Raymundo Beltran defeated Ji-Hoon Kim last night in a special Thursday-night, late year edition of Friday Night Fights from Las Vegas, NV. Beltran was in clear control of the encounter, winning by final scores of 98-92 twice, and 97-93, with many questioning whether or not Kim’s corner was going to stop the bout in the later rounds.
For Beltran, he’s now reeled off back-to-back impressive wins. First, he upset the high flying Hank Lundy, winning a Majority Decision, and now he handled Kim with relative ease. Already regarded as the number 9 lightweight in the world, Beltran is in the mix for a title shot.
Also consider that his last two losses were against two other top 10 guys in the division – Sharif Bogere, and Luis Ramos Jr, and he made both of those guys work hard for their win. While somebody like Adrien Broner would outclass him, taking on the winner of Miguel Vazquez vs. Mercito Gesta could make sense and offer him a fantastic opportunity.
So was Beltran’s win a good omen for Manny Pacquiao? Beltran has long been one of Pacquiao’s chief sparring partners, and the two have established a close friendship. So, him getting a big fight and earning a solid win could be good karma for his sometimes-employer and friend, Pacquiao. We’ll see how that shakes out though on Saturday night.
