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Manny Pacquiao Vs Jessie Vargas Complete Recap – Boxing News

manny-pacquiao (Copy)By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

OK, when I’m wrong I admit it. I covered this fight for Ringside Report on August 26th after the match was signed and predicted Manny would win 9 of 12 rounds in completely dominating overmatched Jessie Vargas. In actuality, Manny ran away with the fight having won all, but the sixth round.

Both weighed in yesterday comfortably below the welter weight limit. At first bell Vargas surrendered his nearly five inch height advantage by displaying his feet too far apart for stability and electing to give away his four inch reach advantage by constantly backing up. The pace was off to a feel out round where Manny came forward jabbing from the southpaw stance and moving Jessie backwards without much effort at all. At bells end, Manny landed a nice short uppercut inside to win the uneventful round.

Round two Manny picks up pace and drops Jessie on seat of his pants with a fast left to chin. Vargas was caught good, but unhurt. Pacquiao tries, but fails to capitalize on hurting his foe and unable to corner his rival to add to the damage. Manny’s round by 2 points.

Round three will formally pronounce the style and momentum that will dictate the entire fight. Manny is forever fluid and working behind his signature bouncing rhythm firing off right jabs and straight left hands while looking for openings to body. He is up on his toes working behind shoulder faints and constant head movement as he prepares to fire three and four punch combinations. In juxtaposition his champion adversary has his feet planted firmly on the ground and has developed a visual pattern on inching backwards six inches with right foot, over, and over again.

Four, five mini steps backwards sometimes while trying to pivot on front lead toes pawing in space with a weightless jab that rarely touched Manny’s face. He would then take one small step forward and fire a jab with conviction. During this pattern Vargas has left his chin vulnerable as he never used faints or head movement. All defense was motivated around that pawing jab and right hand cocked alongside the right side of his jaw. His fans were witnessing the start of a pattern where he simply never let that right hand go. Manny’s round.

Round four has Vargas opening up a little with mobility and throwing left hooks with abandon. None find their target. He is fighting a bit faster in a more spirited effort but getting beat to the punch none the less. Manny’s round.

Between rounds Vargas is excited in corner after shaking off pre-fight jitters and thinking he has done better exclaims to his head trainer that he is getting stronger. Yet his right eye is getting pink and showing signs of getting tagged by Manny’s left jab.

Round five had me scratching my head as to why Vargas’ corner is allowing him to paw with jab instead of using it like a bayonet to spear Pac and halt his forward momentum? The constant pity pat has cost him another round even though he appeared more game to tangle in ring center. Manny’s round.

Round six finds Jessie in a score card hell and he does what he needs to do by letting his hands go. Manny is game and never hurt but seems to be taking a round off. He is fighting back just with less intensity allowing Jessie to shine. Jessie takes the round.

Beyond comprehension commentator Stephen A. Smith thinks Vargas is way ahead. He should stick to football coverage or give up the Mayweather ghost! Co-anchor Tim Bradley fit perfectly behind the microphone trying to give viewers his own personal insight into the difficulty of breaking Manny’s footwork and the near impossibility of turning him into power punches.

Round seven is uneventful until the half way mark. Manny’s fluidity over covering both sides of gate to pocket has him taking pot shots at half way mark and once again turning the tide of fight to his pace and once again easily dominating. Manny’s round.

Round eight starts off with both men electing to open up. Manny has fared better landing 3 and 4 to every 1 that Jessie lands. As round winds down amid a serious Pac flurry they accidently clash heads. Jessie has a cut over his right eye. Manny finishes round strong with several punches of bad intentions both upstairs and down. Video review suggests the cut opened the punch before the head clash. Manny’s round.

Round nine it’s evident already that the champion will need a knockout to win although it’s never once mentioned in broadcast. Up till now Referee Kenny Bayless has been invisible with little work to do separating fighters. Vargas is back to simply pawing with the feather duster and his legs resemble a half drunken walk. He has spent the entire night fighting as a counter puncher looking to land the one “Hail Mary” punch he landed at fights end against Timothy Bradley while Manny cruises to another round on scorecards. Manny’s round.

Round ten gets under way and Manny seems focused on ending matters throwing a twelve punch flurry with reckless abandon. Some shots find their mark while others sting the arms badly enough to get Vargas dancing and circling for first time to keep his distance, an obvious sign he was rattled. It seems like most rounds Jessie would land a single right hand that would find the mark but could never follow up or keep Manny off him. Manny’s round.

Round eleven finds Manny fired up while Vargas’s feet appear to be wearing cement boxing shoes. For a brief moment in action it looked like he was taking a knee amid a Pac Flurry but Bayless failed to see it that way. A moment later just before bell Vargas does go down but rightfully ruled a slip having gotten ankles tangled coming out of an exchange. Manny’s round.

Round twelve opens with Jessie perhaps needing a gun more than a knockout to win. He once again goes down from what appears to be from a punch but Bayless waves it off. He is showing a champions heart and throwing bombs but missing badly as Pac easily outboxes him and wins yet another and final round. It is clear to everyone, but judge Moretti that Pacman ran away with the fight. His score of 114-113 for the new WBO welterweight champion was preposterous. Perhaps it’s time to retire or get a seeing eye dog. Stevie Wonder could have done a better job. Judges Trowbridge and Feldman both scored it correctly at 118-109.

Post-fight ring interview Manny refused to say as who he’d like for next opponent even though he was coaxed by alluring names like Terrence Crawford and Floyd Mayweather, JR. who were both in attendance. As usual he declared himself willing to tangle with any welterweight his promoter Bob Arum matched him with. He also said it would be no problem to drop down to 140 junior welterweight division to fight for Crawford for his title.

Jessie Vargas made no real excuses and gave praise to his conqueror. He did say he “was on his toes all night “fighting his heart out. He also said that he is young and learning and will be back better than ever in his next outing.

So as night at the club returns to Texas hold-em I am careful not to spill my Vodka. Jessie needs to be careful not to cry over spilled milk. While landing only 19% of his punches in a well prepared title defense its time his handlers look closely at this fight and realize exactly what they have in their fighter and what needs to be worked on. No, he is no longer a “kid” but now an ex-champion with lots of ground to cover to make it back into the welterweight hierarchy and next time stay there. He fights too one dimensional and flat footed. His combos are anything but awe inspiring and has never learned the proper use of the jab. He keeps his right hand in moth balls and literally forgets to use it. There is no head movement or should faints and his stance is splayed way too far to have any speed in avoiding punches. His 10 knockouts on a 27 and 2 ledger have come against far lesser opposition. He simply fires those power punches from too far away to carry his explosive power to any usefulness. By the time he lands the power punches his lead shoulder has advanced over his lead knee making the arch of his punch much less effective. He needs to get closer to his quarry in the pocket and learn to punch through his target, not catch it at the tail end of its trajectory.

Manny has become a newly elected senator in the Philippines and was unmarked in landing 36% of his punches bringing his resume to 59-6-2, 38 KO’s. Both he and hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach believed he could have turned up the heat and punch out put in second half of the fight. Considering he formerly retired and hadn’t fought in seven months he was still sharp enough to undress Jessie’s skills.

The next two weeks aspire to be fights of the year candidates. Stay tuned…

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