Focused on ring return
Manny Pacquiao takes opponent Jessie Vargas seriously as they lock horns on Nov. 5 in Vegas
LAS VEGAS—Up until last week, Manny Pacquiao was concentrating on trying to get the death penalty restored in the Philippines.
Now he’s focusing on something not nearly as controversial — his return to the ring for a Nov. 5 fight with Jesse Vargas.
“Working in the Senate is not easy while you’re training,” said Pacquiao, a freshman senator in the Philippines. “You manage your time and that’s what I did in training for this fight.”
Pacquiao won’t have to juggle two jobs for at least a few weeks, with the Senate now out of session. He arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend, eager to finish final preparations for yet another fight in a pro career that has stretched 21 years.
What remains to be seen is how eager boxing fans are to see him against a relatively unknown boxer who isn’t given much of a chance to beat him.
Though Pacquiao is the clear favorite, he isn’t letting his guard down.
“I’m not taking this fight lightly,” Pacquiao said in a report posted at Fightnews.com. “Vargas is the champion and I won’t underestimate him… I’m not think- ing about any fights in 2017. One at a time. I can’t say ‘yes’ right now. Let me finish this fight first!”
The 37-year-old fighting senator is an 8:1 favorite over the champion Vargas.
Pacquiao fought Timothy Bradley last April in what he was his last fight. His retirement, however, was short-lived as he announced that he’s set for a ring return next month against Vargas.
Pacquiao beat Bradley by a one-sided unanimous decision, wherein he sent him down to the canvass twice.
The 27-year-old Vargas is a two-divi- sion world champion, where the world title in the welterweight and light welterweight divisions.
Vargas is coming off a ninth round technical knockout of erstwhile unbeaten Sadam Ali in March.
Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, has an impressive 58-6-2 with 38 knockouts, while Vargas is 27-1 with 10 knockouts.
Filipino superstar Nonito Donaire Jr. (is also slated in the card in a title defense of his WBO super bantamweight belt against mandatory challenger Diego Magdaleno.