In baseball, the tie goes to the runner but, in boxing, it just goes to frustration. Case in point: junior flyweights Elwin Soto and Moises Caro slugged it out for 10 rounds at Plaza de Toros Calafia in Mexicali, Mexico, only for the judges to shrug and call it a draw.
Scores read 97-93 for Soto, 96-94 for Caro, and 95-95. It was an unsatisfying conclusion to a night that, for the record, featured not one, or even two, but three draws.
And a lot of entertainment.
Caro, who entered the bout following a split-decision loss to Miguel Nieblas earlier this year, appeared to outbox Soto for much of the fight. From the opening bell, Caro used upper-body movement and an effective jab to dictate range, frustrating Soto, a former junior flyweight titleholder known for his power and aggression.
Soto, 27, started slow, struggling to land clean shots in the early rounds. Caro, 26, kept the fight at a distance and displayed his superior boxing IQ, particularly in the third and seventh rounds, when he clearly landed the cleaner punches. Soto found his rhythm in the fourth and fifth, pressing the action and finding a home for a solid left hook in close quarters.
The sixth was a competitive and chaotic round, with referee Edward Collantes warning Soto for pulling Caro’s head down. Caro regained control, however, by keeping the fight in the center of the ring but ended the round on the ropes as Soto poured on pressure. Despite Soto’s late aggression, Caro’s counterpunching and ring generalship remained consistent in the final rounds.
A slip by Caro in the 10th caused brief confusion, but it was correctly ruled by the referee. Despite Caro seemingly doing enough to earn the win, the judges rendered the fight a draw.
Soto held the WBO junior flyweight title from 2019 to 2021 and made three successful defenses before back-to-back losses to Jonathan Gonzalez and Hekkie Budler. Caro unfortunately sees his fourth draw added to his record which stands at 11-3-4 (5 KOs) while Soto records the first of his 21-3-1 (13 KOs).
In the co-feature, junior featherweight Erik Robles of Ensenada, Mexico, scored a dominant second-round knockout over Misael Gracia of Tijuana, Mexico. The fight ended at 1:05 of round two.
Robles, who dropped Gracia late in the first round with a left hand, overwhelmed his opponent with precision and power. A right hook sent Gracia crashing to the canvas in the second, and he was unable to beat the count.
This victory marked a triumphant return for Robles, who was coming off a second-round stoppage loss to Liam Davies earlier this year. In July 2023, Robles had upset then-undefeated Lee McGregor via unanimous decision in Scotland.
Robles improves to 16-2 (10 KOs), whereas Gracia falls to 15-6-3 (10 KOs).
Flyweight Miguel Nieblas of Mexicali and Erick Gutierrez of Yuma, Arizona, fought to a high-paced, eight-round majority draw.
The judges scored it 77-75 for Gutierrez, 77-75 for Nieblas, and 76-76.
Gutierrez, the aggressor throughout, saw his nose begin to bleed in round two. Nieblas responded with fluid combinations and better accuracy, leading to an evenly matched bout. Both fighters traded punches until the final bell before embracing in a show of mutual respect and, on this occasion, the draw felt appropriate given the competitive nature of the fight.
Nieblas record is now 11-3-1 (6 KOs), whereas Gutierrez’s record is now 7-1-1 (3 KOs).
Junior welterweight Abimael Cruz of Tijuana, Mexico, stopped Alex Guillen in the fifth round. Guillen, born in Yuma, has fought exclusively in Mexico as a professional.
Guillen pressed forward with aggression but began to tire by the third round, his punches slowing noticeably. Cruz used a mix of volume and sharp counterpunching to exploit Guillen’s lack of a clear game plan beyond brute force. In the fifth, Cruz landed a series of unanswered punches, finishing with a left hook that sent Guillen to the canvas just as the referee was preparing to step in and stop the bout.
The gravity of the knockdown was seen as Guillen remained on the canvas and was placed on a stretcher while the fight’s outcome was announced. Cruz improves to 10-3-1 (8 KOs). Guillen fell to 9-2 (6 KOs).
In a grueling lightweight opener, Jose Navarro appeared to hand Andres Garcia his first loss, but the judges ruled the four-round bout a draw. The scores were 39-37 (Navarro), 39-37 (Garcia), and 38-38.
The back-and-forth action seemed to swing in Navarro’s favor in the third round, when a left hook visibly hurt Garcia. Navarro struggled to recover from the momentum shift that followed.
Though both fighters hail from Mexico, Garcia resides in Mexicali, making him the hometown favorite. Navarro’s record now stands at 6-1-1 (2 KOs), while Garcia, who many felt should have lost, retains his undefeated record at 6-0-1 (3 KOs).
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