Arum sees KO ending, either way
LOS ANGELES – Bob Arum was at ringside Tuesday when Manny Pacquiao sparred six rounds so close to his Nov. 5 showdown with Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas.
Arum wanted to find out for himself how Pacquiao, now juggling his work as a senator and a boxer, was doing after training mostly in the Philippines.
Reports that Pacquiao had skipped training sessions due to the flu and that his legs cramped another day must have given Arum some negative thoughts.
Those thoughts went away at the Wild Card Gym.
Arum spoke to the press before he left the gym in Hollywood and guaranteed one thing when Pacquiao, 37, and Vargas, 27, square off at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“This fight is ending in a knockout,” he said.
“There’s no fooling around. Vargas knows how to fight. One way or the other one guy is going to be standing,” Arum added.
Pacquiao sparred with an old dancing partner, Ray Beltran. It was his first gym session since arriving here in LA Saturday evening.
Arum was in Manila last August, just when Pacquiao was warming up his seat as a senator, and preparing to begin training for this comeback fight.
For a while Arum was worried how Pacquiao’s new role as a senator could affect him as a boxer, mainly because the legislative duties are far greater than that of a congressman.
“To tell you the truth, I was (worried) – until I saw him today. He’s in good condition if not better than I’ve ever seen,” Arum said.
The Top Rank chief was joined inside the gym by matchmaker Bruce Trampler and a very special guest, Academy Award winner William Friedkin.
When sparring was over, Arum introduced the 81- yearold Friedkin, an American film director, producer and screen writer, to Pacquiao.
Friedkin, who won the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1971 film The French Connection, and earned raves for his 1973 project, The Exorcist, had a brief chat with Pacquiao.
They were overheard talking about the problem with drugs with Pacquiao saying, “That’s our number one problem” and Friedkin saying, “That’s our problem, too.”