By Jim Dower: Juan Carlos Abreu (20-3-1, 19 KOs) defeated 35-year-old journeyman Jesus Soto Karass (28-13-4, 18 KOs) by an 8th round knockout on Thursday night at the Casino Del Sol, in Tucson, Arizona. Abreu, 30, knocked Soto Karass down twice in round 8 with uppercuts.
(Photo Credit: Tom Hogan – HoganPhotos/Golden Boy Promotions)
The fight was halted after the second knockdown. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:07 of round 8.
Abreu used his jab, right hand movement to control major portions of round 1 through 6. Soto Karass fought better in the last minute of rounds 6 and 7, looking like his old self. Unfortunately for Soto Karass, he didn’t have the energy or even the ambition to do the work in the first 2 minutes of those rounds.
What was startling was how discouraged looking Soto Karass looked. He looked like he didn’t have the same motivation that he possessed during his best years. The inner drive that Soto Karass once had was gone. He looked like a journeyman tonight against a very average fighter in Abreu. It’s time that Soto Karass think about retiring from the sport. He’s been around boxing for a long time, but he doesn’t look like he has it anymore. It depends on what Soto Karass wants out of the remainder of his boxing career. He’s not fighting at a high enough level any longer for him to be a fringe contender. He’s slipped from that level.
The loss for Soto Karass was his 5th in his last 6 fights. It’s hard to believe Soto Karass has lost that many times recently, as he was once a very good fighter. But he’s lost a lot from his game due to the combination of age, and ring wear from tough fights against big sluggers.
In the last 5 years, Soto Karass has lost to these fighters:
• Keith Thurman
• Devon Alexander
• Yoshihiro Kamegai
• Mauricio Herrera
• Marcos Maidana
• Juan Carlos Abreu
The fight against Abreu is one that Soto Karass likely would have won quite easily if he were younger, and if he didn’t have a lot of the wear and tear from his wars with the above mentioned fighters. But at this point in Soto Karass’ career, he wasn’t fresh enough and he didn’t have the youth to do the job.
Abreu came into tonight’s fight with Soto Karass with 2 losses in his last 3 fights to Alex Martin and Jamal James. Those are good fighters, but hardly great ones. It’s hard to see Abreu going anywhere. He’s not that good of a fighter. You can’t put Abreu in with someone like Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia or Errol Spence Jr. and expect him to be competitive.
In other boxing results on the card:
Undefeated super featherweight Ryan “Kingry” Garcia (12-0, 11 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a 3rd round knockout win over Cesar Valenzuela (14-6-1, 5 KOs). Garcia knocked Valenzuela down twice in the fight in putting him down once in the 1st and another time in the third. It was a good performance from Garcia, but he wasn’t facing a quality opponent through.
Undefeated super featherweight Hector “Finito” Tanajara Jr. (11-0, 4 KOs) looked good in beating journeyman Jesus Serrano (17-5-2, 12 Kos) by a one-sided 8 round unanimous decision. The scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73. Boxing News24 had Tanajara Jr. winning easily by the score 80-72.