GANIGAN LOPEZ vs OMAR SOTO

One fight that is a bit under the radar this weekend is the bout for the WBC Silver 105-pound belt between Mexico’s Ganigan Lopez and Puerto Rico’s Omar Soto, which takes place on Saturday in Mexico City.
 
Soto is the more experienced of the two boxers, having fought in bigger fights. This includes two world title attempts.
 
Two years ago in Thailand, Soto lost narrowly on points to the undefeated southpaw, Oleydong, in a 105-pound championship bout. It was Soto’s first defeat. I saw the video of the bout and thought that the Thai boxer deservedly won, but Soto boxed an excellent fight, scoring with straight right hands through the middle against the southpaw, and it was nip and tuck, never very much in it.
 
Last September Soto moved up to 108 pounds to take on Edgar Sosa in a light-flyweight championship bout in Mexico. Soto was winning the fight on the judges’ scorecards for five rounds but Sosa proved too strong for him, hurting the Puerto Rican boxer with body shots and right hands and overpowering him in the sixth round. Now Soto has returned to the 105-pound minimumweight division and he won his last fight.
 
Lopez, a southpaw, seems to be the puncher in the fight — his last eight wins were all by stoppage, which includes avenging a defeat. He boxed in Japan three years ago, stopping an opponent from Thailand on the undercard of an all-Japanese world 105-pound title bout. I believe he was brought over to Japan to be a sparring partner for one of the Japanese boxers who fought in the main event.
 
Both Lopez and Soto have fought the hard-hitting Juan Palacios, of Nicaragua, who is one of the world’s top boxers at 105 pounds. Lopez lost on points to Palacios in Nicaragua four years ago, while Palacios halted Soto in the 10^th round in Puerto Rico two years ago.
 
I haven’t seen Lopez but he is highly regarded in Mexico, and indeed is the WBC’s No. 4 contender at light-flyweight, although Saturday’s bout is three pounds south, in the minimumweight division. Soto is an excellent boxer, well schooled in the Puerto Rican tradition. He is quick and crisp in his delivery of punches and moves well. I do get the feeling, though, that he might have peaked. The loss against Sosa is listed as a TKO, but I consider this a knockout: the ropes kept Soto up as Sosa hammered punches into him, and he slumped to the canvas as the referee waved the finish. There is no way that Soto would have beaten the 10 count.
 
I get the sense that this is Lopez’s fight to win. He is on home turf in Mexico, and my suspicion is that he might have a little too much firepower for Soto at this stage of the Puerto Rican boxer’s career. This is a well-matched contest but I will go with Lopez, perhaps on a stoppage around the ninth or 10^th round.