Underdog Humberto Soto Steals Win Over Brandon Rios and More from Tijuana

War dog Humberto Soto stole the fight from Brandon Rios with flashy but painless flurries that convinced the hometown judges he was the victor by remarkably large margins on Saturday.

Soto (69-9-2), known as Zorrito, or the Fox, managed to convince his old legs at the last 10 seconds of most rounds to keep him standing so he could fire off combinations against Rios (35-5-1) and steal rounds. It was a tactic that worked quite well in Tijuana, Mexico.

Still, Rios never found a remedy or refused to adjust to the tactic manipulated by Soto and after 12 rounds all three judges scored it in favor of the Tijuana fighter 119-111 and 118-112 twice.

Those were quite wide scores for a battle that took place in the trenches.

No knockdowns were scored and Rios never stopped punching, but with Soto resting for 2 minutes and occasionally firing off impotent blows until the final 10 seconds, the judges should have realized that these were three-minute rounds, not 10 seconds. But this was Tijuana and not San Diego.

Soto and Rios are both former world champions and fought like they knew what they were doing. But Soto was the smarter fighter and based on that alone, he probably deserved the win.

What’s next for Rios?

Technical Decision

The Oxnard based fighter has at least another fight on his contract with DAZN and might rate a fight as an appetizer for a welterweight contender. But it’s up to DAZN. Soto on the other hand earned another payday but welterweights are a little bit too much for him to handle.

Another disappointing fight ended with Hector Tanajara (17-0) winning by technical decision over Ivan Delgado (13-2-2) after four rounds. A gash over Tanajara’s right eye forced the fight to discontinue and according to the three score cards, 40-36, the Texas native was given the decision. It was a fight that many expected to be an interesting matchup between the taller Tanajara and experienced Delgado.

Hopefully these two meet again.

Other Bouts

Mexico City’s Joel Cordova (8-4-2) won the rematch against Tijuana’s Jose Quirino (20-3-3) after 10 back and forth rounds in a bantamweight clash. Quirino won their first encounter, but Cordova was able to rally in the second half of the fight and win by split decision.

Mexican standout Joselito Velasquez (8-0, 7 KOs) stopped fellow Mexican Kevin Villanueva (10-2-3, 9 KOs) at 1:46 of the fifth round of their super flyweight battle. Velasquez became the first fighter to stop Villanueva whose corner wisely stopped the fight. Velasquez was battering the 18-year-old when the towel was waved.

Sulem Urbina (9-0) used her speed to jump ahead quickly and defeat rugged Judith Rodriguez (8-14) by unanimous decision after a six round flyweight contest. In the last two rounds Rodriguez tightened her punches but Urbina was quicker and more effective throughout the six rounds. Two judges scored it 60-54 and another 59-55 for Urbina.

Diego Pacheco (2-0) used his superior height to win by unanimous decision over Alberto Aguilar (1-1) after four rounds in a super middleweight fight. Pacheco, 17, fights out of Los Angeles.

A battle between debuting super middleweights saw Alexis Espino (1-0) knock out Victor Abrigo (0-1) at 1:40 of the second round. A downward looping right dropped Abrigo instantly for the knockout win for the Las Vegas fighter.

Seniesa Estrada’s fight with Yenifer Leon was not shown by DAZN for some inexplicable reason.

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