MEXICAN Humberto Soto may have cemented his lofty standing as the second-ranked super-featherweight title challenger yesterday.
But his win over Bobby Pacquiao created a few questions that undermine his readiness to face the illustrious brother of his victim Saturday night.
The 27-year-old Soto scored an emphatic seventh-round knockout victory over Bobby held at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Tijuana-native Soto hammered Bobby with a perfectly timed right straight to the jaw then finished off the Filipino with a digging left hook to the body.
The 26-year-old Bobby knelt the whole time in the neutral corner as he was counted out by referee Gary Rossano.
“Bobby is a real warrior,” Soto said after the fight. “But Manny is much busier, throws a lot more punches and hits harder.”
Soto showed more refined skills, but it was his diligent and chillingly accurate attacks that led him to the win, especially when Bobby seemed to have hurt the Mexican in the fourth round.
Halfway through that canto, Bobby staggered Soto with a looping right to the Mexican’s left temple that forced the Mexican to lose his balance.
The proud Mexican wanted to show he was not hurt, by pressing the attack immediately. It only gave Bobby though, better opportunity to connect more wild left straights and right hooks.
Before that brief shining moment for Bobby, the bout was temporarily stopped as the referee asked the ringside physician to check on the nasty gash on the Filipino’s right eyebrow that was caused by Soto’s left hook.
The fifth stanza was close as both fighters connected combinations to each other. Soto had the slight upperhand as he hit a now heavily breathing and bloodied Bobby with more effective blows.
By the sixth round, Soto became more prudent, vicious and consistent with his punches in ripping Bobby with combinations to the head and body.
Soto, a longtime chief sparmate of Mexican legend Erik Morales, took advantage of the momentum he built by finally stopping Bobby at 1:48 of the seventh canto.
Soto was also credited a knockdown in the opening round but the replay showed Bobby went down as he was pushed by the Mexican.
Before the questionable knockdown in the opening round, Soto buckled Bobby’s knees with a left hook to the body.
The win raised Soto’s record to 42-5-2 with 26 knockouts while dropping Bobby’s tally to 27-13-3, 12 by KOs.
Soto earned $150,000 for the fight while Bobby took home $135,000 (P6.4 million).
Though he impressed, Soto may need to improve on his defense and footwork if ever he gets his chance of standing across the ring with Bobby’s brother Manny Pacquiao, the top super-featherweight in the world today.
The Mexican also seemed to easily lose focus and loosened up his defense when pressured like what the younger Pacquiao did for a while in their abbreviated bout.
“I felt Bobby fought very bravely,” said Freddie Roach, who trains the Pacquiao siblings. “He caught him with a couple of good shots and hurt him. Soto was much too strong for Bobby.”
Soto is being groomed by promoter Bob Arum as Manny’s next opponent middle of September or early October.
Soto, ranked second in the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-featherweight ladder, fights under Arum’s Top Rank, Inc, the same entity currently recognized by Pacquiao as his American promoter.
The superstar Pacquiao, feted the other night as Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) 2006 Fighter of the Year in Canastota, is the WBC’s top-ranked 130lb fighter.
