Las Vegas: Manny Pacquiao showed he still has plenty of energy by dominating Jessie Vargas in a WBO title fight on Saturday — and his rival Floyd Mayweather was there to see it with a ringside seat.
Pacquiao, who turns 38 next month, floored Vargas in the second round en route to a one-sided victory which allowed him to reclaim the WBO welterweight title which both he and Mayweather held previously.
It is a title that Pacquiao surrendered when he lost last year to Mayweather in the richest fight in boxing history.
The retired Mayweather’s appearance at ringside Saturday, at Pacquiao’s request, will certainly stir talk of a Pacquiao-Mayweather 2.
“Yes I invited him to come tonight,” Pacquiao said of Mayweather.
Asked if he wanted a rematch with Mayweather, Pacquiao said, “We will see.”
Mayweather took his seat with his daughter just before the fight started. He watched attentively, then left before the fighters had cleared the ring.
Pacquiao beat Vargas with a unanimous decision victory to capture the WBO belt for the third time.
After the fight Vargas was asked if he wanted to see Pacquiao and Mayweather go at it again.
“Of course,” Vargas said. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. We are still very interested in seeing what could happen again.”
But both Pacquiao, and his promoter Bob Arum, were non-committal about a second fight with Mayweather.
“Floyd Mayweather is retired. As far as we’re concerned he’s retired and we respect that,” Arum said at the post-fight news conference.
Pacquiao had to skip the event because of a cut from a head butt that needed 16 stitches to repair.
Arum did mention other potential Pacquiao opponents, including Vasyl Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Keith Thurman.
“I feel happy,” Pacquiao said after the fight. “I’m trying every round to knock him down but also not be careless.”
Pacquiao, 59-6 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, showed he still has a lot left in the tank but he failed to get the knockout victory that has eluded him for the past seven years.
All three judges scored the bout for Pacquiao, two of them by 118-109 and the other by 114-113.
Pacquiao won the WBO title for the first time in 2010 when he beat Miguel Cotto. He lost it two years later to Timothy Bradley, then got it back by winning the rematch with Bradley in 2014. He then lost it last year to the now-retired Floyd Mayweather, who had a front-row seat for Saturday’s bout.
Pacquiao took seven months off to concentrate on his job as a newly elected politician in the Philippine Senate. After serving his first stint as a rookie senator, he says the fire was rekindled and the stage set for a return to boxing.
On Saturday, both fighters felt each other out as very few punches were thrown in the first round.
Pacquiao was quicker to size up his opponent as the Filipino learnt early on that he could counter Vargas’ left jab with a right to the jaw.
That’s what happened in the second round when Pacquiao connected on a right counterpunch that sent Vargas stumbling backwards and onto the canvas.
Pacquiao said he had to respect Vargas’ punching power.
“I’m very careful to go inside because I knew he would counter me. I felt I could do more but every round I tried to knock him out,” Pacquiao said.
Las Vegas boxing fans showed their love for Pacquiao. Even with a hometown boxer in the ring, the crowd was chanting his name and cheering for Pacquiao to get the knockout.
—AFP
