I know he's still technically active and should be discussed in the General Forums but I'm curious to know what the Classic Forums opinions on Humberto Soto since he rarely gets mentioned that much. Soto wasn't a top elite level fighter by any means and his resume isn't anything too special, but he was definitely a very entertaining fighter to watch who always puts on a great scrap. Stylistically he sort of reminds me of a watered down Erik Morales. Nice well rounded style and technique, good boxing skills but had that mentality of wanting to trade too often. He's also made the claim that the top fighters such as Pacquiao and JMM have been avoiding him. Honestly, the guy was poorly mismanaged, never fulfilled his potential, and should have had a much better career given his fan friendly style. I would have loved to have seen him against the very best fighters. The best guys he's fought (and also lost to) are also other talented fighters that had promising careers but never lived up to it (Joan Guzman, Lucas Mathysse).
At one point in time, he was one of my favorite active fighters. I remember thinking him bearing some resemblance to JMM stylistically, but looking back now years later, without refreshing myself on the subject, a very water-downed Napoles is maybe closer to the mark. Made money on him recently in his fight against Rios.
I became a fan of his while watching his win over Rocky Juarez. He was very active but he really seemed to put his talents on display down in Mexico when he should have been going where the money was north of the border. I'm not saying he wasn't making money with all those defenses down Mexico way, but not as much as he could have in California, Texas or Nevada. But I loved his busy style.
That was a mistake on my part. Held the WBC title in 2 weight classes. Still a pretty thin resume despite his skills.
Yeah, it is, I get you, I just never even thought of him as not being of world class. During his championship years, I thought he spent quite a bit in what would theoretically be a p4p 11-20, if you made that list, if I remember that time clearly for me. He was a kind of a hidden gem, for a titlist, from what I gathered of the few people I ever heard paying attention to him.
He's a boxers boxer, a great technician, who can box and counter punch with the best of them. A slightly slower Marquez but maybe a bit better inside. I think he was avoided mate. He goes on a long winning run and then beats undefeated Juarez. Barrera defends against Juarez instead of Soto, going to an SD, with quite a few fans thinking Juarez wins. But what if Soto gets his shot? I think he probably beats Barrera at that stage. He then keeps winning until 2007 and none of the big names face him. Meanwhile Marquez gives Juarez another shot, showing he can beat him better than Barrera. But why not give Soto a shot instead? But he eventually gets a WBO shot against Guzman. Guzman has been avoided by Marquez, Pacquaio, Morales and Barrera. Freddie Roach is on record as say Guzman is a bad style for Pacquaio. So he loses that one, it's a bad style for him, but no shame Guzman was arguably no1 at 130 back then. He goes onto fight WBC eliminators to eventually win 2 WBC titles while defending them on a good long winning run. He was beating ex champs, ring ranked contenders and fringe contenders to do so. There's no big fights or unifications for him though as he isn't a glamourous name and he's too much risk for too little reward. He then goes for his 3rd world title in his 4th division against Matthysee and fights on level turns for 5 rounds until Mattysee catches him with a huge punch, he gets up the round ends but Soto was out in his corner and they pull him out. The Rios win is a nice win but really about 6-7 years late when it could of been a unification.
Cortez was an absolute shambles that night. He couldn't decide whether Lorenzo had taken too much punishment. Then Lorenzo play acted that he took a rabbit punch. Which he did but he could of continued but wanted out. No way was that a DQ, it was a point deduction at worst.
Damn shame that he never had that opportunity to face the big boys like Morales, Barrera, JMM, or Pac. I think he could have given them a tough fight, although I still see all of them beating him. Hell, I would have wanted to have seen him in fights with the likes of Casamayor, Campbell, Diaz, Katsidis, Broner, Valero, etc. The man always came to fight.
