Mauricio Herrera, Jesus Soto Karass meet Aug. 4 on ESPN

Jun

Mauricio Herrera and Jesus Soto Karass will meet at the crossroads.

Both welterweights are badly in need of a victory, and they’ll fight in the 10-round main event of the August 4 edition of “Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN,” it was announced Friday. The show will emanate from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, and will include light heavyweights Vyacheslav Shabranskyy and Todd Unthank-May in the co-feature.

Herrera (23-7, 7 knockouts) was on the wrong end of a hotly disputed decision against then-champion Danny Garcia in 2014, and ever since, the Riverside, California-based veteran has been on shaky ground.

He’s lost two of his last bouts, including a shutout decision to Frankie Gomez and a points defeat to Pablo Cesar Cano in 2016. The 37-year-old rebounded with a win over Hector Velazquez in March.

“This is life or death for me, because both Soto Karass and I potentially have our careers on the line in this make-or-break fight,” Herrera said. “In order to catapult myself back to title contention, I know the most important step will be preparing harder than ever to ensure the victory come fight night.”

Soto Karass, too, has fallen on tough fistic times.

He’s winless in four bouts since scoring a big upset over Andre Berto in 2013. Since scoring the biggest victory of his career, the 34-year-old Mexican was stopped by Keith Thurman, outpointed by Devon Alexander, and, most recently, drew with Yoshihiro Kamegai before losing in the rematch.

“Mark my words, on August 4, the fans will witness a comeback as they’ve never seen before in the ring,” said Soto Karass (28-11-4, 18 KOs). This could be one of my last chances to go all-out in the ring, and I want to be sure it happens in this fight. I know Herrera has accomplished a lot in his career, but this win means more to me and my legacy.”

With two desperate men fighting, and given their blend of no frills, pressure styles, expect a war.