Arum: Vargas will be a superstar if he beats Pacquiao

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By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is talking about WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) being transformed into a superstar if he beats Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Vargas about as far away as possible to becoming a superstar as anyone could ever get. He’s not really considered star material. One of the reasons for that was Vargas’ lopsided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Tim Bradley last year in June. Apart from a homerun right hand that Vargas landed in the 12th round out of sheer desperation, it was an embarrassingly one-sided loss for him.

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Jessie Vargas: I’m going to surprise Pacquiao

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By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas says he’s going to surprise Manny Pacquiao with the many different he looks he gives him in their fight this Saturday night on Top Rank pay-per-view. Vargas wants to make sure he gives Pacquiao different looks by throwing punches from a wide assortment of angles in their fight at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Vargas, 27, sees himself as a taller, younger version of Juan Manuel Marquez, a fighter that Pacquiao has struggled against in four fights during his career. Pacquiao arguably lost all four fights against Marquez, but was given two controversial decisions, as well as a controversial draw.

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Pacquiao vs. Vargas: Should Jessie be a big underdog?

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By Gerardo Granados: This Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, the WBO welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas will try to make the first defense of his title against the rugged veteran lion king Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao. The betting odds still are too wide in my eyes.

It is like next Saturday night, Vargas was to fight against Pacman of old, the one who walked thru clean hard punches of bigger foes, the one who destroyed Ricky Hatton and also beat to the pulp Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. But didn’t those fights took place seven and six years ago?

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Pacquiao says Golovkin-Brook convinced him to continue career

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By Scott Gilfoid: The Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight from last September was the reason why former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao decided to come out of retirement and resume his boxing career. Pacquiao says he normally doesn’t watch fights, but in this case he decided to see the Golovkin-Brook contest.

Pacquiao says he saw things from that fight that he felt that the 30-year-old Brook should have been doing for him to have a chance against the hard hitting Triple G. Pacquiao specifically felt that Brook should have countered more rather than trying to slug with Golovkin.

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Vargas ready to punish Pacquiao

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By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) feels well prepared for his maiden title defense against Filipino star Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) this Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vargas is ready to catch Pacquiao with hooks no matter which side he attacks from.

Vargas notes that Pacquiao likes to attack using angles, and he plans on nailing him with shots if he comes in from the left or right on his attack runs. Pacquiao had a hard time getting in close enough to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year to land shots against him in their disappointing ‘Fight of the Century.’

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Roach predicting knockout for Pacquiao

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By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is making his customary knockout prediction for Manny Pacquiao in his title challenge against WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas on November 5. Roach has been making knockout predictions for Pacquiao for the last seven years, and he’s comes up dry each time in needing to go the distance.

If there was a perfect time for Pacquiao to finally get a knockout, it would be right now, because he’s facing a guy that suddenly sees himself as a knockout puncher despite the fact that he’s not a puncher.

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Roach says Pacquiao is 100% ready for Vargas

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By Chris Williams: If Manny Pacquiao loses to Jessie Vargas on Saturday night, it won’t be due to a lack of preparation on his part. Pacquiao has been though a full training camp with his head trainer Freddie Roach, who feels that he’s 100 percent ready to challenger the 27-year-old Vargas for his WBO welterweight title on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top Rank is televising the Pacquiao-Vargas fight on pay-per-view without HBO, and promoter Bob Arum believes it’s going to bring in a lot of pay-per-view buys. That would be a surprise if it does, because judging by the lack of buzz on the fight from the boxing fans, my guess is the fight does fewer buys than Pacquiao’s recent third fight against Tim Bradley, which drew only 400,000 buys.

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Vargas expects to be superior to Pacquiao

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By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) figures himself to be superior to challenger Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) in every department under the book in their fight next Saturday night on November 5 on Top Rank pay-per-view at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Vargas has never been a knockout puncher in his life, but he expects to do the job on the 37-year-old Pacquiao on Saturday night. Vargas has only knockout one opponent in his last 12 fights, and that was Sadam Ali, who he stopped in the 9th round last March.

Whether that means that Vargas has suddenly become a puncher at age 27 is the big question. It might just mean that Sadam Ali doesn’t have the greatest chin.

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Pacquiao talks Mayweather rematch

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By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) says his surgically repaired right shoulder is fixed, and he would welcome a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he gets past his title fight against WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao doesn’t have much of a chance of Mayweather coming out of retirement to fight him unless perhaps he sees something special from him that would motivate him enough to return to boxing. With Pacquiao fighting Vargas, who is arguably little more than a paper champion, he’s not going in the right direction to try and make that happen.

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Jessie Vargas & Dewey Cooper Training Camp Q & A

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JESSIE VARGAS: My trainer Dewey Cooper and my strength and conditioning coach David Hayes, Rafael Garcia, my father – we make a great team and they brought out the best in me. They brought out the best in me in March against Sadam Ali and now we are going to outdo that performance in this fight on November 5th. I am very thankful for my manager Cameron Dunkin getting me this opportunity and I can’t wait to perform on the big stage and show what I’m about.

DEWEY COOPER: Hi everyone. I am Dewey Cooper, Jessie Vargas’ boxing trainer. I am thrilled to be here it’s an honor and I feel so blessed to be a part of this magnificent event and to be a part of Jessie’s first pay per view fight and I can guarantee you that this is going to be a great performance by Jessie Vargas. Training camp has been wonderful. We’ve topped every number ten-fold from when we were preparing for Sadam Ali. He has thrown more punches per day than he had thrown for Ali. We have added even more explosive power, more athletic agility, more speed and more total IQ we have added since the last fight we had together. We have more synergy in this training camp and guys, I keep saying in every interview I do don’t forget who the champion is in this fight is and don’t forget who the challenger in this fight is and that’s exactly who we are viewing this guy as – we are viewing him as our opponent, the challenger and we are going to conquer him on November 5th. I am fully confident in Jessie and this is not promoter speak and this is not theatrical hype, I am telling you actual fact. We expect, we know and we will show the whole world on November 5th how great of a fighter Jessie Vargas is and we are looking forward to that night.

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