Pacman vs Vargas Preview – This latest edition of the Talk’n’Shoot Boxing Podcast sees us look at the upcoming Top Rank PPV featuring Manny Pacquiao vs Jessie Vargas for the WBO world welterweight title.
https://soundcloud.com/getmoresports/talk-n-shoot-podcast-episode-24
Pacquiao had announced his retirement after his April fight with Timothy Bradley closed out their trilogy, but he is back just six months later here to face Vargas. Vargas is a good fighter with a 27-1 record, but the fight has been received in lackluster fashion by the boxing world.
Pacquiao showed in April against Bradley that the shoulder that hampered him against Floyd Mayweather Jr has healed, but his drawing power looks like it took an irreversible drop after that fight. HBO PPV passed on distributing this fight for Top Rank as they had Pac-man’s previous offerings and that is another sign that the Pacquiao name is not what it once was in the U.S. market.
The live event is scheduled for the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on November 5th, and there are two additional world title fights on the bill. WBO world super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (37-3) defends his belt against undefeated Jessie Magdaleno (23-0) and WBO world featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez (20-0) makes his first title defense against Hiroshige Osawa (30-3-4). A Donaire loss could be seen as a symbolic passing of the torch.
Donaire is looking to stay relevant and work his way into a big pay day or two before his skills drop off any further. For Magdaleno, this is his first shot at a world title, and at 24 years old he has been working a long time for this.
Valdez won the vacant world title in his last outing. That came in July on as the support fight of Viktor Postol vs Terence Crawford, and in that fight he closed out Argentina’s previously undefeated Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda (26-0) in the second round, making a big statement with his 18th career KO. Osawa is a solid veteran from the Japanese scene who is making his debut on U.S. soil in this one. At 30-3-4 Osawa has a lot of experience, and the 31 year old has not lost a fight in seven years as he gets his first crack at a world title in this one. This one here could be fight of the night as the Mexico vs Japan rivalry steps front and center.
Pacman vs Vargas Preview – Talk’n’Shoot Boxing Podcast #24
We can’t help but go back to the heavyweights, as Tyson Fury has been active on social media again and British promoter Frank Warren has talked about how unlikely the Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko fight is to happen.
Holding the best hand in all of this is undefeated heavyweight Joseph Parker out of New Zealand. At 21-0 the 24 year old Parker is the #1 contender with both the WBO and the IBF sanctioning bodies and at one point before the whole Tyson Fury saga broke Parker was considered top of the list to be facing Anthony Joshua in his next fight.
Pacman vs Vargas Preview / Check out more boxing news and details at The Sweet Science.
