Humberto Soto Retains WBC Title In Wild Cozumel Brawl

WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto engaged in a no-holds barred thriller last night with challenger Motoki Sasaki, keeping his title at Parque Andres Quintana Roo in Cozumel, Mexico.

35 year old challenger Sasaki came into the bout as reigning OPBF light welter beltholder but the veteran had also held the Japanese 140 pound belt along with a run as OPBF welter champion and a failed bid at the WBA welter crown in 2009.

Sasaki definitely had the strength advantage over the 31 year old Soto, who turned pro as a bantam before going on to win the Interim WBC feather and WBC super feather crowns.

The Tokyo man sought to leverage this by going after Soto immediately, trying to shake the champion with a vicious two handed assault that brought out the fire in both men.

It became immediately clear that Soto was the much better boxer with the quicker hands but that didn’t stop Sasaki from getting in a few flush shots, regardless of how wild they were.

Soto settled Sasaki down somewhat by scoring punishing counter right hands and near the end of the first went after the challenger, nailing down his superiority with riveting combinations.

From that point on, Sasaki waged a very unconventional war on the champion, sneering, mocking and taunting Soto, sticking out a chin before launching the wildest swings possible.

Soto refused to be suckered in by Sasaki’s tactics and fought back in explosive bursts, mixing in big right hands with left to the body and uppercuts that repeatedly caught the challenger.

But Sasaki never stopped trying and was in Soto’s face all night, applying pressure and reeling off wild, unpredictable assaults that mostly missed the mark but occasionally would rock the champion.

Soto punished Sasaki with no end of big shots but the Japanese brawler showed an excellent chin to go with his tenacity.

As the rounds wore on, the going got rougher and rougher and there were head clashes, shots below the belt and a few tackles as well.

Sasaki lost a point in the tenth for illegal use of the head but things culminated in the eleventh frame when Sasaki ran full speed at Soto and the champion went down hard at a strange angle after a tangle of legs.

Soto was clearly injured and could not continue. When the cards were tabulated through the tenth, the champion retained his title for the third time by techical decision.

Soto improves to 56-7-2 (32) while Sasaki drops to 36-9-1 (23).

The undercard featured lightweight prospect Mahonri Montes, 22-0-1 (17), keeping his record perfect but was pushed hard by seasoned former two-time world title challenger Hector Velazquez, 51-16-2 (35).