Pacquiao-Soto bout set for GM Place

Terry Bell, The Province

Published: Friday, June 15, 2007

Negotiations are in the final stages but it's almost certain that Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao will be defending his WBC International super-featherweight title against Mexico's Humberto Soto at GM Place on Oct. 6.

"We've almost finalized it. It's 99.5 per cent there," said Geoffrey Hughes, a Vancouver businessman who's been working with New York City promoter Lou DiBella and Top Rank boss Bob Arum to make the fight happen.

"He [Arum] is negotiating some last-minute items that don't have anything to do with me or with Vancouver. I'm anticipating that we'll be able to go with a firm announcement within the next few days. I'm waiting with bated breath to have Bob say that we can go from just the rumour stage to saying that this is a definite.

"We're there. Everything indicates that we're going to get it."

Pacquiao is a hero in the Filipino community. Hughes and his partners are expecting to draw from his many fans in the Lower Mainland's 100,000-plus Filipino community and from other fans living throughout Washington State.

"The more we looked at it [staging a fight] the more we realized it had to be somebody like Manny Pacquiao," said Hughes, who is involved in the local hospitality industry and in real estate.

"To be involved with Manny Pacquiao is incredible," said Hughes.

Pacquiao was just named the 2006 fighter of the year by Boxing Writers of America on Saturday, the same night that Soto (42-5-2) knocked out Pacquiao's brother Bobby at New York's Madison Square Garden on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah fight. Manny was ringside.

Pacquiao (44-3-2) can pick and choose his opponents. A lot of fighters, including reigning WBO champ Joan Guzman of the Dominican Republic, want to fight him but a Soto-Pacquiao bout has the added intrigue of a family feud.

"You can line the fighters who want to fight Manny all the way up Granville Street so of course he's going to say he wants to fight Manny," said Hughes of Soto.

"But Manny went to New York and watched his brother get beat up so it's personal now. Soto has challenged him. Pacquiao's gone on record saying things like 'even if I had to put my purse aside, I'd fight him.' It's going to be a good fight."

Soto challenged Pacquiao after his win on Saturday. And Pacquiao, speaking to ABS-CBN, took him up on it.

"As of now, yes I want to fight Soto," Pacquiao said. "I'm accepting his challenge to find out how strong he really is."

original article HERE