By Jake Donovan
Lightweight titlist Humberto Soto overcame a rocky start to eventually cruise to a 12-round unanimous decision win over countryman Ricardo Dominguez on Saturday evening in his birth town of Los Mochis, Mexico.
Scores were 119-110, 118-110 and 117-112 in a bout that was supposed to air live on Fox Sports, but was instead limited to sporadic coverage.
As is often the case when Soto fights, the final scores (while accurate) are hardly indicative of laboring effort required to secure the win. The first couple of rounds saw Culiacan-born Dominguez attempting to play spoiler, even rocking Soto at one point midway through the second round.
It was enough to serve as a wakeup call for the defending titlist. After regaining his legs, Soto traded with his challenger immediately thereafter before taking over the fight for good from round three onward.
There was a concern late in the fight that Dominguez wouldn’t cross the finish line, though never out of fear of being knocked. Action was stopped in the ninth for the ringside physician to examine a cut over his eye, which was opened by a punch earlier in the fight.
From there it was a race against the clock, but Dominguez managed to hold his own for the rest of the way, even if never quite doing enough to seize momentum from the hometown favorite and defending titlist.
Soto racks up his eighth straight win as he improves to 52-7-2 (32KO). Dominguez falls to 31-6-2 (19KO) with the loss, ending a five fight win streak.
It was a big week for Soto, who also celebrated his 30th birthday four days before his homecoming fight. The fight was his first in his birth town in more than two years, though frequently fighting in Mexico while awaiting bigger fights in the states.
One fight on his plate whenever he’s ready for it is an alphabet title defense against undefeated mandatory challenger Anthony Peterson. Such a bout could’ve landed on next month’s card at Yankee Stadium, but was instead pushed to the back burner to allow Soto a voluntary defense in his former hometown.
Wherever and whenever his next fight lands, hopefully the cameras will not only follow but stay on air for all twelve rounds.
While Top Rank is doing a good job of filling up dates for their “Top Rank Live” series (for the most part, anyway), Fox Sports has continued to drop the ball big time.
The greatest issues when Top Rank brought “Solo Boxeo v2.0” to TV Azteca last year were its inconsistent scheduling as well as bouts being offered in their entirety. There were several times when the show simply wouldn’t appear at all, and in nearly episode at least one round in the main event that was cut short due to extended commercial breaks.
Such kinks were supposed to be worked out for this series, but it’s been more of the same since the series landed on Fox Sports, who quite frankly never did a good job in covering the sport on its airwaves or its poorly handled website.
Saturday’s broadcast was difficult to find, with regional feeds offering considerably delayed broadcasts due to other sporting events running late.
After wading through dragged out post-game coverage, viewers were left with just the main event – and not even much of that. The first four rounds were shown in its entirety, but it was a crap shoot after that.
If rounds were showed at all, it was only after blocks of commercials and promotions for upcoming Top Rank events (none of which will air live on Fox Sports).
The question asked by the broadcasters upon Dominguez’ cut being examined was whether or not Soto could close the show with just over three rounds remaining. Most viewers would never find the answer unless they researched it for themselves, as the final two rounds weren’t shown in the live broadcast.
The next Top Rank Live show takes place on May 29 in Chicago. Here’s to hoping the fighters on the card are given a proper showcase.
In the meantime, let’s hope Soto’s career is given the proper attention it deserves by his handlers. While remaining busy, big fights haven’t exactly come at a surplus.
His last bout against one of the best in his division resulted in a November 2007 loss to Joan Guzman in a bout that was difficult to watch, and perhaps even tougher to convince American cable giant HBO to bring him back to its airwaves. Soto’s lone appearances affiliated with the network came on pay-per-view undercards headlined by Manny Pacquiao.
Since then, it’s been fights on various Spanish networks or not on television at all. Fights against fellow top lightweights should help change that, but as has been the case throughout his career, it’s never been easy for Soto get them in the ring with him.
All that can be asked is once those fights finally happen, the television outlets committed to airing them sticks around for the fully allotted time slot.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
