Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Quijano: Notice of appeal By Jingo Quijano Last Round
WHEN judging who is best suited to be Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent, what criteria does one use? Fight record? Risk factor? Money-making potential? Championship belts owned?
Edwin Valero, Humberto Soto, and Ricky Hatton are among those floated as possible candidates. Let’s see how appealing they are when we consider the foregoing factors.
Edwin Valero- 24-0, 24 KOs
Strengths: Aggressive, powerful southpaw puncher. Well-conditioned and extremely confident.
Weaknesses: Defense. Experience at the top level..
PROS. Because of their aggressive styles, this is a very fan-friendly match-up. A potential fight-of-the-year candidate.
Valero has always dreamed of facing Pacquiao and a mini-word war between these fighters in the media is motivation enough for both. Plus, Valero holds the WBA lightweight belt which can be a very welcome addition for Pacman’s collection at lightweight.
CONS. Valero is largely untested at the elite level, but nonetheless, a fighter who has knocked out all his 24 opponents, 19 in the first round—is still a risky proposition for any champion, no matter how accomplished he may be.
True, he may have the WBA belt, but he is an unknown commodity in the USA having never even fought there.
Unfortunately, that’s where big pay-per- view numbers are generated, and the modest 250,000 buys or so for David Diaz-Pacquaio might be the reason why Arum is having second thoughts on this match-up.
David Diaz who was a Mexican-American couldn’t even pull in the huge Mexican base, and so Valero is not viable financially.
Appeal factor: 50 percent.
Humberto “La Zorrita” Soto- 44-7 (28 KOs)
Style: Tall, lanky boxer-counterpuncher with good basics and sound defense. Has decent power in both hands.
Weaknesses. A bit slow and has the tendency to leave himself open to counters during exchanges.
PROS. As a pure Mexican thoroughbred, he will bring in the rabid Latino fan base, and can add another chapter to the sorely one-sided Pacquiao vs. Mexican fighters telenovela.
There’s also the revenge angle that Manny can play to the hilt since Humberto placed a whuppin’ on brother Bobby last year.
CONS. While he might bring in the hombres, he still doesn’t have the cult following that Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera enjoyed and so it remains to be seen how much support he can muster.
He also doesn’t have any hardware to bring to the table and so a win over Soto does nothing for Manny’s legacy at the lightweight division.
Appeal factor: 30 percent.
RICKY HATTON- 44-1, (31 KOs)
Strengths: Powerful, tireless brawler who likes to bring it round after round. Aggressive body puncher.
Weaknesses. Defense and lack of polished boxing skills.
PROS. This would have to be the ultimate career-defining opponent for Manny. The Pacman should never venture beyond 140 pounds and so a fight with the Hitman down the line at the junior lightweight division is the most lucrative out there.
Hatton himself intimated that he wants two more fights only before he retires and so the window of opportunity is closing.
CONS. This well-mannered and well-liked Brit is a very dangerous opponent for Pacquiao. Hatton is slightly taller and will be the bigger, stronger fighter at this weight. He doesn’t plod around like David Diaz and has inexhaustible stamina reserves.
Unlike Diaz he would probably be able to corner Pacquiao and deliver his vaunted body shots.
Appeal factor: 70 percent.
LAST ROUND. It’s on the Cebu City government which has pulled no stops in throwing its support behind AJ Banal’s quest for the WBA super flyweight belt on July 26 at the Cebu Coliseum. Cheers!
