Instead of pitting WBC lightweight champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao against KO artist Edwin Valero this Nov. 15, Arum has reportedly changed his mind and will let the Pinoy face Humberto Soto, who once knocked out Pacquiao’s little brother Bobby.
“A lot of people feel we are better off to go to a Soto fight and if Valero gets cleared, put him on the undercard,” Arum told Philboxing.com.
Arum promotes both Pacquiao and Soto.
Arum said that if Pacquiao and Valero are triumphant in their battles then he could set them both to battle in the near future, possibly scuttling a mega-buck fight between Manny and Ricky Hatton.
Hatton said he wants to retire early next year and targets Pacquiao as his next foe in early January.
“It’s not because Valero won’t pass the physical but because maybe it’s more prudent to go with Soto,” Valero’s handler Akihiko Honda, who met with Arum several times this year, said in the Philboxing.com report.
Another angle Arum can use for the Pacquiao vs. Soto match is vengeance since Soto decked Bobby Pacquiao in the seventh round in June 9, 2007.
Valero has been barred to fight in the US since 2004 after suffering a motorcycle accident that left a clot in his brain. He was recently cleared to fight in Texas but not in Las Vegas, arguably the world’s boxing mecca.
Controversy
Soto, a nine-year veteran of professional boxing, has a career record of 44 wins 7 losses and 2 draws with 28 knockouts and recently figured in a controversial loss in the undercard of the Pacquiao vs. David Diaz fight.
Soto lost to Francisco Lorenzo for the interim World Boxing Council super featherweight crown, which was vacated by Pacquiao after moving up to the lightweight category, because he was disqualified by referee Joe Cortez after he hit Lorenzo at the back of the head.
Meanwhile, Glenn “The Filipino Bomber” Donaire, the brother of the International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organization flyweight titleholder Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, will gun for a piece of boxing history as he clashes with IBF light flyweight king Ulises Solis in Sonora, Mexico today.
If he wins, Glenn will get the chance to avenge the loss of fellow Pinoys Rodel Mayol and Bert Batawang and both he and Nonito will be the first Filipino siblings to hold world championship belts at the same time.
Donaire has a record of 17 wins 3 losses and 1 draw with 9 knockouts while the champion has an impressive professional record of 26 wins 1 loss and 2 draws with 20 knockouts. (EKA)
