By Dan Ambrose: Jesus Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KO’s) may have ended former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto’s career tonight in stopping him in the 12th round at the AT&T Center, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Soto Karass had been knocked down in the 11th round by a belt-line left to the body.
However, in the 12th round, Soto Karass caught Berto with a perfectly timed left hook to the head that dropped the 29-year-old Berto. To his credit, Berto got back to his feet, but because of how he staggered getting up, the referee halted the fight at 0:48 of the round. There was no way that Berto would have been able to survive the remainder of the round with as much that was remaining in the round.
Soto Karass had Berto hurt in the opening round and it looked for a second that he would stop him. Berto was able to come back in the 2nd and appear to control the round. Soto retook control of the fight in the 3rd round and then hurt Berto in the 4th after catching him against the ropes and flurrying on him.
Soto Karass controlled most of the rounds until the 11th when Berto was able to drop him with a beltline body shot.
There were times earlier in the fight where Berto looked like he was on the verge of quitting or having the fight stopped. He fell down at one point and kept trying to get his right shoulder loose as if he had injured it.
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In a fight of the year candidate, lightweight contender Omar Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 KO’s) pounded out a hard fought 12 round unanimous decision win over Japan’s Nihito Arakawa (24-3-1, 16 KO’s) to capture the WBC interim lightweight title. The judges’ scores were 118-108, 118-108 and 119-107. Figueroa appeared to run out of gas in the 11th and 12th rounds and was outworked by Arakawa. It was an exciting fight from start to finish, as both guys traded shots in each round. Figueroa had Arakawa hurt many times in the fight from big power shots, but each time Arakawa was able to survive the round and return fire when Figueroa would gas in the 1 minute or 2 of every round.
Figueroa frequently spent time on the ropes, just covering up and looking to land an occasional big shot. Figueroa was clearly bothered by the pressure and the fast pace that Arakawa set, and he was very lucky that he couldn’t punch because he would have been knocked out. Figueroa looked good throwing punches, but not receiving them, even against a weak puncher like Arakawa. Again and again, Figueroa was snapped back by Arakawa’s shots. Had this been Adrien Broner, Figueroa would have been knocked out early. He was pretty much another Antonio DeMarco, but with bad stamina.
I can’t see Figueroa beating the better fighters in the division. Once he finds someone that can take his power and has good power of their own, I see Figueroa getting worn down and stopped.
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Unbeaten welterweight contender Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KO’s) wore down and stopped Diego Chaves (22-1, 18 KO’s) in the 10th round. Thurman drove the already hurt Chaves to the ropes with a series of hard shots in the 10th and then flurried on him until Chaves dropped from a not very big hand. The fight was then stopped with Chaves all fours. It looked like Chaves simply quit, as he had been knocked down with a hard left to the body in the 9th round. Chaves came out in the 10th protecting the right side of his midsection, as if he had suffered a rib injury. Thurman than nailed him with a left to the body and several hard head shots that backed Chaves up to the ropes. He then followed Chaves to the ropes and unloaded with a 8 punch combination with most of the shots landing. Chaves hit the canvas after getting hit with a right to the forehead.
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In his second fight in coming back from a serious motorcycle accident, unbeaten super middleweight Anthony Dirrell (26-0, 22 KO
s) stayed unbeaten by stopping Anthony Hanshaw (23-4-2, 14 KO’s) in the 3rd round. Dirrell nailed Hanshaw with two scorching rights to the head that put him down on the canvas. The fight was then halted at 2:36 of the round.
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Other boxing results on the card:
Andrew Cancio UD 10 Jerry Belmontes
Joseph Rodriguez UD 4 Kesse Anguiano
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