Pacquiao vs Vargas Odds – The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas hosts Top Rank Boxing this coming November 5th as Manny Pacquiao returns to face Jessie Vargas for the WBO world welterweight title.
Top Rank had sought to have this pay-per-view distributed by HBO, but the cable giant passed on Pacquiao in order to concentrate on their November 19th offering of Andre Ward versus Sergey Kovalev. Arum has gone ahead with plans for the fight anyway and Top Rank will be doing the promotion and distribution of this PPV themselves. How many PPV buys this fight generates is anybody’s guess, however an over/under of about 250,000 is what is being talked about.
The fight will give a clear sign as to how far Manny Pacquiao’s star has fallen. We last saw Pac-man in April when he closed out his trilogy with Timothy Bradley Jr which reportedly drew just over 400,000 PPV buys. Arum is on record as saying that total was “terrible”. Prior to that he was in the record-breaking PPV with Floyd Mayweather Jr, but that fight may have done boxing PPV’s more damage than good in the long run.
In the fight with Bradley, Pacquiao showed he had recovered from his shoulder surgery and that he was still a strong fighter, but he retired after that fight and the retirement lasted just 4 months before this fight was announced. Then, speculation involved Pacquiao returning to fight all-world Terence Crawford, but that fight did not happen as Pac-man’s trainer Freddie Roach elected to pass on Crawford as an opponent. Though Vargas is a very good fighter who has very few holes in his game, the perception is that he was “second” choice. That and Pacquiao’s mishaps in the press all point to a decline Manny’s star power.
Check out Talk’n’Shoot’s Boxing Podcast #24 on where we go in-depth on the Pacquiao vs Vargas fight!
Still, Vargas (27-1) has everything to gain and more than his belt to lose. A loss puts a title-less Vargas back in the pack in a very crowded 147 pound weight class. Unfortunately for Vargas, the best weapon he could have against a fighter like Pacquiao is a power shot, and Vargas has just 10 KOs in his 27 wins. Pacquiao showed against Bradley that he remains a come forward fighter with a high punch output. If you cannot get Pac-man’s respect by backing him off with power shots or at least a very strong jab, then the Filipino superstar should be able to run roughshod over Vargas.
Have no doubt that a win for Pacquiao will mean we will have to hear about Pacquiao vs Mayweather 2 for next May. It will be like two bank robbers going back to hit the same branch a second time.
Pacquiao vs Vargas Odds
Below is the current line. Do not miss the latest Talk’n’Shoot video blog for more details on the fight. Top Rank will be presenting two additional world title fights on the card as WBO world super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (37-3) takes on youngster Jessie Magdaleno (23-0) and WBO featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez (20-0) faces the challenge of Japanese veteran Hiroshige Osawa (30-3-4). Check back closer to fight time for additional lines and for an over/under figure in the main event.
Welterweight 12 rounds –
Jessie Vargas +575
Manny Pacquiao -850
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