SATURDAY A.M. LAS VEGAS ONSITE UPDATE: Nevada commissioner Keith Kizer confirmed last night that the Jesus Soto-Karass and Alfonso Gomez camps have agreed to eight-ounce gloves for tonight’s fight instead of the 10-ounce gloves normally used in Nevada for welterweight fights. Every indication is that Soto-Karass will be coming out looking to do damage and Gomez has taken up the challenge by agreeing to the eight-ounce gloves. If this develops into a war it might favour Soto-Karass more than Gomez. My original selection of the slightest of leans towards Gomez has had me second guessing myself, and a little voice has me leaning slightly the other way this morning. I will leave the preview as written but this is a toss-up and I am not expecting the fight to go the full distance.

The highlight of the Pacquiao-Cotto undercard on Saturday is without doubt the welterweight 10-rounder between Alfonso Gomez and Jesus Soto-Karass, which opens up the pay-per-view portion of the show. The fight should get the evening off to a rousing start for viewers.

This is one of those fights that cannot fail to be a good one. The tough and relentless Soto-Karass hasn’t lost in almost five years and he is the house fighter on the Top Rank promotion. This fight is planned to be the springboard for Soto-Karass fighting for a championship next year.

Gomez, a popular fighter due to his gritty showing in the original Contender series, has his back to the wall. Blown out by Miguel Cotto in a mismatch, Gomez has won his last two bouts, but he is 29 and if he loses on Saturday it is difficult to see where he can go — I know that his manager Gary Gittelsohn would never let him hang around to become just an opponent for up-and-coming fighters. If Gomez can win, though, it will breathe new life into his career.

Gomez has been training for the fight at Oxnard, CA, away from the distractions of being a new father at home in Whittier, CA. He seems to have been putting everything he has into his preparation for this fight, which is a good sign.

Soto-Karass will as always be bringing intense pressure, without letup. He reminds many of Antonio Margarito, with whom he has sparred many rounds. Soto-Karass takes an exceptionally good punch, and he can break the heart of his opponents with his persistent, heavy-hitting advance. He can be hit, at times all too easily, but because he keeps right on top of his opponents he is often able to force them to trade punches when they would rather be keeping away from him, and he is capable of putting punches together quite impressively.

Still, Soto-Karass has had some tough struggles, notably against the veteran Chris Smith — when I understand he had to lose quite a lot of weight in the last few days — and in his knockout win over David Estrada, who was trailing on all three judges’ scorecards but right in the fight when Soto-Karass nailed him with a big left hook in the eighth.

Gomez is probably the better pure boxer with his movement, jabs and hooks, and he too is able to run off punches in sharp sequences. He gave one of his better performances last May when he outboxed and outfought Juan Buendia before dropping his sturdy opponent for the full count with a beautiful left hook to the body in the eighth round of a bloody battle that saw both men cut in the frequent head clashes.

I can envisage Gomez moving around Soto-Karass and catching him with classy punches, perhaps getting off to an early lead in the scoring. Can he keep it up for 10 rounds, though, against the type of pressure that Soto-Karass will be bringing to the fight?

Most people in the business see this as what the gambling fraternity calls a pick ’em fight, and it is a fight where a solid case can be made for either man winning. I have the slightest of leans towards Gomez because of his better boxing skills, but, really, this could all come down to who is able to dig deeper as the fight goes into its later stages.