By Miguel Rivera

According to Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, the negotiations for the anticipated fight between Orlando Salido and Takashi Miura is getting close for December 17 in California. Gomez views the fight as being one of the very best in 2016.

The hard-punching Miura (30-3-2, 23KOs) lost his WBC super featherweight title in a Fight of The Year encounter with Francisco Vargas last November as part of the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez undercard at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Miura had Vargas down early, but was later stopped on the contest.

Salido (43-13-4, 30KOs) has been in three Fight of The Year contenders in a row. He had two wars last year with Roman Martinez, and then followed that up this past June by going to war with Vargas for for the WBC 130-pound crown. That fight ended in a twelve round draw, but there were a lot of observers who felt Salido did enough to edge it out.

Miura was ringside for Salido's fight with Vargas. Both Salido and Miura want to get Vargas back in the ring, but the champion - who is currently recovering from the serious cuts that were sustained in the fight with Salido - was recently ordered to make a mandatory defense against hard-hitting Miguel Roman.

Salido vs. Miura is a can't miss fight with a lot of potential to become a late frontrunner for Fight of The Year honors.

"It's a fight with great potential to close out the year. I think every promoter, every journalist, every analyst, every fan - will be eager to see the fight between Orlando Salido and Takashi Miura. We are trying to finalize the fight and we're very close to achieving this. We hope to provide some good news very soon," Gomez told ESPN Deportes.