for them to take it away is not fair. I'm definitely ready for a third fight."

Salido (42-13-3, 29 KOs), a former featherweight champion who owns victories over Juanma Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko, was a whirlwind from the onset. He never stopped pressing forward and threw a whopping 1,037 punches in the bout, per CompuBox. Martinez (29-2-3, 17 KOs) threw 691 shots, and while Salido got the better of most exchanges, the Puerto Rican stood his ground and traded with his foe in close quarters.

The fighters exchanged knockdowns in Round 3. Salido stepped on Martinez's left foot and dropped him, an action that should have been ruled a slip, but referee Vic Drakulich incorrectly called it a knockdown. Moments later, Martinez drilled Salido with a one-two to score a clean knockdown. But from that moment on, it was mostly the Mexican's fight.

"I definitely won the fight and they counted a knockdown there that wasn't really a knockdown," Martinez, 32, said through DeJesus. "He threw a lot of punches, but they were mostly on the arms. Anywhere you want it, I'll have that third fight."

A trilogy is certainly welcome.