By Jake Donovan

Another weekend, another upcoming fight between two fighters facing each other just for the hell of it. In a division where there is plenty of money to be made by playing it safe and holding out for bigger game, a pair of junior lightweight contenders instead opt to face each other, with little more than bragging rights at stake.

This month's edition of HBO's Boxing After Dark, in a nutshell.

Boxing junkies are in for a treat as Humberto Soto and undefeated Joan Guzman collide in the lone live fight to air this weekend (Saturday, HBO, 9:45PM ET/PT, Atlantic City, NJ). With Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao generally regarded as the top two junior lightweights in the world, the winner of this fight should warrant consideration as 'best of the rest', at the very least.

It's been a long road to the top for both contestants, though for very different reasons.

For Guzman (27-0, 17KO), it's been a difficult run ever since turning pro following one of the most successful amateur careers in Dominican boxing history (310-10 in the non-pay ranks), including a trip to the 1996 Olympics. Much of his prime has been plagued by inactivity, due in part to the majority of notable contenders from 122-130 unwilling to share a ring with the Brooklyn-based Dominican boxer-puncher; the rest due to the wrong people being placed in charge of looking out for his best interests.

There was a time where Guzman seemingly had more promoters than fans. Frank Warren, Goossen Tutor, Sycuan Ringside, Zanfer, Golden Boy – it's almost easier to list the promoters who didn't have paper on Guzman at one point or another during his 11-year, 27-fight career.

Such was a heavy price to pay – agreeing to give options to rival promoters for a chance at a notable fight here, and an alphabet trinket there. Yet through it all, Guzman failed to secure a big fight with any of the big names during his stay at 122 and 126. The closest he came was a planned April 2005 unification bout with then-fellow 122 lb. alphabet titlist Oscar Larios, a bout that was supposed to be the lone selling point of an otherwise pathetic PPV card in El Paso, TX, headlined by Marco Antonio Barrera.

Instead, the plans would fall in line with Guzman's career progress at the time – if not for bad luck, no luck at all.

Larios instead took on a perceived tune-up against Wayne McCullough, only for McCullough to offer his best performance in years before coming up just short in their nationally televised (FoxSports) February 2005 bout. Larios barely escaped with the victory, though hardly unscathed, suffering an injury severe enough to "postpone" the Guzman showdown.

Guzman would learn the hard way that "postponed", in reference to his bouts, apparently has a different meaning than the word's traditional definition. The Larios bout was never rescheduled, but flat out scrapped altogether. Instead, Guzman traveled further south - Hidalgo, TX, to be exact – where he took on then-fellow unbeaten 122 lb. pugilist Fernando Beltran Jr on a TV Azteca card co-headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

The exposure wasn't much, but it was the first of five straight (and counting) televised appearances lined up by manager and longtime friend Jose Nunez, who took over the reins in late 2004, replacing the inept Rafael Guerrero, who helps waste much of Guzman's prime by making more enemies than alliances during their time together.

Prior to his alliance with Nunez, which would subsequently lead to a promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions, Guzman was something of a cult hero within the sport. Impressive showings against Agapito Sanchez and Fabio Oliva earned the Dominican the nickname "El Pequeño Tyson" (Little Tyson) among his fan base, though very few even in the general boxing media could honestly claim they were familiar with his career.

Nunez helped change that thanks to the aforementioned alliance with Golden Boy. The move was a risk, as Guzman already had enough hands in his pockets. But it also led to three fights in a seven-month span, a rate of activity Guzman hadn't been privy to since winning his first alphabet title earlier in the decade. Included among the lot was his breakthrough performance against Jorge Barrios last September in Las Vegas.

Serving as the chief support to the Marco Antonio Barrera-Rocky Juarez PPV rematch, Guzman showed the boxing world why he has been long revered on the underground level as one of the game's most complete fighters. The free-swinging Barrios had little answers for Guzman's attack, other than some assistance from the ringside judges, who somehow saw the bout close enough to warrant a split decision, but at least getting the winner correct in the end.

Bad luck once again struck Guzman earlier in 2007, when he was scheduled to take on defensively challenged unbeaten lightweight Michael Katsidis on Boxing After Dark. Guzman suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw less than two weeks before the fight, with the bout never being rescheduled.

Instead, Guzman was forced to do what he does best these days – sit on the shelf, awaiting the soul brave enough to stand in the opposite corner.

Enter Humberto Soto, whose tale is far more rags-to-riches. There was no Olympic glory to speak of for the hard-nosed Mexican brawler. No pristine amateur career, though boasting a respectable record of 42-5-2, 1NC before turning pro in 1997.

Nor were there any top fighters avoiding him – mainly because none knew who the hell he was. Soto fought almost exclusively in Mexico before being brought to the states (mainly Las Vegas) by then-promoter Guilty Boxing earlier in the decade. The stateside exposure did little to further Soto's career. In fact, a 2002 majority decision loss to faded former featherweight champ Kevin Kelley had the Mexican, 23-5-2 after the fight, pegged as a career journeyman.

Apparently Soto wasn't big on labels, particularly ones indicative of anything less than the talent he believed he posses. Training habits changed, as did his style and overall approach to the game. But not even a 14-fight unbeaten streak could convince the boxing world that there was substance to his record (37-3-2-1NC, 21KO).

It obviously didn't convince Main Events or manager Shelly Finkel, who handled the career of 2000 Olympic silver medalist and then-unbeaten Rocky Juarez, who was in need of an opponent after In Jin Chi pulled up lame two weeks prior to their scheduled August 2005 HBO co-feature battle. All parties agreed on Soto as a worthy last-minute replacement, with Juarez-Soto now sanctioned as an interim title fight. That Juarez would leave the ring with his first alphabet strap was a given, with the bout itself supposedly a mere formality.

Whoops.

Soto took full advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity, dominating Juarez throughout, with a pair of fouls late in the fight proving the difference between a runaway upset win and the official verdict, a majority decision in one of the year's biggest shockers.

No longer a lightly regarded journeyman, Soto was now a bonafide contender, and ready to cash in on the newfound success. Only there was no longer anything in the queue. Those seeking last-minute opponents in perceived overmatched fights against their thoroughbreds suddenly stopped calling. Lesson learned by Soto – there's no such thing as a fair fight when you become high-risk, low reward.

A certain unbeaten Dominican can surely relate.

Soto hoped to change up his luck when he signed with Top Rank in 2006. New promoter, along with a new weight class after none of the other fish were biting in the featherweight waters. A mismatch against Ivan Valle was thinly disguised as a junior lightweight elimination match, as Arum planned for the winner (Soto, by 4 th round knockout) to challenge Marco Antonio Barrera. Either that, or he just wanted to stick it to Oscar de la Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, back when the two sides weren't talking.

Whatever the case, Barrera-Soto never happened. Barrera instead went on to lose to Juan Manuel Marquez, while Soto awaited his next opportunity, which he hoped was a crack at Filipino buzzsaw Manny Pacquiao. Such was the rumor prior to Soto's June 2007 HBO PPV showcase bout against Bobby Pacquiao, Manny's far less talented brother. The perception was that Soto would beat Bobby, setting up a "My Brother's Keeper" type them for an October PPV rumored to take place anywhere from El Paso, Texas to Vancouver, Canada.

Soto held up his end, though enduring some rough moments before finally taking out Pac-Lite in seven. But there was no keeping it in the family. Instead, Arum decided to kiss and make up with longtime student Oscar, and the two would join hands in harmony and plan out their fall schedule.

Fittingly enough, the October PPV would be headlined by the last two major fighters Soto was rumored to face – Pacquiao and Barrera. A pair of fighters that Guzman had been patiently waiting to fight – in fact the very reason he moved up to 130 in the first place.

But alas, there was more business to be made between new best friends Arum and de la Hoya. Last week's PPV event, headlined by Miguel Cotto's distance win over Shane Mosley, was the second of three co-promotions between the two Left Coast-based outfits. The two aforementioned PPV headliners were made because it made good business sense to Arum and Golden Boy.

The last of the trifecta – and perhaps in the promoters' minds, the least -is this weekend's showdown between Soto and Guzman.

Why? Because nobody else will fight them. A status both fighters hope to change come Sunday morning.

ETC.

- It wasn't the Fight of the Year fans had hoped for, or the sold-out crowd that the promoters insisted would be the case. In fact, save for perhaps the final decision, there was little about the Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley bout that went as expected. Still, the bout was aesthetically pleasing in its own way – even if for different reasons than the HBO broadcast suggested. Cotto proved he can box almost as well as he can brawl (let's not go overboard), while Shane proved that, while at 36 perhaps no longer good enough to be the best, he can still give 'em all that they can handle.

That said, any talks of a rematch without Cotto first facing the winner of next month's Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton showdown are absurd. In fact, a rematch isn't necessary at all. It was close but no cigar for Shane, who by his own admission doesn't believe a rematch under similar circumstances, could turn out any better.

- Speaking of Shane, kudos for going out with class. The fight was close enough to where most would complain about being on the business end of the decision. Instead, Shane remained a straight shooter, praising Cotto for his efforts, and even hinting that perhaps retirement is a more viable option than a rematch.

- And speaking of the Cotto-Mosley fight, those unable to catch it last Saturday have all the more reason to tune in to this weekend's Guzman-Soto headliner. HBO will air the exclusive replay at the start of their telecast, prior to the airing of the Guzman-Soto main event, live from the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

- Between the undercard for this PPV and the business transaction that was the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch, I'm starting to greater appreciate the period during which Arum and de la Hoya weren't speaking. Arum's prior three PPV cards (David Diaz-Erik Morales, Cotto-Zab Judah and Pacquiao-Jorge Solis) were easily the best PPV shows of 2007 from top to bottom. Even the Cotto-Mosley fight, while fun to watch, lacked the aura and energy that have come with past Cotto-MSG collaborations or any of Arum's PPV events over the last two years.

- Speaking of Top Rank-Golden Boy matchups, no more talk of anything other than Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez II being next on tap for either fighter. Pacquiao-David Diaz would be fun. I also wouldn't mind seeing Marquez take on the winner of this weekend's bout. But so long as there's a reserved date, and at least one side willing to take the fight, there are no excuses for the rematch NOT happening next year. Not even Pacquiao-Juan Diaz at lightweight. Let Juan and Casamayor settle once and for all who is the real lightweight king, while Pac and Marquez settle their (going on) 4-year old score.

THEN we can talk about other fights.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and presently serves on the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. His column runs every Tuesday on BoxingScene.