Frankie Gomez vs. Humberto Soto could steal show on Saturday on Canelo-Kirkland card

soto423464By 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.

read more

Humberto Soto vs. Frankie Gomez on Canelo-Kirkland undercard on May 9th

soto423464By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya will be taking a big risk with his unbeaten fighter #8 IBF light welterweight contender Frankie Gomez (18-0, 13 KOs) in matching him against 34-year-old former two division world champion Humberto Soto (65-8-2, 35 KOs) on May 9th on the undercard of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. James Kirkland fight at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

The fights, Canelo-Kirkland and Gomez-Soto, will be televised on HBO.

#8 IBF Gomez hasn’t fought anyone near the same class as Soto before in his career. The closest thing that Gomez has gotten to fighting someone like Soto is his recent fight against Vernon Paris, who Gomez defeated by a lopsided 10 round decision last year in July.

read more

Mayweather decisions Maidana; Santa Cruz crushes Roman; Bey defeats Vazquez

_DSC7248(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions) By Jim Dower: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 27 KOs) put on a boxing clinic tonight in defeating challenger Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) on Saturday night on the “Mayhem” Card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 115-112, 116-111, 116-111. Maidana It’s hard to understand what the referee was watching who scored the fight 115-112. It wasn’t that close unless the referee was counting Maidana’s many missed punches as shots that landed.

“He bit my hand and that caused my fingers to be numb. I couldn’t use my hand for a while because my finders were numb,” Mayweather said.”I felt sharper in the first fight. My fingers felt numb after the 8th round. I give my self a C minus. I got hit with some shots I shouldn’t have got hit with. I’m going to go back to my team and assess what my team decides. I don’t know who I’m fighting in May. If a fight against Manny Pacquiao presents itself then it’s possible.”

read more

John Molina battles Humberto Soto on Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 card on 9/13

matthysse233By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Humberto Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs) vs. John Molina (27-4, 22 KOs) has been added to the September 13th Mayhem card headlined by WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Of all the undercard fights on the Mayweather-Maidana 2 fight card this has got to be considered to the best one on paper at least. Soto, 33, was one of the best fighters in the super featherweight and lightweight divisions when he held titles in those weight classes, but he hasn’t been the same fighter since he moved up to 140.

read more

Malignaggi vs. Humberto Soto possible

malignaggi42By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi’s team was unable to work out a fight with #1 WBA Diego Chavez. Instead, we could see Malignaggi defending his title next against non-top 15 ranked Humberto Soto (60-8-2, 34 KO’s). The World Boxing Association would have to approve the fight because the 32-year-old Soto isn’t ranked in the welterweight division. He’s #6 WBC at 140.

Malignaggi has defended his WBA title once, beating fringe contender Pablo Cano by a controversial 12 round split decision last October. Malignaggi was hoping to get a big fight against Ricky Hatton, but he lost to Vyacheslav Senchenko. Malignaggi was then hoping to fight 41-year-old Shane Mosley, but that fight failed to happen for a variety of reasons. Then the WBA ordered Malignaggi to face Chavez, but now that fight also won’t he happening.

read more

Schaefer to discuss Khan’s April 20th opponent with Showtime today

khan432By Scott Gilfoid: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer will reportedly be meeting with Stephen Espiniosa, the Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports, today to discuss former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan’s next opponent for April 20th on Showtime. The leading candidate to be facing Khan is former two division world champion Humberto Soto (60-8-2, 34 KO’s).

This will be Khan’s second fight of his three-fight contract with Showtime, and it’s possible the fight will take place in the UK where Khan can still draw. He hasn’t proven to be a ticket seller in the United States as of yet, so it makes sense for Khan to take the fight to the UK for this one.

read more

Humberto Soto back in play for Khan’s April 20th fight

soto21421By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion Humberto Soto (59-8-2, 34 KO’s) is back in the picture for Amir Khan’s next fight on April 20th if Soto gets by his scheduled opponent journeyman Silverio Ortiz (26-13, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBC Silver light welterweight title at the Arena Itson, Ciudad Obregon, in Sonora, Mexico.

If Soto wins that fight and doesn’t get cut up, and if Showtime says yes to the Khan-Soto mismatch, then the fight will likely go ahead for April 20th.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says the 32-yard-old Soto is the leading candidate to get the fight with Khan after former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko said no to the strength draining catch-weight that was being asked of him to take the fight with Khan. Senchenko wasn’t willing to drain himself to take the fight.

read more

Khan to fight Cano, Soto, Lopez or Senchenko on April 20th

khan222By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) has four possibilities for his upcoming April 20th fight, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. If Khan fights in the United States on that date, which doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, Khan will be fighting the recently knocked out Josesito Lopez (30-5, 18 KO’s).

If Khan fights in the UK, Khan will be fighting one of three following opponents: Vyacheslav Senchenko (33-1, 22 KO’s), Humberto Soto (59-8-2, 34 KO’s) or Pablo Cesar Cano (25-2-1, 19 KO’s).

Since it doesn’t look like the fights going to take place in the U.S, you can pretty much eliminate Lopez from the list right off the bat. Anyways, it doesn’t matter even if he still was on the list because he just got trounced by WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in his last fight and it looks silly that he’s on Khan’s list.

read more

Amir Khan vs. Humberto Soto possible for April 20th in the UK

soto21421By Scott Gilfoid: A fight between former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) and former two division world champion Humberto Soto (59-8-2, 34 KO’s) is possible for April 20th in the UK, according to RingTV. Soto, 32, is on board with the fight.

Soto’s manager Michael Miller told RingTV that Soto is agreeable to the fight. The only thing that needs to be worked out is the financial numbers.

This obviously isn’t the high profile opponent that Khan was supposed to have, but it does give you a pretty good idea how concerned Golden Boy Promotions is about wanting to build up Khan’s shattered confidence and keep him from getting beaten again.

read more

Pacquiao’s April fight possible for Manila; Humberto Soto and Brandon Rios are options

soto21421By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao could be fighting in the Philippines in Manila on April 13th, according to the Manilastandardtoday.com. The names of the options are different from the ones that were floated earlier today. Having the fight in Manila would save Pacquiao on taxes. The guys that Pacquiao could fight are former WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto (59-8-2, 34 KO’s) or former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s).

For obvious reasons, Rios would be the guy that Bob Arum would likely be interested in seeing Pacquiao fight because he’s one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters and he was the one that Arum wanted to see Pacquiao fighting in April before Pacquiao shockingly was stopped in the 6th round by Juan Manuel Marquez last month on December 8th.

read more