http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/boxing/2016/10/19/pacquiao_vs_vargas-large_trans++Fkh0sZHwxQaed0GEjan5yZyXTW9wRH-zg4QWFyR11iw.PNG
While the announcement of a Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight didn’t immediately grab most boxing fans’ attention and while the online excitement for Saturday’s fight seems to be a little lackluster, the fight is a potentially interesting one.
Yes, we’d rather have seen Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) end his short-term retirement by taking on, say, Terence Crawford. But Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) presents a modicum of danger for the 37-year-old Pacquiao. After all, Vargas nearly knocked out Timothy Bradley in June 2015 and then did stop Sadam Ali to win a welterweight belt last March.
A few days away from the biggest fight of his career, Jessie Vargas is supremely confident he will pull off an upset against former eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao and become boxing’s next big star.
“I’ve prepared for this moment for so long. It’s the only thing on my mind, every day when I wake up and when I go to sleep,� Vargas, 27, said by phone. “I have a great team behind me, and things could not be any better.�
Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs), the WBO welterweight champion, and Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs), the first-term Filipino senator who is coming out of a short retirement, are promoted by Top Rank, which, in addition to marketing the fight, is handling its own pay-per-view telecast (Saturday, 9p.m. ET) from Thomas & Mack Center in Vargas’ hometown of Las Vegas.
Despite the fact that Pacquiao, 37, is a 7-1 favorite, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum thinks Vargas, a decade younger than his opponent and several inches taller, has a great chance to defeat Pacquiao, who has not won by a knockout in seven years.
“The reason is that Manny has been consumed by all of this talk that he has to become a knockout guy again, he has to go all out to sustain his popularity,� Arum said, “so Manny will go after Jessie and be very, very careless. … If Manny is going to go in there with the intention of knocking out Jessie and being very aggressive, that gives Jessie the best opportunity to win the fight.
“He becomes not just a champion but a superstar. I will deny to him that I said that because I will have to negotiate his next fight,� Arum said, laughing. “He would be a superstar, there is no question about that, if he were to beat Manny Pacquiao.
“I don’t know who is going to win, but I’m confident it’ll be by knockout. Jessie has a hell of a shot to win.�