In Soto, Antillon faces a fighter who has more KOs than Antillon has total fights and has also held a world title in the super featherweight ranks. A tall order, in all senses and meanings, and something that Antillon has been working very hard to get ready for, as attested by his manager.
So, when asked, German would state only that, “My brother has been in training with many tall guys with long reach, all of them good strong Mexican kids. He knows this is the fight and he truly is ready for it.”
Out of the four recognized world lightweight titles, three of them were defended this past weekend, with Miguel Vazquez retaining his IBF strap, while Juan Manuel Marquez retained and unified the WBA and WBO titles in his now-classic war against Michael Katsidis, with the latter fight closely watched by tomorrow night’s challenger in the mountains.
German commented of that fight, “That fight spoke for itself; we spoke about Marquez’s style, mainly during the fight, [Marquez] coming from behind, [the knockdown] but nothing in particular. Although my brother knows Katsidis- they have sparred before. [Antillon] knows he is not that hard to hit but very strong and puts on a lot of pressure. It was a great fight.”
Regarding the meaning of the fight for his brother, German would continue, “It’s almost as if he is against the wall. At this point in Urbano’s career, he is ready to take the title; this is the second shot he is getting,” referring to his previous try (and lone loss) for the WBA “interim” title against Miguel Acosta back in June of 2009.
The stakes are very high, as the lightweight division is very hot right now, with names like Marquez, Katsidis, Soto, Vazquez, Ali Funeka and Robert Guerrero. Any of those names, aside from Soto, would make for some very interesting and high-drama fights.
Should Antillon win this tomorrow night, “The winner is supposed to fight [Brandon] Rios,” said German, “but of course, we can’t overlook Soto; he is the main objective right now.”
A fight against Rios would mark the third time Antillon would be featured on HBO. The fighter fought on “The Network of Champions” against Ivan Valle and Adan Hernandez back in 2003 on the now-defunct HBO Latino boxing series, “Boxeo De Oro.”
Contact German Villasenor at ultragerman@yahoo.com
