The Golden Boy on ESPN series returns Friday night on ESPN2 for another dose of the mid level fights it has been consistently delivering. In this edition we get Mauricio Herrera and Jesus Soto Karass in the main event. This is a fight that in late 2013 or early 2014 would have been between two hot contenders, but unfortunately three or four years have passed and time has not been too kind to either man. Now this is a fight to desperate keep some relevance in the sport at large.
Jesus Soto Karass (28-11-4, 18 KOs) has traveled a rough road in his career. When he turned pro, he was considered a club fighter and was accordingly fed to top prospects. While he was impressively able to right the ship for a while, it only ever got him back in against top opponents. I will just list some names he has been in the ring with: Yuri Foreman, Carson Jones, Alfonso Gomez, Mike Jones twice, Gabriel Rosado, Marcos Maidana, Selcuk Aydin, Andre Berto, Keith Thurman, Devon Alexander, and Yoshihiro Kamegai twice.
Though his two recent wars with Yoshihiro Kamegai will be remember fondly, it was consecutive wins of Aydin and a one armed Andre Berto in 2013 that marked the pinnacle of Jesus’s career. Shortly after the same time, Mauricio Herrera (23-7, 7 KOs) was meeting Danny Garcia in a fight that would define him going forward. Many thought Herrera won that fight and I can certainly see their argument. He didn’t get the decision though.
Two fights later Mauricio Herrera was clearly robbed against Jose Benavidez after a set of indefensible scorecards in Benavidez’s favor were turned in, but after that his losses became legitimate. In 2016, Mauricio justly went 1-2, losing wide to inconsistent prospect Frankie Gomez and then to fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano who has not looked good since.
This is where the main event of this show sits. Jesus Soto Karass has not won a fight since 2013. Herrera has not won against a that was not shortened by injury or over a tomato can since 2014. This is not a particularly compelling main event for a televised card, but it does serve one certain purpose. Whoever loses this is done as a meaningful talent going forward.
This card will air at 9 PM eastern on ESPN2. It will also feature a co-main event consisting of once beaten Ukrainian light heavyweight prospect Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (18-1, 15 KOs) taking on unbeaten and confusingly named Todd Unthank May (10-0-1, 4 KOs).
