20.08.05 – By Malik Lee: In what a prizefight should embody Rocky Ricardo Juarez suffered the first lost of his career to Humberto Armando Soto in a unanimous decision in 12 rounds by judges Tom Kaczmarek who scored the fight 112-114, John McCarthy 113-114, Ken Morita 113-114. With no championship belt on the line Juarez (23-1, 16 knockouts) came on late but Soto (36-5-2, 21 knockouts) looking the bigger man continued to match Juarez punch for punch responding to every hard left hook fired off by Juarez. Soto penalized two points during the fight by referee Timothy Adams for repeated punches to the back of the head continued to bring the fight to Juarez though out the contest.
The twelfth round started with Juarez with a cut under his right eye, which might have been opened by the tape on Soto’s glove earlier in the bout. Juarez opened the round looking to finish a comeback he started in the fifth round. However, Juarez did not attack Soto but stood back as Soto tagged Juarez’s chin with a right hand in the middle of the round only
to see him control the rest of the round.
Soto penalized the second time for punching to the back of the head in the tenth round brought the fight to Juarez after being penalized in the ninth round for the second time. Soto impressed the Chicago crowd by out punching Juarez being on the offensive the entire fight continually backing Juarez into the ropes. Soto would only walk though all the big punches
Juarez could muster out fighting him from bell to bell.
In the seventh round the brawl was clearly on as Soto continued to back down Juarez only to see Juarez clutch and grab onto Soto to stop the punishment. Juarez began to land some huge rights as the ten second mark hit the clock seeing a visible hurting Soto grab onto Juarez’s left arm to save himself from going down. In the early part of the round the action
was stoped as Soto was warned for punching to the back of the head.
The early part of the fight saw Soto the aggressor using ring generalship to move Juarez around the ring being busier than his opponent.
The final compu box numbers read as follows Soto landed 249 of his 1006 punches he fired compared to Juarez landing 209 and firing 571.
Soto won the featherweight Interim World Boxing Council distinction of interim titleholder, now setting up a possible fight against currant champion InJin Chi who was originally going to fight Juarez but had to pull out after spraining his ankle in training.
Juarez lost came after a 23 fight unbeaten run that ended at the hands Soto in Chicago, Illinois. Soto came in the fight having not lost since 2002 to Kevin Kelley.