Humberto Soto, Ripped Off In Las Vegas

By Igor Frank

 

Humberto Soto started his professional career in 1997 at the tender age of seventeen.

He had to learn on the job and fought in obscurity in Mexico. I think he completed his on the job training in 2002 when he fought and lost a majority decision to slick veteran Kevin Kelley in Las Vegas. Since then he put together an impressive streak of wins, twenty one in five years with fifteen knock outs; among his victims Cesar Figueroa, Luis Fuente, Oscar Leon, Ivan Valle and Humberto Toledo. In August of 2005 he soundly beat then undefeated Olympian Rocky Juarez, which signified that he was ready to compete on top level. In 2007 he knocked out Bobby Pacquiao and almost got himself a fight with his brother Manny, who wowed revenge. All the hard work and dedication in the gym of a young pug from Los Mochis, Mexico seemed to be paying off. Future appeared to be bright when Soto signed to fight Joan Guzman for WBO super feather weight title. In retrospect it was a bad mistake or terrible matchmaking. Soto’s lack of amateur experience and his limitations surfaced against super fast and extremely talented, elite level, undefeated champion Joan Guzman. The Dominican phenom made Soto look ordinary and put his title hopes on hold. Humberto was not easily discouraged though and he took a fight in Mexico to stay busy and knocked out his opponent in the fifth stanza.

 

And just when it looked like Humberto Soto finally caught a break and would be challenging  for an Interim WBC title on the under card of Manny Pacquiao fight, who would vacate that title if he was to win the lightweight belt, things went terribly wrong. Soto, who should probably stay away from Dominican fighters all together, was a heavy favorite to defeat a crafty veteran Francisco Lorenzo.
 

Soto was dominating the contest and even though he was catching some clean shots in the first stanza, he was very aggressive and was snapping his opponents head back with heavy blows. Soto won the first three rounds on all judges’ scorecards in spite of getting hit low and taking a head butt in the third stanza that seemed to buzz him. I remember thinking that he needs to take Lorenzo out before something happens (the guy is a dangerously dirty fighter). Soto must have felt the same way, because he pressed the action and pummeled his foe with punches which finally produced a knock down. Lorenzo got up battered and bruised on wobbly legs. Soto continued with his assault, for a moment it looked like referee Joe Cortez was going to end the fight when he jumped in between boxers, about to separate them, then for some reason changed his mind and jumped out. Humberto kept throwing punches like a true professional, when Lorenzo took a knee unable to sustain the pressure at which time Soto threw one more punch by inertia, a glancing blow, not even sure if it landed on top of Lorenzo’s head. Referee Joe Cortez stopped the action with every one thinking that Soto would get a well deserved KO victory since Lorenzo who was playing dead on the floor was in no shape to go on.

Lorenzo’s corner yelled to him in Spanish not to get up for any reason. Lorenzo obliged and looked like he was so injured that he would have to be moved out of the ring on a stretcher. Five minutes later, after conferring with the officials from Nevada State Athletic Commission, Joe Cortez had Michael Buffer announce the verdict that outraged not only the fans but the entire boxing community. Lorenzo, who jumped up and raised his hands in triumph as soon as the announcement was made, won the fight by DQ, because Soto hit him on the head when he was already down. I could not believe what I heard; Emanuel Stewart on HBO telecast could not find words to express his outrage and simply said that this was bad. A respected veteran of boxing media Graham Houston wrote: “I thought I’d seen it all until Saturday night, when a beaten-up fighter on the edge of extinction somehow ended up as the winner.” He then proceeded to tell his readers that he is so disturbed by this incident that he is planning to take a hiatus from the column. I tried to come myself down by using the voice of reason; “This is life and life is not always fair and rules are rules,” but could not swallow this nonsense. The third man in the ring is supposed to protect fighters, make sure rules are followed and to use his common sense and good judgment. I have to say, with all due respect to “fair but firm” Cortez, that this was the worst job of a referee that I have ever seen. Cortez did not protect the fighter, when he jumped in and then let it go, he might have thought that he followed the rules, but he did not use common sense or a good judgment. The foul was not malicious or intentional and probably only happened because Cortez was indecisive about stopping the fight. If one was to use common sense and follow the rules and have the boxer not being able to continue due to an accidental foul, this fight should have been declared a no contest. Here we have another great argument for instant replay that would have shown that it was a glancing accidental blow that did not cause damage.

“I feel very sad of the action of the referee,” said Soto with a lot of emotion:” I put a lot of sacrifice into this fight.” I feel like a champion and I proved it in the ring. Lorenzo will not be getting the title, but he should get an Oscar for his performance. His corner was telling him in Spanish to stay down to try to win that way.”

Bob Arum announced that WBC decided not to honor official decision and award Lorenzo a belt and will order an immediate rematch. Meanwhile, let’s hope that Soto will get another shot and justice will be served.