WBC lightweight titlist Humberto Soto will make his first defense of the belt he won on March 13, when he faces Ricardo Dominguez in Mexico on May 15.
Soto (51-7-2, 32 KO) beat David Diaz for the vacant belt on the Pacquiao-Clottey undercard, a fight he definitely won, but also one in which he seemed to have a little bit of problem with the 135-pound weight limit, to which he is new. Soto emerged as a featherweight contender, then moved up to 130 pounds after upsetting Rocky Juarez in 2005. At 130, he won the interim WBC title and later the full WBC belt.
Dominguez (31-5-2, 19 KO) is a decent first challenger. At 24, he's got a load of ring experience. His losses are worse than his wins are good, but he's really young and fought some good opposition, likely before he was ready for it. In particular, his KO-1 loss to Zahir Raheem came in 2008, when he was still very young, and he had two losses before that when he was even younger, one to veteran Carlos Urias, which he avenged in 2009 despite being decked in the opening round.
Soto should definitely be the favorite, but there was a time when Soto was a guy like Dominguez, too, with more losses and less quality wins than may have properly reflected his talent and how much he'd improved over the years. Right now, Dominguez is riding a five-fight winning streak. Stranger things have happened than a possible stiff test from the young Dominguez. Though the fight was pretty much a landslide on the cards (and should have been), I think back to early March when Vic Darchinyan faced Rodrigo Guerrero, and probably got a lot more than he bargained for out of that fight.
May 15 is shaping up to be a big day of boxing overall. Giacobbe Fragomeni and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk will rematch in Poland for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title, HBO has a two-fight bill (Khan-Malignaggi, Campbell-Ortiz), Michael Katsidis goes to England to fight Kevin Mitchell, and now Soto-Dominguez. Get ready for a full day of fun when that Saturday rolls around.