Andre Berto vs Jesus Soto-Karass

I thought this was an announced fight for a second. :scaredas:

I like Soto Karass, but he's still got some kinks to iron out at the moment, so I don't know...

I think once he gets 'there', he takes a fully 'there' Berto by late stoppage.

 

Soto-Karass could very well win in an upset.
He has been in the trenches many times.

 

As do I. :nod :verysad

It's a race against the clock really, to see if he can improve enough (he's steadily been improving, minus the Smith hiccup) to grab some waistwear and lucrative notoriety before his expiration date comes up.

If this fight ends early, it's going to be in JSK's favor. Of that much I'm certain. He may taste the canvas, but he'll get up as many times as it takes. I don't think Berto will.

 

If they fought next week, the match would probably play out like Berto-Estrada did.. Berto winning by late stoppage, but struggling a bit more than against Estrada and getting hit too much. Estrada should be a tough test for Soto-Karass and a great indication of how much he can handle/give.

 

karass is good typical world class mexican fighter. but having said that, he doesnt appear special.

berto on the other hand does.............i would pick berto by ud.

 

Berto wins this, probably by decision. Soto-Karass hasn't looked good recently, and I had him losing to Chris Smith. Posters on another forum were speculating, him being Margarito's long time chief sparring partner, has taken a lot out of him. They also mentioned he's not the most disciplined fighter in the gym.

 

Crazy, this ended up happening more than 5 years later.

 

Awesome fight too

 

Literally exactly what happened.

 

:yep Well yes, but this bump was less about the humblebrag than marveling at how unlikely this match seemed in 2008 (with JSK being in "who needs him" territory for someone like Berto then being groomed for the big time) and for some years after with Berto ascendant on his star path (remaining undefeated for another 3 years until Ortiz) and JSK sort of stagnating (and losing a lot) until his breakout in 2013.

His upset of Aydin unlocked the door for the shot at Berto (whose stock had lowered just enough that he did in fact need someone on the JSK tier by then), but who could have predicted that playing out any time from 2008 until then?

Wild that people were surmising it would be a great matchup (and eventually it proved to be just that) but one that was chalked up to hypothetical "unlikely to ever happen/what if?" territory only for it to get there via a long winding road.

 

Props also to Kegsy and saul. In hindsight yes this particular thread was split 50-50 among six respondents but you can bet your ass had there been a poll in 2008 (or anytime thereafter until they met) picking JSK would've been a distinctly minority opinion.

 

There are so many touted mouth watering rivalries that are speculated on early in fighters' careers that never end up materializing - a good number of them seeming more like sure things (with both anticipated to have equally successful climbs up the ladder, unlike JSK who never was supposed to be destined to end up in the same bracket as Berto)- Frankie Gomez vs. Jose Benavidez may or may not happen, Gamboa vs. Lopez never did, etc.

Crazy that of all those examples of armchair matchmaking a relatively obscure one that saul just happened to pull out of his ass (but about which he had a great point; JSK was, if you watched both of their early careers, always stylistically equipped to be a hurdle for Berto, and to make for a great fight) came to fruition when so many "inevitable" ones don't.