Angel Acosta to defend title against Elwin Soto, Jorge Linares off June 21 card

Badlefthook.com

WBO junior flyweight titleholder Angel “Tito” Acosta has his next opponent, ESPN reports, with 22-year-old Mexican Elwin Soto lined up to face the Puerto Rican power puncher on June 21, live on DAZN as the co-feature for the Cancio-Machado rematch.

Acosta (20-1, 20 KO) is coming off of a dominant stoppage of veteran and former titleholder Ganigan Lopez on March 30. He won the WBO 108-pound title in Dec. 2017, knocking out Juan Alejo to pick up the vacant strap, about six months after losing a challenge to Kosei Tanaka in Japan.

Since winning the title, Acosta has made successful defenses against Carlos Buitagro, Abraham Rodriguez, and Lopez.

Soto (14-1, 10 KO) is a fringe contender as stands now, but rises and falls happen really suddenly at these lowest weights, too. Soto really has zero wins of any note and BoxRec have him ranked No. 81 in the world at flyweight right now. He suffered a four-round decision loss in his third pro fight back in early 2017, but has won 12 straight, albeit against opposition who came in with a combined record of 51-64-9.

Jorge Linares, the 33-year-old former titleholder at 126, 130, and 135, was scheduled to be on the card but is now off due to a cut suffered in sparring. Linares (45-5, 28 KO) was looking to bounce back from a stunner TKO-1 loss to Pablo Cesar Cano in January, when Linares was dropped three times in 2:48 in a fight at 140 pounds.