Humberto Soto vs. David Diaz: Round by Round

The last fight on the undercard is between Humberto Soto and David Diaz. No time being wasted tonight, as both fighters are in the ring already.

Round 1

They touch gloves in the center of the ring. Soto works the jab. He gets in a nice uppercut as Diaz comes forward. Good first round so far for Soto. He's looking sharp, fast, and accurate. There is already a cut over the right eye of Diaz. It's not clear whether it was caused by a punch. Soto lands a great right hook that caught Diaz off balance, and his glove touched the canvas. 10-8 round for Soto.

Spartan117: 10-8 Soto
Franchise: 10-8 Soto

Round 2

Diaz is coming forward now, trying to get some jabs in. Soto lands a fast combo upstairs. Now he lands a counter uppercut. Pretty boring second round. There's a lot of cheering going on, most likely from something being shown on the big screen. It should be a round in the bank for Soto.

Spartan117: 10-9 Soto
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 3

They are trading power shots now. Diaz has Soto against the ropes and got a good right hook in. Soto is still trying to counterpunch, which has been effective thus far. Diaz lands a right to the body. Soto misses with an uppercut. Tons of cheers from the crowd, but it's only due to the wave that's being performed. Diaz is trying to bully Soto into the ropes, but Soto is handling it pretty well.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 4

Diaz's eye is starting to swell. He misses with a right uppercut. Soto is using great movement and is getting out of the way of most of Diaz's punches. Diaz lands a left upstairs, then a right hand. Then he gets ahead of himself and misses badly with a right uppercut. Soto lands a left hook and straight right to end the round.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Diaz

Round 5

Diaz keeps the jab going. Soto comes in and lands a good right hand. Diaz misses with a wide right hook. Diaz gets Soto against the ropes again and lands a hook to the body. Soto unleashes a flurry that gets mostly blocked. Diaz looks like he might be getting tired. He's doing a lot of leading in there. Not much action down the stretch of the round.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 6

They go in to trade power punches in the center of the ring. It looked like they could've clashed heads there, but they come out of it unharmed. Soto lands a jab. Now a right hook. Diaz gets Soto against the ropes again and loads up on a right hook to the body. Soto lands a triple jab. They trade punches to end the round.

Spartan117: 10-9 Soto
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 7

Diaz is trying to get in some body shots but looks like he's getting really tired. Soto lands a right hand. Diaz grazes Soto with a left upstairs. Soto lands a left hook. Diaz lands a straight right hand that looked strong. Soto gets a left hand in after the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Diaz

Round 8

Soto gets a left hand in. They've both been throwing a good number of punches, but most are either missing or being blocked. There isn't much landing cleanly. Soto sticks a jab and moves out of the way. On a side note, the official attendance numbers are in. There are nearly 51,000 people currently in Cowboys Stadium.

Spartan117: 10-9 Soto
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 9

Diaz gets Soto against the ropes and gets warned by the ref for using his elbow. Soto lands a good five-punch combo. He drops his hands below his waist now and dodges with his upper body movement. Diaz lands a left and a right. This has been a better round for Diaz.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Diaz

Round 10

Soto is letting this fight slip away. Soto slips and falls and gets up slowly. He may be tired. Diaz gets him against the ropes once again and lands a good right to the body. They exchange punches and Soto gets tangled in the ropes, forcing the ref to break them up. Soto blocks a big left hook. Diaz lands a left hook.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Diaz

Round 11

You have to hand it to Diaz. He seems to be fighting with a sense of urgency and is trying to steal this one away from Soto. Diaz continues to come forward and tries to land some good power shots. He gets Diaz against the ropes again where he's had some success and lands a combo upstairs.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Franchise: 10-9 Soto

Round 12

Diaz is swinging away in there and lands a shot under the belt. The ref stops the action to warn him, and Soto gets a break. Diaz lands two hooks. Soto lands two big shots to the head. Diaz slips and falls. This has been a good last round for Soto. Soto landed a big left, right hook combo and Diaz goes down in the last 10 seconds. That's really going to cost him.

Spartan117: 10-8 Soto
Franchise: 10-8 Soto

Spartan117: 113-113
Franchise: 116-110 Soto

The judges score the bout 115-111, 117-109 and 117-109, all for the winner by unanimous decision... and new WBC lightweight titleholder... Humberto Soto.

Posted by spartan117

Kelly Pavlik-Miguel Espino and Humberto Soto-Jesus Chavez: Predictions

The Franchise says...

This should be short and sweet. And by that I mean this post as well as the middleweight title fight between Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Espino.

I don't know much about Espino, but no reputable set of rankings has him listed as a top contender at 160 pounds. This fight will be all about Pavlik, meaning as long as his trials and tribulations haven't beaten him down mentally, he shouldn't be in for much of a challenge.

I'm assuming they haven't, so I expect him to put on a show for his hometown fans, possibly the only ones who would get excited for this fight. A fourth-round KO for The Ghost sounds about right.

The pay-per-view co-feature pitting Humberto Soto against Jesus Chavez is a little more interesting, at least on paper. Soto is on a nice little run, knocking out his last three opponents.

Chavez can't say the same, seeing as he's 0-2 so far this year. But he'll be in there swinging, and there's a decent chance that he or Soto or both of them will be hitting the canvas.

The only time I've ever seen Soto look completely outclassed was two years ago against Joan Guzman, and Chavez doesn't have those types of skills. I expect some nice action in this one before it ends with a right hand that gives Soto a late-round KO victory.

Posted by The Franchise

Weekend Wrap-Up, Nov. 19, 2007: Guzman-Soto, Washed-Up Fighter-O-Rama and More

I have to say that I don't like picking against my brother and fellow BoxingWatchers.com staffer, Uatu. He's the one who got me into boxing, and aside from having seen a lot more fights than I have, he has a razor-sharp memory that serves him well when recalling how fighters have looked in their last few fights.

So when he picked Humberto Soto to beat Joan Guzman this past Saturday, I felt a little foolish. Even I remembered how unimpressive Guzman looked during his previous fight, and I was worried that the fact that Joan was one of my favorite fighters was clouding my prediction.

Having seen a replay of the fight, it appears I should have had a little more faith. Guzman boxed when he needed to, survived the times he stood and traded, and won fairly easily against a tough opponent. He's now 28-0 and seems to be ready for a big fight.

He also needs to do it soon. Despite his relatively small body of work, Guzman is already 31 years old, and fighters who rely on their speed and reflexes like Joan face a much sharper drop-off than sluggers - see Roy Jones Jr. Steve Kim of MaxBoxing.com doesn't think Bob Arum will put Guzman in against Manny Pacquiao, so it's hard to pick an obvious candidate to face him in a career-defining bout. Juan Manuel Marquez, maybe?

Speaking of Kim, his most recent article also talks about the upcoming Black Friday showdown between Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga, two fighters whose best days are behind them. The fascination with this fight reminds me of the proverbial train wreck in that while we don't really want to watch, we also can't look away. The early 2008 fight pitting Jones against Tito Trinidad falls into this category too.

Much as I'd like to ignore both of these fights, there's no denying they will sell some tickets and some PPV buys on name value alone. Perception really is more important than reality in the boxing world, and since the public sees them as big fights, that's exactly what they are. We've already agreed we'll be watching and covering them here, like it or not.

Round by Round: Guzman vs. Soto

Guzman vs. Soto
Guzman hydrated t0 148, Soto to 135

Round 1
Uatu - 10 - 9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Soto

Round 2
Uatu - 10 -9 Soto
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Soto

Round 3
Time out for a low blow delivered by Guzman
Uatu - Guzman 10 -9
Spartan117 - Guzman 10 -9

Round 4
Uatu - 10 -9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Soto

Round 5
Uatu - 10 -9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Guzman

Round 6
Uatu - 10 - 9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Guzman

Round 7
Uatu - 10 -9 Soto
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Guzman

Round 8
Uatu - Guzman 10 -9
Spartan117 - Guzman 10 -9

Round 9
Uatu - 10 - 9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Soto

Round 10
Lederman has Guzman winning all of the rounds between 4-9 and 7-2 total, Merchant 6-2-1
Guzman works wells off the ropes. Not surprisingly fights like the Mayweathers with the hand up and the shoulder roll.
Uatu - 10 -9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Guzman

Round 11
Guzman has a lot of skill and great defense and movement. He's not a volume, pressure fighter but he still throws punches.
Uatu - 10 -9 Guzman
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Guzman

Round 12
Uatu - 10 -9 Soto
Spartan117 - 10 -9 Soto

Uatu - 117 - 111 Guzman
Spartan117 - 115-113 Guzman
Lederman 115- 113 Guzman, with Soto winning the last three rounds
Judges 117-111, 117-111, 118-110 all for Guzman




Mares vs. Marchiano

Round 1
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10-9

Round 2
Marchiano looks game this round.
Uatu - Marchiano 10 - 9
Spartan117 - Marchiano 10-9

Round 3
Mares is bleeding from the nose a decent amount.
Uatu - Mares 10 - 9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 - 9

Round 4
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 -9

Round 5
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 -9

Round 6
Excellent action from both fighters.
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 -9

Round 7
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 -9

Round 8
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10-9

Round 9
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10-9

Round 10
Uatu - Mares 10 -9
Spartan117 - Mares 10 -9

Rock Allen won by UD
D Hopkins won by UD

Round 11
Point Deduction from Mares for a low blow
Uatu - 9-9
Spartan117 - 9-9

Round 12
Uatu - 10 -9
Spartan117 - 10 -9

Uatu - Mares 118 - 109
Spartan117 - 118 - 109
Lederman - 118 - 108
Judges - 118-109, 118-109, 117-109 all for Mares


First...BoxingRewatchers...

Cotto-Mosley
Merchant says that he had it a draw.

Guzman vs. Soto Predictions

Uatu always wishes to wait until after the weigh-in before analyzing a fight, just to wait and see if any additional insight can be gleaned from it. Unfortunately, in this case, it doesn't appear that any new info has emerged. They both came in slightly over and both made it after that with no problem. It is a good thing that this site is called BoxingWatchers and not BoxingWagerers as this is another tough one to predict. Guzman has a lot of skills and flash, but honestly the last time Uatu watched him, Guzman fought cautiously and somewhat boringly. He did not appear to have a ton of mustard on his punches either. Soto is most famous for being the first to beat Rocky Juarez and more recently dispatching Bobby Pacquiao. Can Guzman stay away from Soto the whole fight and still win? Hey, it worked for the brush, Casamayor. Can Soto land enough cleanly to win? Uatu indicates yes. Soto UD12

The Franchise says...

Just like last week, I'm forced to pick a fight featuring one of my personal favorites, in this case Guzman. In terms of raw skills, I don't think Soto - or most boxers for that matter - can match Guzman. If this one becomes a slugfest or a battle of wills in any way, though, the edge definitely goes to Soto. I'm going to go with my heart over my head a little bit and predict that Guzman is able to make the fight go his way, staying outside and preventing Soto from forcing the issue. No way Guzman scores the KO, so I'll say Guzman UD12.