By Mark Vester

Humberto Soto says that once he beats Francisco Lorenzo for the vacant WBC super featherweight title on December 20 in Cozumel, Mexico, he wants to unify with IBF champion Cassius Baloyi of South Africa. Soto nearly beat Lorenzo to an inch of his life back in June, but a bad call by the referee, as Soto was finishing Lorenzo off, handed him a loss. The ref ruled that Soto hit Lorenzo while he was down and disqualified him, but a replay showed that Soto never landed any punches while Lorenzo went down. Lorenzo went along with the call. The WBC refused to credit Lorenzo with their interim title in protest of the ref's ruling. 

"The night of the fight in Cozumel, I will be even more inspired by recalling the injustice and Francisco Lorenzo is going pay very much. At any moment I would have taken this fight. The first decision, we took it calmly. Although that night they didn't give me the belt, I didn't get mad, and something that was somewhat bad turned out somewhat good," Soto told Deporte1. "Everywhere I went people told that they didn't recognize his win."

Soto has taken the good with the bad. He came close to landing a super fight with Manny Pacquiao. He was the backup in case a deal with Oscar De La Hoya fell through. But with Pacquiao moving up and vacating his title, Soto gets the chance to fight for the vacant belt.

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