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A "Fight" for "The Battle!"
Soto-Karass vs. Estrada heats up boxing scene for tonight’s Cotto-Margarito battle
Ringside by Andreas Hale
Photography by Chris Cozzone
- FightWireImages.com
If Cotto and Margarito’s PPV bout is being billed as “The Battle,” Soto-Karass Vs David Estrada Telefutura match should have been simply billed as “The Fight.” In a hotly contested matchup of two fighters from, both, the Margarito and Cotto camps at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Jesus Soto-Karass scored an eighth round TKO over David Estrada to earn the NABF 147-pound title.
It was an action-packed seesaw battle that found Soto-Karass, trained by Javier Capetillo and managed by Francisco Espinoza (same as Margarito), open up the attack early and pound away at Estrada, who is trained by Evangelista Cotto (trainer and uncle of Cotto), with an array of hooks and thumping body punches. Estrada would come alive in the third round as he connected with a blazing uppercut that seemed to momentarily daze Soto-Karass and change the complexion of the fight.
 By round four, Estrada had abandoned his jab and opted to exchange heavy leather with Soto-Karass – who is well known for his iron chin and brawling style. The fight turned into an all-out brawl – which was quite pleasing for those in attendance, but maybe not the wisest decision for Estrada.
Although Estrada’s corner would bark “Jab, jab David!” the WBC No. 9 ranked Chicago fighter would turn a deaf ear to his corner’s advice and try to keep pace with Soto-Karass high work rate. The fifth round would see Soto-Karass at his best as he worked behind his jab to land multiple combinations to the body and head of Estrada – including a crushing left uppercut that seemed to take the steam out of Estrada.
By round seven, it appeared Estrada was definitely the worse for wear but his large heart came into play as he exchanged punches with Soto-Karass at a frantic rate. A nice blitz of jabs followed by a straight right hand snapped the Mexican fighter’s head straight back and seemed to give Estrada the round.
 The eighth round found Estrada looking to back Soto-Karass into the ropes again. But a well-timed left hook buckled Estrada’s knees, followed by a vicious left-right-left combination that dropped Estrada hard to the canvas. Although Estrada rose at six and looked ready to continue, veteran referee Tony Weeks called a halt to the bout at 1:03. Many at ringside grumbled about the stoppage, but looking back on Estrada’s recent dismantling by Andre Berto and the downright scary moment with Oscar Diaz, this may have been the right decision.
Soto-Karass improves to 21-3-3 with 15 KOs following the victory and was extremely happy with the decision.
“I felt good and in control, but my corner kept telling me that the fight was close and to step it up, so that’s what I did,” the jubilant fighter said to reporters after the fight. Estrada falls to 22-5 (13 KOs) with the defeat and left the ring frustrated and not eager to discuss his future.
At the time of the stoppage, two judges had the fight in favor of Soto-Karass by scores of 67-66 while the third had a much more questionably wide margin in favor of Soto-Karass with a score of 69-64.
 Rios makes short work Marcos
In the evening’s co-feature, Brandon Rios made short work of Sandro Marcos, scoring a TKO victory at 2:13 in the second round of their eight-round super featherweight bout.
Rios (18-0, 11 KOs) showcased some power as he found openings and dominated with his left hook early and often. Rios dropped Marcos (29-19-2, 24 KOs) with a quick short left hook late in the first round and went to work quickly in the second to finish off the Mexican fighter. Marcos would go down a second time from a right-left combination to the body and a third time via another barrage of punches capped off with a chopping right hand. A grazing right uppercut barely catches Marcos to put him down again but the damage was already done as Marcos corner climbed to the apron to throw in the towel.
 Santa-Cruz outclasses Escamilla
In six round super flyweight action, Leo Santa-Cruz used a healthy assortment of three-, four- and five-punch combinations to outwork and outpoint the game Gino Escamilla en route to a unanimous decision.
An action-packed fight throughout found Escamilla (5-3-1, 2 KOs) coming forward and constantly throwing punches but couldn’t seem to get through to Santa-Cruz (6-0-1, 2 KOs) and his effective attack.
 Lopez still unbeaten
Abraham Lopez remained unbeaten in his third professional fight by defeating Cuauhetemoc Mendoza via unanimous decision.
Lopez, who improves to 3-0 with 2 KOs, caught his often with multiple hooks and uppercuts to the head and body but couldn’t record his third knockout as Mendoza, who falls to 4-9-1 with 1 KO, proved he could swallow multiple doses of heavy leather in the four-round featherweight bout.
 Rodriguez rolls the Bones
The Evangelista Cotto-trained Wilfredo Bones saw his young unbeaten streak grind to a halt as he was beaten via split decision by Angel Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, who improves to 3-2 with 2 KOs, caught Bones flush with a right hand to drop Bones, who falls to 5-1 with 5 KOs, late in the fourth and final round, which spelled Bones demise.
 Cortez outworks Marengo and Ruiz
In a super Featherweight fight that gave referee Joe Cortez a workout to stop the holding and headbutts, Hector Marengo improved his record to 5-0-1 (3 KOs) by defeating Jorge Ruiz (5-6-1, 0 KOs) via unanimous decision.
Marengo scored a knockdown through all the mugging in the fourth round with a left hand and earned the hard fought decision.
 Lenk closes show
Las Vegas’ Anthony Lenk scored a crowd-pleasing 3rd round TKO over Dario Castillo to remain undefeated, in super lightweight action. Joe Cortez jumped in to call a halt to the bout at 1:31 as Lenk improves his young record to 3-0 with his 2nd knockout. Castillo falls to 4-7-1.
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