By Dan Ambrose: The Tim Bradley vs. Jessie Vargas fight card just got a lot better with the addition of a light welterweight clash between Raymundo Beltran )30-7-1, 18 KOs) and former two division world champion Humberto Soto (65-8-2, 35 KOs) on June 27th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Soto-Beltran fight will be the co-feature bout on the Bradley vs. Vargas card, and it might very well out-shine the main event. Braley-Vargas could turn out to be a dull tactical fight with a lot of jabbing, moving and clinching. That’s how Vargas likes to fight, and it’s sometimes mind numbingly boring to watch.
Soto was supposed have fought earlier this month against light welterweight contender Frankie Gomez on the May 9th Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. James Kirkland fight at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. However, the Soto-Gomez fight was cancelled after the hulking Gomez failed to make weight for the fight. Had the fight gone ahead, Soto would have been fighting a welterweight instead of a light welterweight, and that obviously wouldn’t work.
“Humberto Soto vs. Ray Beltran is agreed to for June 27 HBO Bradley-Vargas co-feature. That is a damn good fight. #boxing,” Dan Rafael said on his twitter.
Soto recently defeated John Molina by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision in his last fight. He did a great job of dominating Molina with hard jabs and powerful combinations.
Molina, who had previously fought a war against Lucas Matthysse in losing by an 11th round knockout, didn’t seem to have the heart to fight it out with Soto in the way he needed to. Soto has done a great job of rebuilding his career since his stoppage loss to Matthysse.
Beltran was recently beaten by Terence Crawford by a 12 round unanimous decision. Beltran tried to get to Crawford to slug with him, but he was constantly tied up in a clinch each time he got near to him. Beltran came close to winning a world title in 2013 when he fought former WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland. Beltran broke Burns’ jaw and controlled the fight for the full 12 rounds, but the judges’ scores the fight a 12 round draw. That decision proved to be an unpopular one with fans because many of them saw Beltran as the better fighter of the two. But it’s not surprising that Beltran was held to a draw because he was the visiting fighter.
The Soto-Beltran card will be televised on HBO Championship Boxing.
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