ARUM MANEUVERS FOR MARQUEZ-SOTO DUEL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 28 Mar 2007
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has asked the World Boxing Council to “enforce Humberto Soto” as the mandatory challenger to newly crowned WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez even though Manny Pacquiao is listed as the mandatory challenger.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer informed Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that he had been informed by the WBC that on the same day Manny Pacquiao informed the WBC that he wanted to retain his mandatory position to fight Marquez, Arum had “interestingly” pushed for a Soto mandatory against Marquez.
Pacquiao’s close friend and confidant Rex “Wakee” Salud confirmed the report and indicated he couldn’t understand what Arum was up to while Schaefer posed the question, “who is Arum looking out for?.”
Arum in an earlier interview with Felipe Leon of Fight News said that he didn’t think the best fight for Pacquiao would be a rematch against Marquez or former champion Marco Antonio Barrera. Arum said “I think there are some major fights out there and the most difficult fight would be with Humberto Soto” who is handled by Top Rank and is currently ranked No.2 behind Pacquiao.
Arum claimed that people who love boxing would love to see a Pacquiao-Soto battle adding, “it would be a very interesting fight.”
At the same time Arum downplayed the attraction of Marquez saying the new world champion “is a good fighter but can’t draw flies.” Arum handled Marquez when he fought Pacquiao to a draw but Marquez left Top Rank after he failed to get a rematch and Arum instead matched Erik “El Terrible” Morales against Pacquiao in what turned out to be an epic trilogy.
Schaefer revealed that Golden Boy has a September 15 HBO pay-per-view date at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas which he said “is locked in for the return of Marquez.” Schaefer indicated that they would know the opponent of Marquez in a month or two and that it will be “an exciting card which I am sure will feature several of our rising stars from your great country (the Philippines.)”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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