The other Jessie
ON Nov. 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center at Las Vegas, Nevada, reigning WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas will be facing the biggest challenge of his young career in the legendary southpaw Manny Pacquiao, hailed as the greatest Filipino fighter ever to lace on a pair of gloves.
It's the main event on the card and rightfully, most of the attention has been centered around it, albeit not necessarily because of Jessie Vargas but rather on his more celebrated opponent.
This will be Pacquiao's comeback fight after a brief retirement, and most pundits are curious to know if the Pacman- who is now an elected Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, is still the sharpest tool in the shed.
But on that same night, there will be another Jessie who will be fighting, and his opponent is somebody not inconsequential either.
In fact, this other Jessie will be squaring off against Nonito Donaire, once touted to be Pacquiao's rightful heir, and although he has not quite measured up to the expectations, he is rightfully a Pinoy boxing legend on his own. JESSIE MAGDALENO. He's a southpaw, stands 5'4”, and is undefeated with a record of 23-0, with 17 stoppages. He's heavy handed, and clearly a dangerous opponent , even for Donaire.
He's a young, hungry lion eager to grab the spotlight and has exuded much confidence coming into this fight- even claiming that Donaire is already past his prime.
He likes to bring the action, possesses adequate hand speed and packs some power. In his last fight, he actually fought another Pinoy in Rey Perez who hails from Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte with a record of 20-8, 5 Kos.
He knocked out the overmatched Perez with a body shot in the 7th round, but frankly, I'm not impressed.
MY TAKE. Of course, we all know anything can happen in a fight. But there's another altruism that will find application in this fight, and that is “class always tells.”
Jessie's youth and vigor will allow him to get away with a lot of things in this fight, but in the final analysis, he will find out that he's never been in the ring with somebody of Donaire's caliber.
Jessie has fought and beaten washed up veterans and untested fighters who would not belong in the same ring as Donaire's vic- tims which include Fernando Montiel, Vic Darchinyan, Jorge Arce and Tyson Marquez.
Plus, his defense sucks and Donaire will easily be able to find a way to land that brutal left hook of his. Jessie likes to wade in while exposing his chin.
When Donaire homes in on that sweet spot, it will be lights out.
BUMMER. With only about 2 months left for the year, we only have a couple of big fights left to look forward to.
It' a letdown indeed, but cross out the proposed December 10 matchup between IBF heavy weight champion Anthony Joshua and former undisputed champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Klitschko's rematch with his onetime conqueror Tyson Fury had been scuttled earlier this month due to the latter's mental incapacity, and the fight with Joshua would have been a soothing salve to our parched throats.
Unfortunately, Wladimir suffered an injury and will reportedly be out till spring of next year.
Bummer.
VERBATIM. “Kiss my ass. I will knock Brock Lesnar out with one f*cking punch. I will pick him up and throw him out of the Octagon like the p**sy that he is. Am I making myself clear? F*ck you, Brock Lesnar. F*ck steroids.
Michael Bisping (www.MMAFighting.com) LAST ROUND. It's on Mr. Edgar Lao who proudly turns 70 this year. Cheers!