VARGAS TRAINER SAYS PACQUIAO IS STILL A BEAST AND HAS THE PASSION FOR BOXING
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 13 Sep 2016
The trainer of WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas says eight division world champion and Philippine senator Manny Pacquiao is ?still a beast? and has ?the passion for boxing.?
In an interview with well-known boxing writer Steve Kim of Boxing Scene, Dewey Cooper said Pacquiao who announced his retirement in April prior to running for a seat in the Senate where some 16 million Filipinos voted him into office, announced he was coming back because he continued to have a passion for the sport which he indicated was his life and he had made a mistake in announcing his retirement.
Pacquiao?s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank believes Manny has two more fights left in him for 2017 and hopes, like Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, that one of the fights will be a rematch with the now retired Floyd Mayaweather Jr who had an unbeaten record of 49-0 and was Pound for Pound King.
As Dewey Cooper prepares Jessie Vargas to defend his WBO welterweight title on November 5th versus Manny Pacquiao, he still sees a great fighter in the other corner. Pacquiao will face Vargas who is somne 10 years younger at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on November 5.
Kim stated that while some experts believe Pacquiao is no longer the same, not the same fighter who became an eight division world champion, the trainer of Vargas disagrees. When asked to compare the current Pacquiao to the one that was rampaging everything in sight five years ago, the trainer told BoxingScene.com - "Pacquiao's still a beast and all in this time frame but however, the knockout loss to (Juan Manuel) Marquez (in 2012), he started to be a little more patient since that fight which is not a bad thing. So Pacquiao's still great, he still has his speed, he still has power, he's still really into fighting. He has the passion for it.?
Cooper added, ?in our minds we're facing the 2009, 2010 Manny Pacquiao and that's how we want it because we want the best Manny Pacquiao."
The 37-year old Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KO's) last fought on April 9th where he decisively out-pointed Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley. Vargas whose only loss was to Bradley when he had the champion in deep trouble in the final round when referee Pat Russell stopped the fight ten seconds before the final bell thinking that the clapper was the final bell.
Bradley who has a record of 27-1 with 10 knockouts won the WBO title on March 5th by stopping Sadam Ali in nine rounds.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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