By Miguel Rivera
The world lightweight champion of the World Boxing Council (WBC), Mexico's Humberto Soto, started what is going to be his last week of training in the mountains of Temoaya, a State of Mexico, where he made his camp for six weeks. Soto has had a thorough preparation, working on endurance, strength and fitness, and is almost ready to defend his world championship for a fourth time.
Soto (55-7-2, 32 KO's) faces Motoki Sasaki (36-8-1, 23 KO's) of Japan in the headline bout of "Tsunami in Cozumel" which is promoted by Baja Boxing and Pepe Gomez on Saturday June 25 at Andrew Park in Quintana Roo, which is going to be broadcast by Televisa.
On Thursday, Soto plans to spar for twelve hard rounds to close the week out. He will step in the ring against Pavel Miranda, Rogelio Castaneda and Pablo Gaxiola.
"His performance was much better than expected, the recovery factor has been very fast, the weight is no longer of any concern and Humberto has shown great speed. I think it's going to be a great fight because Sasaki is coming to make a war in the ring," said Romulo Quirarte Jr., the trainer of Soto.
The young coach said Soto's speed will be the key to the fight, so they placed special emphasis on footwork.
"We want to avoid any surprises and we will go prepared for anything. We know the power of Humberto is there and it can explode at any moment. What we're working hard to achieve is to improve the speed in his legs and hands. We do not want to give any advantages to the Japanese challenger," said Quirarte.