As of recent years, shortly after Miguel Cotto retired from the sport of boxing, there has been some flashes here and there from fighters that had the potential to one day filling the void that he left behind as the sport’s top active Puerto Rican fighter.
In a weight class that isn’t as glamorous as some of the others, the light flyweight division, which is commonly known in the Latin community as “Minimoscas” (mini-fly), is loaded with a ton of talent and guys that possess some really high level skills.
Angel “Tito” Acosta (20-1) is a twenty-eight year old Puerto Rican fighter who is currently the WBO Light Flyweight Champion.
This Friday, he returns to the familiar Fantasy Springs Resort & Casino in Indio, California to once again defend his title.
“Tito” Acosta is a guy that fights at an extremely high level with a boxing IQ to match it. The only time he has tasted defeat was a unanimous decision loss to now current WBO Flyweight Champion Kosei Tanaka (13-0) back in May 2017. Since then, Acosta has won four in a row and none of which went the distance.
In his last bout, Acosta methodically broken down his opponent Ganigan Lopez (35-8) that led to an eighth round knockout.
Acosta quickly reminded everyone in his post fight interview, that he truly wants those unification fights with the other champions especially with the WBC champ Ken Shiro (15-0). That would be a great fight and one that I would tell every boxing fan that is willing to listen, to tune in.
His opponent on Friday is Elwin Soto (14-1) who is from and currently resides in Baja California, Mexico. This will only be the second time he has fought in the U.S but he carries a twelve fight winning streak as his last loss was back in February 2017. With ten of those fourteen wins by way of knockout, we may be in for some early fireworks inside the Fantasy Springs Casino.
Angel “Tito” Acosta continues to put in all of the hard work both in and out of the ring in order to raise his profile and fill that void left behind by Miguel Cotto. Ironically he is promoted by Cotto and with the co-promotion deal with Golden Boy Promotions, there will be a strong push to build Acosta’s profile even more and get him that much desired fight with the WBC Champ. First things first though, he needs to get past Elwin Soto while also looking impressive in order to push the agenda of a unification even further for later this year.
You absolutely do not want to miss this fight, which is the co-main event and will be streamed live on DAZN this Friday!
Follow me on twitter @abeg718 as I will be on site to cover this one and all of the other fights on Friday night.
Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, Abe grew up in a family who were and still are die-hard boxing fans. He started contributing boxing articles to NYF in 2017. Abe through his hard work, has made his way up the ranks and is now the editor at NYFights. He is also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
