While Manny Pacquiao has declined a mandatory title shot against WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez his younger brother Bobby Pacquiao says he is eyeing a crack at Marquez.
In an interview on the boxingscene.com website Pacquiao said his manager Michael Koncz had told him that if he beats top contender Humberto Soto in their clash at Madison Square Garden on June 9 he would be given a title shot at Marquez.
Pacquiao promised that his battle with Soto who hasn’t lost a fight in the last five years was “going to be a great fight” and that he had “prepared very hard for it.”
Pacquiao and Soto who are featured on the undercard of the Miguel Coto-Zab Judah showdown were the stars at a press conference held at the El Paseo Restaurant on Los Angeles to promote the Top Rank card. However, promoter Bob Arum failed to attend because he was stuck in Las Vegas after his plane developed engine trouble and he couldn’t take the flight.
Celebrated trainer Freddie Roach who is handling the preparation of Pacquiao for the Soto fight said “Bobby is really focused for this fight and he’s been training hard.” Roach added that “it’s going to be a great fight and I wouldn’t miss this one.” Pacquiao who has a record of 27-12-3 with 12 knockouts dismissed concerns about his weight since he was several pounds overweight for his last fight against Hector Velazquez and was eventually disqualified in the eleventh round. Pacquiao said “I have trained hard, watched my weight and it won’t happen again.”
Pacquiao told Dr. Ed de Vega of philboxing.com that he respected Soto as a fighter and it was “nice to know that he respects me too” even as he made it clear that Mexican boxers “bring out the best in the Pacquiao’s” although it certainly didn’t apply to Bobby’s fight against Velasquez when he lost his Continental Americas super featherweight title on the scales.
Soto who won the WBC interim title beating Ivan Valle and boasts of an eighteen fight winning streak didn’t put down Pacquiao. Soto said it was going to be “a great fight. I don’t think it matters who wins because the fans are going to be the winners.”
Soto who has a record of 41-5-2 with 25 knockouts is favored to win amidst claims that Arum is looking to push the revenge angle in a Soto-Manny Pacquiao fight should Soto who is handled by Arum win.
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