OVER my dead body.
This, in a manner of speaking, is the daunting message of Bobby Pacquiao to his Mexican opponent, Humberto Soto, who’s already looking past their June 9 encounter at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Soto’s promoter Bob Arum is lining up the Mexican fighter for a possible marquee fight with superstar Manny Pacquiao sometime this year should he get past the Filipino sensation’s younger brother next month.
“Handa na ako sa laban namin. Gagawin ko ang lahat para ako ang manalo sa laban namin,” said Pacquiao during an overseas telephone interview with BusinessMirror.
The 26-year-old Pacquiao is coming off an unremarkable 11th-round disqualification loss to Manny’s one-time foe Hector Velasquez, a fight marred by the Filipino’s repeated low blows to the Mexican.
Pacquiao, who was defending his World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas super-featherweight title, had already lost the crown before he climbed the ring.
Out of shape, Pacquiao lost the title the day before the fight after failing to make the weight limit of 130 pounds.
“This time I’ll be personally checking on Bobby’s conditioning, which I failed to do in his last two fights,” said Canadian agent Michael Koncz.
Koncz and the older Pacquiao comanage Bobby.
Pacquiao’s loss to Velasquez was his first after tallying four impressive wins in the United States.
Since campaigning in the US in late 2004, Pacquiao bested Oscar Villa (unanimous decision, eight rounds), Carlos Navarro (knockout, seven), and ex-world champions Carlos Hernandez (split decision, 10) and Kevin Kelley (knockout, four).
The younger Pacquiao has been training at the famed Wild Card Gym in Hollywood since early April.
Starting last week, Pacquiao has been training under the supervision of famed guru Freddie Roach.
The 27-yar-old Soto is a former WBC interim featherweight title holder, but decided to forgo his goal of fighting for the regular crown by moving up in weight.
In August last year, Soto scored a fourth-round technical knockout victory over Ivan Valle in a WBC super-featherweight title eliminator.
The Tijuana-bred Soto also holds a decision victory over former Olympian Rocky Juarez in their 12-round WBC interim featherweight title fight on August 2005.
Soto also fought Pacquiao’s recent victim, Jorge Solis in late 2004.
Soto was dominating Solis in the first two rounds but a severe cut on Solis’s eye caused by a head butt resulted in a no contest.
A veteran of 49 fights, Soto has tallied 41 wins with 25 knockouts, plus five losses and two draws.
Bobby Pacquiao, meanwhile, has a record of 27-12-3 with 12 KOs.
