Pacquiao vs. Vargas

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao has arrived in Los Angeles and he’s finishing up the very last part of his long training camp to get ready for his title shot against WBO 147lb champion Jessie Vargas on November 5. The fight could lead to a match between Pacquiao and light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, according to Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.

We don’t know that for a factor though. Arum mentioning Pacquiao vs. Crawford right now reminds me a lot of how Arum used to mention Floyd Mayweather Jr’s name a lot before Pacquiao’s fights before they eventually faced each other last year.

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By Allan Fox: Adviser Michael Koncz says former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) is ready for his title shot against WBO World welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao is moving to the second of his training camp by training in the U.S at the Wildcard Gym with trainer Freddie Roach on Monday in Los Angles, California.

“He was fast, furious and he was fabulous,” said Koncz to Fightnews.com about Pacquiao’s training for the 27-year-old Vargas.

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By Chris Williams: Former eight division world champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) has studied WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas’ fighting style well, and he knows exactly what he needs to do for him to get the win over the Mexican American fighter on November 5 on Top Rank pay-per-view at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao, 37, likes to fight guys that come forward and try to punch it out the way that Vargas, 27, tends to do nowadays.

Pacquiao says he chose Vargas as his opponent because he wants to capture another world title. You can argue that Vargas is an ideal opponent for Pacquiao in a number of ways. He’s signed to the same promoter at Top Rank, so it wasn’t for the fight to get made. Vargas isn’t a big puncher, even though he seems to fancy himself as one. Vargas likes to slug, so Pacquiao won’t have to go looking for him on November 5.

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By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) says he’s going to be looking to KO challenger Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) in their fight on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vargas believes he’s on his way to becoming a legend in boxing. He says he’s beaten guys in the past that were going to be future superstars and had 80% knockout percentages on their resumes.

Thus far, Vargas’ resume is kind of thin in the talent department. His best wins have come against Josesito Lopez, Anton Novikov, Khabib Allakhverdiev, Vivian Harris, Ray Narh, Wale Omotoso, Aaron Martinez, Lanardo Tyner and Sadam Ali. Those guys aren’t on their way to becoming superstars.

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By Chris Williams: For boxing fans unclear whether to purchase the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight on Top Rank pay-per-view on November 5, the fight WILL NOT be shown on delay a week later on tape delay on non-pay-per-view like in the past when Pacquiao’s fights were televised on HBO.

This is how Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has setup his fight against Vargas, as he feels there’s less an incentive for fans to buy the pay-per-view fights if they can see it a week later on non-pay-per-view.

HBO was offered the Pacquiao-Vargas fight by Arum, but they decided not to show it due to them already having the Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward fight on pay-per-view during November.

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By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s helper Buboy Fernandez believes that World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) will be there right in front of Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) when they meet up in less than two months on November 5 in Top Rank’s pay-per-view fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Vargas, 5’10”, will have a four inch height and reach advantage to go along with a 10 year youth advantage over the 37-year-old Pacquiao. Why wouldn’t Vargas stand in front of Pacquiao? With the size and youth that Vargas has, it might not make much sense for him to try and move away from Pacquiao.

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By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has put together the November 5th Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight card that will have four world title matches at stake at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Pacquiao-Vargas fight will be shown on Top Rank pay-per-view at 9:00 p.m. ET on November 5.

This is probably not a good idea of Arum to have matched Pacquiao against Vargas, because it’s not a fight that will sell no matter who the 84-year-old promoter puts on the undercard. Pacquiao’s last fight against Tim Bradley brought in 400,000 buys on HBO. Few fans wanted to see a third fight between Pacquiao and Bradley, but they got it anyway.

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By Chris Williams: Top Rank will be distributing the November 5 fight between WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas and Manny Pacquiao on pay-per-view without the help of their longtime partner HBO. The network passed on the option of televising the Vargas-Pacquiao fight. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is going to having his company put it on PPV. It’s unclear how many buys it’ll generate without the help of HBO.

There’s talk of the fight not being shown a week later on non-PPV. HBO always shows their PPV fights a week later on regular HBO. It looks like that won’t happen with Top Rank. That’s a potentially bad thing for the fighters, especially the non-stars like Terence Crawford.

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