HUMBERTO SOTO vs FRANCISCO LORENZO

Humberto Soto has a quality that is admirable in a fighter: reliability. You know that when Soto is in the ring he will come to fight. He will put pressure on his opponents and he will try to hurt them to the body. “La Zorrita” epitomises the proud tradition of Mexican fighters, a well-schooled, sturdy and brave boxer who doesn’t come into the ring to be safe and pick up points — he comes to fight.

When previewing a Soto fight you don’t have to hold your breath and add a rider: “He can win if he lets his hands go” (as with the talented but under-performing Geard Ajetovic in Australia on Friday) because you know that this is one fighter who is going to be throwing punches.

Soto is boxing on the big PPV show in Las Vegas on Saturday, a 12-rounder against the very tough and savvy Francisco Lorenzo, of the Dominican Republic. The fight will be for the WBC’s interim super featherweight title but the winner is likely to be recognised as champion should Manny Pacquiao remain in the lightweight division after his fight with David Diaz.

This is a fight that Soto should win, but Lorenzo is not an easy opponent for anyone with his very busy, hustling, bustling, constant-motion style of fighting.

Although Lorenzo is 36 he is a remarkable physical specimen, muscular and athletic and able to fight at a fast pace for round after round, his punches coming from everywhere, and with his head-bobbing, always-moving style he is very difficult to hit with clean shots.

Many will remember Lorenzo for his excellent showing against an up-and-coming Juan Diaz five years ago. Since then he has lost only two fights, a much-disputed split decision against Courtney Burton and another close fight, against the undefeated Roman Martinez in Puerto Rico.

There have been signs, though, that Lorenzo just might be starting to wear down a little bit. In the fight with Martinez, he tired in the later rounds and he got hurt several times by right hands. He suffered a flash knockdown against Cristobal Cruz in April 2007 and although Lorenzo won the fight it was a struggle and I made the note “looks a bit old in this fight, legs not looking quite right at times”. When Lorenzo fought the journeyman Baudel Cardenas last July he mostly had things his own way, but I thought that a right hand buckled his legs a bit in the fifth round.

The old pro had a good win last November when outpointing the Mexican prospect Guadalupe Rosales, but that was an even fight for several rounds and he essentially won it by imposing his will, something that he will not find so easy to do against Soto.

Soto is a hungry fighter, a very determined man. He was well beaten by Joan Guzman, but in that fight he was meeting someone whose style was all wrong for him, a very fast, sharp, athletic and innovative boxer who simply had Soto befuddled and bewildered.

Lorenzo, while his style is unorthodox, is much more willing to take the fight to his opponent. On Saturday, however, he might try to “do a Guzman” by moving all around the ring, throwing punches and ducking and diving to get away from Soto’s hooks and right hands. Unfortunately for Lorenzo, though, he is not a Joan Guzman. He doesn’t have the amazing reflexes or the at times breathtaking talent and nor, I suspect, does he have the legs.

I think that Lorenzo is going to give Soto a lot of trouble in the early rounds. The aggressor from Tijuana is likely to find himself being made to miss and he will have to take some punches. This is unlikely to worry Soto too much. I think that he will stay on top of Lorenzo as much as he can. I do not see 12 rounds of Soto basically just touching his opponent with punches, as when Anthony Peterson had the cruise-control win over Fernando Trejo on Thursday night: I think he will be going right at him in a relentless manner.

Soto has some ground to make up after the one-sided loss to Guzman and I expect him to be all business from the beginning of the fight, as is his custom.

This week I have guessed wrongly about a couple of fighters — one in particular — by expecting them to show drive and desire when, I have to admit, it probably isn’t in their nature to do so.

I don’t think I am guessing wrongly with Soto. There are fighters and then there are fighters. I have built up Soto a bit in this preview, but I don’t think he will let me — or himself — down. Nobody has managed to stop the stubborn, nuggety Lorenzo in 36 fights but I think that this is about to end. I believe that Soto’s pressure and hard-hitting combinations will gradually wear down Lorenzo for a stoppage somewhere around the 10th or 11th round.