By Dan Ambrose: In contrast to last Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight card that didn’t have any competitive fights on the undercard, this Saturday’s fight card headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. James Kirkland has an excellent fight between #5 IBF 140 pound contender Humberto Soto (65-8-2, 35 KOs) and #8 IBF Frankie Gomez (18-0, 13 KOs) at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.
The fight could very well eclipse the main event fight because the Canelo-Kirkland fight is widely seen as a mismatch by many boxing fans. But with Gomez-Soto, it’s really a 50-50 fight. The fight card will be televised on HBO World Championship Boxing.
“I’ve been training two to three times a day. I go to Wild Card Gym in the morning, strength train in the afternoon and sometimes do another workout in the nighttime. I’m ready,” Gomez said via Fight News. “It’s going to be a good fight against Soto. He has a lot of experience, but I think I have the youth and I’m stronger. Soto also has good combinations and is a veteran with more than 60 fights, so he’ll be ready too.”
What Gomez has going for him more than his youth is his size. He’s a big light welterweight who arguably could be fighting in the 147 pound division. Soto is a former super featherweight, and he’s only moved up in weight as he’s aged in order to seek out bigger paydays.
If Soto had stayed at super featherweight or lightweight, he’d still likely be a world champion even at this point in his career. But even as a 140 pound fighter now, Soto is very good. He’s just not in the same class as guys like Lucas Matthysse. Whether Soto is in the class of Gomez, we’re going to find out this Saturday.
“I’ve had a lot of good sparring at training camp. I sparred against fighters like Ruslan Provodnikov and Jose Ramirez,” Gomez said. “Fans can expect to see an explosive, very exciting fight on May 9. Don’t miss it!”
It would be a huge blow to Golden Boy Promotions if Gomez fails to win this fight because their President Oscar De La Hoya has high hopes for Gomez in the future as developing into a world champion who will stay on top of the sport for a long time. Putting him in with Soto is a huge step up in class though, and he might not be ready for that kind of leap up.
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