Last night in San Antonio was quite simply boxing at its very best. The Golden Boy card – surely the leading candidate for Card Of The Year (if there is such an award) – gave us three, count them, three, great fights; two of which are definite FOTY candidates. With the televised opener (at least it was on BoxNation, and how grateful should UK fight fans be for that channel picking up last night’s card!) we had a very good fight in Keith Thurman-Diego Chaves, while with the two epics that were Omar Figueroa-Nihito Arakawa and Jesus Soto Karass-Andre Berto we had unforgettable action delivered by way of two breathtaking slugfests.
The WBC interim lightweight battle was truly awesome, with both guys hammering away at each other with scarcely a jab or anything resembling a clinch in sight all night. That fight may not be topped as far as 2013’s FOTY award goes, but last night’s main event sure came close. Andre Berto, once looked at as a star and a future pound-for-pound talent, showed a ton of heart in his must-win war with Mexican warrior Soto Karass, but he didn’t win. A huge setback, the 12th-round TKO may well have ended Berto’s chances of being an elite fighter.