Humberto Soto faces Lucas Matthysse on June 23rd

By Boxing News - 06/06/2012 - Comments

Image: Humberto Soto faces Lucas Matthysse on June 23rdBy Allan Fox: In what will arguably be former WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto’s first real fight at light welterweight, he’ll be taking on what should be an unbeaten 140 pound contender Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KO’s) on June 23rd on the undercard of the Victor Ortiz vs. Josesito Lopez fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Soto, 32, has fought three times since moving up to the light welterweight division in September of last year, but Soto has been facing largely pumped up lightweights instead of light welterweights. This fight against Mattysse will be Soto’s welcoming to the division, and it’s going to be really interesting to see how he does in this new weight class.

To be honest, the five pounds difference between the two divisions are pretty much nothing. There really even shouldn’t be a light welterweight division in my view. It should go lightweight and then the next division welterweight, because having only five pounds differences between the divisions isn’t enough weight for there to be a significant problem. It’s obvious why the sanctioning bodies created the extra divisions, because it means more champions and more sanctioning fees. But back to the fight. Matthysee is a stronger, and a better fighter than most of the guys that Soto has faced during his career. Soto has faced only two really good fighters during his 15-year career – Kevin Kelly and Joan Guzman – and he lost to both of them. The next best fighter that Soto faced was 5’7″ Urbano Antillon, who gave Soto all he could handle in their war in December 2010. Soto won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision but it was a really close fight. Boxing fans and Antillon wanted a rematch, but Soto didn’t want the fight, and has faced largely weak opposition ever since, winning his last five fights against less than spectacular opponents.

Matthysse, 5’9″, is bigger than Soto, the stronger puncher, and perhaps a better boxer. Matthysse is also three years younger at 29, and the only two losses on his resume perhaps should have been victories. Matthysee lost to Devon Alexander and Zab Judah when he made the big mistake of agreeing to fight them in their own venues. In both cases, Matthysee fought well enough to deserve the win but found himself on the losing end of decisions.

Matthysee has won his last two fights against weak opposition since suffering a loss to Alexander last year in June.



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