By Jason Kim: World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion Humberto Soto (53-7-2, 32 KO’s) will be making his 3rd defense of his WBC title on Saturday night in the In Harm’s Way fight card against #6 ranked contender Urbano Antillon (28-1, 20 KO’s) at the Honda Center, Anaheim, California. Antillon has good power but rather poor defensive skills. He also has a habit of blocking punches with his face. In terms of offensive skills, Antillon is pretty even with Soto in that regard.

However, Soto is a much more complete fighter and is able to block shots and duck away others. Soto is very good and one of the best fighters in the division. I wouldn’t put him in the same class as Juan Manuel Marquez, but I think he’s more than good enough to beat guys like Michael Katsidis and Vicente Escobedo, and, of course, Antillon. The problem for Soto is that he’s been unable to get the popular fighter like Manny Pacquiao and Marquez to fight him. I don’t think he would win, but he’s missed gaining popularity and the money that he would get for taking on those types of fighters.

This fight looks to be the best fight on a card that is sorely missing in terms of talent and competitive match-ups. The card goes for $44 on pay-per-view and to show you how badly it’s missing in terms of interesting fights, Nonito Donaire headlines the card against Wladimir Sidorenko, a fighter that’s lost two out of his last three fights. The card was supposed to have Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fighting Pawel Wolak in the main event, but Chavez came up ill and pulled out of the fight due to a bad case of the flu.

Soto hasn’t been beaten in quite awhile. He lost by a questionable 4th round disqualification to Francisco Lorenzo in 2008. And before that, Soto was soundly beaten by Joan Guzman in 2007. But you have to go back far in Soto’s career for his other losses. He was beaten by Kevin Kelly in 2002. That’s how far you have to go back to find another loss on his record.

Soto should beat Antillon without too many problems. Antillon has good offense, but he looks bad when he’s facing someone that can throw back at him. Antillon was stopped by Miguel Acosta in the 9th round last year in a fight where he was simply out of his class. Soto will be another case of Antillon being out of his league.