Junior middleweight contender Michel Soro will be one step closer to fighting for a world title belt or a big-money fight against Erislandy Lara with an impressive victory against Cedric Vitu.

Soro will face the fringe contender tonight at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris. The 12-round bout will air live on Canal+ throughout France.

The 32-year-old Soro (34-2-1, 23 knockouts), who is originally from the Ivory Coast and now resides in Villeurbanne, France, stopped Anderson Prestot in round five of his last bout on July 20. He has won his last four bouts since losing by a close split-decision to fellow contender Brian Castaño of Argentina in July of 2017.

Soro has fought the better opposition of the two French fighters. Abel Sanchez, who trains Soro in Big Bear Lake, California, is confident Soro can prove his pedigree tonight and pull off a victory in the process.

“I think he is one of the elite (fighters),” Sanchez messaged Boxingscene Thursday evening. “(Michel) had improved in the mental approach and he possesses a lot in the type of fighter I want.”

A fight with any of the top fighters at 154 pounds is what Soro is hopeful for, but there could be a deal put in place for Soro to face Erislandy Lara, who holds the WBA ’Regular’ title. Soro is the mandatory challenger.

“An agreement was reached with Lara,” said Sanchez, who is best known for training the likes of Terry Norris, Gennadiy Golovkin, and now Serhii Bohachuk. “(Should he win), there is a likelihood Michel fights Erislandy Lara in the first quarter of 2010.”

Vitu (47-3, 19 KOs) has not fought since defeating overmatched Predrag Cvetkovic by unanimous decision on Dec. 21 in his hometown of Creil, France. In his previous fight on Mar. 10 of last year, the 34-year-old Vitu was stopped in the 12th and final round by Castaño.

In the co-feature, Arsen Goulamirian (24-0, 16 KOs) will defend his WBA cruiserweight title against Australia’s Kane Watts (21-3, 12 KOs) in a 12-round cruiserweight bout. The 32-year-old Goulamirian, who is also trained by Abel Sanchez, has stopped six of his last seven opponents.

Junior middleweight Dylan Charrat (18-0-1, 4 KOs) will face former welterweight contender Johan Perez (24-6-2, 16 KOs) of Venezuela in an eight-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing