Pacquiao’s April fight possible for Manila; Humberto Soto and Brandon Rios are options

By Boxing News - 01/12/2013 - Comments

soto21421By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao could be fighting in the Philippines in Manila on April 13th, according to the Manilastandardtoday.com. The names of the options are different from the ones that were floated earlier today. Having the fight in Manila would save Pacquiao on taxes. The guys that Pacquiao could fight are former WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto (59-8-2, 34 KO’s) or former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s).

For obvious reasons, Rios would be the guy that Bob Arum would likely be interested in seeing Pacquiao fight because he’s one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters and he was the one that Arum wanted to see Pacquiao fighting in April before Pacquiao shockingly was stopped in the 6th round by Juan Manuel Marquez last month on December 8th.

A knockout like that would seem like enough of a reason not to put Pacquiao in with the hard hitting Rios, but I guess the appeal of Rios being one of the stable guys and the fact that he might be able to attract a sizable amount of Mexican fans to see it on pay per view.

A Rios vs. Pacquiao fight might attract a good deal of Mexican fans to see the fight, but it might not be the best fight for a guy that was just knocked out cold in this last fight like Pacquiao was. That’s not a smart move if you ask me. Rios can hit almost as hard as Marquez and he’s capable of throwing a lot more punches.

To be sure, Rios isn’t a counter puncher like Marquez but he’s capable of forcing Pacquiao into a corner and really working him over. We don’t really know if Pacquiao can handle a hard head shot at this point and putting him in with Rios would seem like a stupid move unless all you’re looking for is to get that good payday.

Soto is the much better option because he doesn’t look good at 140 since moving up in weight and to ask him to move up to 147, it’s going to really put him at a disadvantage. Soto was recently stopped by Lucas Matthysse in the 5th round last year in June in a one-sided fight. Soto doesn’t look like the same fighter he was at lightweight.



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