LOS ANGELES — Freddie Roach has already a gameplan in mind for Mexican hitman Humberto Soto just in case Top Rank pursues its plan to pit him against Manny Pacquiao in mid-September or early-October.
But Roach won’t divulge it right away and it’s between him and his prized pupil and that the blueprint will be perfected in the eight weeks the celebrated cornerman intends to train the Filipino punching machine.
“There are no easy fights right now for Manny Pacquiao because everyone’s going to fight over their heads because they’re going to fight the best they can because if they beat Manny Pacquiao, they’re the best fighter in the world,” said Roach shortly after the doors of his famous Wild Card in Hollywood opened its doors Monday morning.
Soto suddenly loomed large following his sensational seventh-round knockout of Manny’s younger brother Bobby at Madison Square Garden.
Although nothing has been formally announced by Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Roach believes Arum would soon make it public.
“Arum has both guys and I believe they’ll push through with that fight,” said Roach, whose opinion Arum took during a rare meeting over the weekend in New York.
“Top Rank created an opponent for Manny because (Bob) Arum didn’t have much before that,” said Roach, who remains upbeat that a mouth-watering rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera can still happen.
“Obviously, we all want to fight Barrera instead of Soto but with things right now with the legal system and with Barrera with the Golden Boy and Manny with Top Rank that’s not going to happen until next year.”
Since the legal battle is not expected to finish anytime soon, Roach said Pacquiao has to remain in fighting form.
“You can’t just wait for the fight and you have to stay active so he’ll fight Soto and it’s going to be a hard fight,” said Roach, whose teamup with Pacquiao began sometime in May, 2001 when Pacquiao walked inside his gym together with then-business manager Rod Nazario.
Pacquiao, Roach said, cannot look past Soto.
“He’s a strong guy. He likes to exchange (punches) and which probably will be his mistake with Manny but it’s going to be a great fight and at least on paper, it looks good and is a very marketable fight,” said Roach.
“Manny has to be in good shape because Soto comes to fight,” added Roach, who told Pacquiao, while they were watching the Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah world welterweight brawl in New York last Saturday, to report for training early.
Top Rank is looking at Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada as venue of Pacquiao’s next fight although Macau and Las Vegas are also in the running.
