Maybe it wasn’t the most attractive matchup in 2017 on paper, but rapidly fading contenders Mauricio Herrera and Jesus Soto Karass put on a fun fight as this edition’s of Golden Boy on ESPN’s main event. Surviving an exciting second half of the fight push from Soto Karass, Mauricio Herrera earned a very close majority decision victory. Ukrainian light heavyweight contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy was also victorious in the co-main event.
Mauricio Herrera (24-7, 7 KOs) owes this win to the fact that started this fight really well. I gave him five of the first six rounds based on his old school, James Toney type success with slipping and ripping while standing directly in the pocket. Jesus Soto Karass (28-12-4, 18 KOs) did his work in those rounds, but not as well. Basically he’d throw a four or five punch combination, land one, and then get countered twice.
Soto Karass began to turn things around in the sixth thanks to a combination of his increased intensity and Herrera beginning to fade just a little. Mauricio rebounded well in the seventh, winning the round and the fight on my card, but it briefly felt like a bit of a last hurrah. Karass increased the intensity again in the eighth. By the end of the ninth, I felt like Herrera was starting to break. However, the tenth round did not show this. Instead, it was a toe to toe war for three minutes, one of the better rounds of the year.
In the end, Herrera was awarded a very close majority decision victory. One card came back a draw, while the other two matched my 96-94 score for Mauricio Herrera. The win should keep him in the mix for a bigger money fight going forward. As for Karass, he can be a strong gatekeeper if he so desires, but without a win since 2013, there will be no big fights for him going forward. Maybe a rematch with Berto could make sense, but Golden Boy and Berto’s PBC team working together feels like kind of a long shot at this point.
In the co-feature, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs) simply overwhelmed Philadelphia’s Todd Unthank May (10-1-1, 4 KOs). In the first couple rounds, May was able to essentially go shot for shot with his stronger Ukrainian opponent. He showed some real slickness to slip and rip at times too. As the the rounds started to mount, however, the power difference began to rapidly take effect. By the end of the seventh, the fight had turned into a beating and the commission pulled May out on advice of the doctor.
