Tomorrow night on ESPN2, Golden Boy Promotions puts on a card with a main event that I feel quite conflicted about. On one hand, Jesus Soto Karass and Juan Carlos Abreu are very likely to put on an excellent fight in terms of action. On the other, they have both really struggled the past few years and neither deserves a main event slot.
Jesus Soto Karass (28-12-4, 18 KOs), by then a longtime high level journeyman or gate keeper, finally broke through to the top level of the sport in 2013 with back to back wins over Selcuk Aydin and especially Andre Berto. While Berto was no longer undefeated at that point and fought that fight essentially one armed, he was then still a really big name. That was Karass’s career defining night.
We are four years and three months past that point now and Jesus Soto Karass has not won another fight. He is 0-4-1 since that night. That stretch included a 2016 fight of the year candidate with Yoshihiro Kamegai in which either fighter could have gotten the nod, but Karass was stopped in the rematch which took the shine off that. Last time out Karass started well but eventually was outpointed by fellow struggling veteran Mauricio Herrera.
Juan Carlos Abreu (19-3-1, 18 KOs) doesn’t have anything close to a Berto moment, but he is a live underdog here. For one, Karass just isn’t good anymore, especially defensively, and Abreu can punch. While he has been mostly easily outboxed by fighters like Humberto Soto and Jamal James, Abreu was also able to nearly upset Pablo Cesar Cano and should have gotten the nod against PBC prospect Alex Martin last summer. Juan Carlos Abreu is a competent fighter. Not a notably good one, but a serviceable pro with some power. Maybe that is all it takes to beat Jesus Soto Karass in 2017.
Whether or not this is a good main event is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. For me it is borderline farcical to put on a man who hasn’t won a fight in over four years and was never truly a real star as your A-side to a televised show, but this is also likely to be a real entertaining matchup. Is that good enough? It might prove to be.
In the co-main event, hot nineteen year old prospect Ryan Garcia (11-0, 10 KOs) meets Phoenix’s Cesar Alan Valenzuela (14-5-1, 5 KOs). Garcia is being positioned as one of Golden Boy’s few elite prospects and so far he has looked the part with a string of early blow outs. It remains to be seen what happens to the teenager when he is pulled deeper into a contest, but that might not happen here either.
The show will air on ESPN2 at 11 PM Eastern. It is also available on the WatchESPN website and app with additional preliminary bouts beginning at 9 PM Eastern if you want a longer show.
