Humberto Soto Injures Knee, Withdraws From HBO Date
By Steve Kim
They say bad things happen in three. Well, that's certainly been the case for one Humberto Soto. First he was supposed to face Frankie Gomez on May 9th on HBO before Gomez failed to make the contracted weight and the fight was canceled. Then his June 27th bout with Ray Beltran was scrapped because Beltran tested positive for steroids following his May 1st knockout of Takahiro Ao.
Soto was then lined up to face Jose Felix on the same June date as the HBO opener at the StubHub Center in Carson, California - but now that fight has been shelved.
Eric Gomez, the V.P. and Matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions confirmed to BoxingScene.com - "He hurt his (left) knee earlier this morning. He went to get it checked out, he got X-rays. It was a strain of one of the inner ligaments. He's in a lot of pain and he's not going to be able to fight."
As for the replacement bout to this replacement bout, it's not clear if Golden Boy will be involved. This card - which features a match-up between Tim Bradley and Jesse Vargas - is promoted by Top Rank.
"I'm going to do what I can to come up with a replacement, see if I can assist somehow," said Gomez. "But there's no guarantees. We're all scrambling, so we'll see. If I can come up with something that's beneficial to both HBO and Top Rank, obviously I'll help."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
