HUMBERTO SOTO doesn’t hide the fact that he is not at ease fighting southpaws.
So in preparation for Filipino Bobby Pacquiao this Saturday in New York, the Mexican hotshot has spent most of his time training in Tijuana sparring with left-handers as his chief trainer Pancho Valenzuela, in an interview with fightnews.com, admitted that Soto “didn’t like to fight them.”
Pacquiao, according to Soto, 27, “is not an easy fighter (to deal with)” but his trainers have devised a plan aimed at “making him (Pacquiao) fight going backwards.”
Soto admits that a victory at Madison Square Garden this weekend should pave the way for bigger things for him.
“The plan for this fight hopefully stirs up some emotion in Manny Pacquiao,” said Soto, who is coming off an 18-fight winning streak.
“If my brother was a boxer and somebody beat him, I would like to fight that fighter.”
Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach understands why his fighter is the underdog but is not discounting the big possibility of an upset.
“(Bobby) has great power,” Roach told boxingtalk.net.
The Soto-Pacquiao brawl is the main supporting fight underneath the headlining showdown between Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah.
“Tickets are selling well and we expect a sell-out on fight night,” said ace publicist Lee Samuels of Top Rank, which is promoting the show. “We are looking at (an attendance of) 19,000.”
The press conference, where all the fighters will be present, will take place Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
“I received a call earlier saying that Manny would be in the press conference,” added Samuels.
Manny is vacationing with wife Jinkee and sons Emmanuel Jr. and Michael Stephen in Orlando, Florida.
