By Jake Donovan
 
He was one of the favorite sons of the original Solo Boxeo series on Telefutura. Now, Jesus Soto-Karass looks to establish himself as a cult favorite on the Azteca America version of the show.

The resurging welterweight contender has seen better peformances, looking sluggish at times but in control throughout his ten-round decision over Carson Jones in their televised main event.

The card aired live from the Maywood (CA) Activity Center.

Soto-Karass intended to start off slow and measure up Jones, but that plan went out the window the moment the Oklahoma City-based journeyman decided to go toe-to-toe with the Mexican. Naturally, Soto-Karass was more than happy to reciprocate, trading with Jones at the end of the first before chasing him around the ring in the second.

Action picked up considerably in the third, but it was all one way. Soto-Karass was grinding away with a body attack, which led to two official knockdowns in the round. The first one saw Jones voluntarily take a knee in a delayed reaction to a liver shot.

The brief rest proved to be wise; Jones came on like gangbusters soon thereafter, catching Soto-Karass with right hands upstairs. Unfortunately, it merely awoke a sleeping giant, as a hail of body shots forced Jones to the canvas right before the bell. He beats the count, but was already running out of rounds in the scheduled ten.

As round four wore on, Jones was not only running out of rounds, but also out of gas. Punch by punch, Soto-Karass was beating the fight out of him, with Jones looking far worse for the wear than when the round began. The fifth was more of the same, though Jones snuck in an occasional right hand. Soto-Karass also received his second warning for rabbit punching, though hardly slowed down his attack.

The second half of the fight picked up where the fifth left off. Soto-Karass dominated most of the sixth round, while Jones was reduced to one shot at a time, save for a burst in the frame’s final 15 seconds. It was a different story in the seventh, with Jones letting his hands go for the first time in several rounds. Soto-Karass matched him punch for punch, and eventually surpassed him towards round’s end. A right uppercut began the rally, which didn’t end until the bell, and continued in the eighth.

After doling out further punishment in the ninth, Soto-Karras looking to close the show in the final round. An uppercut late in the round had the crowd believing he was on his way out.

Scoring was academic in this one, with Soto-Karass winning by tallies of 98-90, 97-91 and 99-89. The Mexican improves to 23-3-3 (16KO), now 12-0-1 since a brutal four-fight non-winning streak midway through his career.

Jones falls to 18-7-1 (10KO), ending a five-fight winning streak in the process.

Miguel Angel Garcia maintained his undefeated record with a fifth round stoppage of Lucian Gonzalez in the televised co-feature.

Garcia, who is trained by older brother and former junior lightweight titlist Roberto “Grandpa” Garcia, was in a fight for the first three rounds, as Gonzalez started out with intentions greater than playing the role of opponent.

That went away in the fourth, when Garcia turned up the heat. Blistering right hands and left hooks had Gonzalez in serious trouble early in the round. The flurry proved to be the turning point in the fight, as Garcia remained in full control from that point onward.

More punishment came in the fifth, with Gonzalez spending most of the round either in retreat or crowding Garcia with no intention of throwing back. His corner spared him the trouble of absorbing any more punishment, stopping the fight between rounds.

The official time was 3:00 of round five.

Garcia improves to 15-0 (12KO), picking up his first win of 2009. Gonzalez dips to 9-5-1 (1KO), snapping an eight-fight unbeaten streak.

Local unbeaten super featherweight Jose Roman (4-0, 3KO) was forced to go the distance for the first time in his young career, but was still dominant in taking a four round decision over Rufino Flores (1-1, 0KO). Scores were 40-36 across the board.

Unbeaten junior welterweight collided in the evening’s second televised swing bout, as Omar Chavez outlast Rodolfo Armenta en route to a majority decision.

Chavez, the youngest son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, jumped to an early start, targeting the body and controlling the tempo with his long jab. Armenta didn’t wilt, firing back with left hooks late in the round, and enjoyed a strong start to the second round. Chavez eventually regained control, landing two long right hands at rounds end.

The third was a whitewash, as Chavez’ jab kept his countryman at bay for nearly the entire three minutes. Both fighters came out throwing in the fourth and final round, but it was Chavez’ quicker, crisper punches that landed more frequently.

Only two of the three judges were satisfied with Chavez’ ring generalship. The opening score of 38-38 was trumped by tallies of 39-37 and 40-36 for the 19-year old, who improves to 14-0-1 (10KO).

Armenta loses for the first time in his 17-month career, falling to 6-1 (4KO).

The show was presented by Top Rank Inc.

Please feel free to submit any comments or questions to Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .