Tackie-Bruseles, Soto-Karass vs. Smith Tonight

By Boxing News - 04/11/2008 - Comments

By Manuel Perez: Welterweight contender Jesus Soto-Karrass (19-3-3, 14 KOs) puts his lightly regarded WBC Continental Americas welterweight title on the line tonight against Chris Smith (21-4-1, 13 KOs) at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Also, former light welterweight contender Ben Tackie (29-9-1, 17 KOs) goes up against former light welterweight contender Henry Bruseles (26-3-1, 15 KOs). Easily, the Tackie-Bruseles figures to be the more exciting bout, as each of them are better fighters as a whole than what I’ve seen of Smith and Soto-Karass, whom I see as more as low B-class fighters than top level talent.

Tackie, 34, is coming off of three consecutive losses in which he’s lost to Freddy Hernandez, Alfonso Gomez and Kendall Holt, all of whom Tackie has fought competitively against. Tackie is six years removed from his prime when he fought Kostya Tszyu for the junior welterweight title in 2002, a bout Tackie lost by a 12-round unanimous decision.

Before that fight, Tackie was considered one of the top fighters in the junior welterweight division, having beaten top fighters such as Freddie Pendleton, Roberto Garcia, Golden Johnson, Teddy Reid, and Ray Oliveira. However, after losing to Tszyu in 2002, Tackie fought two more tough fights immediately without a break, fighting Sharmba Mitchell, and Ricky Hatton, losing both by a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision. Most fighters wouldn’t me match so toughly after a disappointing loss such as the one Tackie experienced with Tszyu, but Tackie for some reason was. It was only after these fights that Tackie was finally given easier opponents in which he could rest up and build up his confidence again.

Five fights later, Tackie was matched up against the tough Juan Lazcano, who promptly beat Tackie by a 10-round unanimous decision in February 2006. This was an especially disappoint loss as Lazcano, a primitive slugger, was just the type of fighter that Tackie had historically done well against in his career. Following that loss, Tackie picked up a couple of easy wins over Wilfredo Negron and Esau Herrera, before moving on the taking on Hernandez, Gomez and Holt in back to back fights. In a way, this seems like a similar move for Tackie as he did in 2002 when he took on Tszyu, Mitchell and Hatton in back to back fights. I suppose from his standpoint he was looking at the upside of winning one or all of the fights, perhaps gambling big and thus losing big. Whatever the case, the bright side of it all, I imagine, is that he received a better payday against them compared to what he would have gotten for facing an unknown fighter.

Bruseles, a Puerto Rican fighter with tons of talent, who after losing by an 8th round TKO in January 2005, all but disappeared off the radar screen. Still loaded with talent, Bruseles seemingly squandered the past three years of his career, fighting only twice in 2006, once in 2007 and so far only once in 2008, against C-class fighters. With his talent, he could have easily been back at the top challenging once again for a light welterweight title, but for some reason he hasn’t been able to get himself active enough against high level opposition for him to take advantage of his excellent skills. In his last bout, against Robert Frankel in February, Bruseles looked superb in stopping him in the 4th round.

There were no signs of ring wear as he looked as good as he did in 2005 while earning the right to fight Mayweather for a championship. As it is, I consider him a better fighter than Ricky Hatton, who receives much more press than him. The problem with Bruseles is that he needs to get more momentum with his career because he can’t continue to waste time fighting C-class fighters if he wants to once again move up in the rankings. It’s sad, because I consider him better than most of the top junior welterweights in the division, yet he’s not even ranked in the top 15.

As for Jesus Soto-Karass, I’ve been less than impressed with him in his last three fights. He’s very mechanical-looking, has little power and fights as if he has his feet stuck in clay. He’s currently ranked #11 in the WBO, but I see that as an overly generous ranking because he’s not a better fighter than Zab Judah, who is ranked #12 in the WBO. Still, I see Soto-Karrass as being good enough to beat Smith without any problems. That’s nothing to crow about because I don’t see Smith, who has lost to every top fighter he’s ever faced, as being a good fighter.