ARUM PREDICTS PACQUIAO-VARGAS WILL END IN A KNOCKOUT BUT HE DOESN?T KNOW WHO WILL FALL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 03 Nov 2016
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum predicts the WBO welterweight title showdown between defending champion Jessie Vargas and former welterweight king, eight division world champion and Philippine senator Manny Pacquiao will end in a knockout, but he doesn?t know who will fall.
Vargas who is ten years younger, four inches taller and enjoys a three inch reach advantage, has promised to go for a knockout the moment he sees an opening but former two division world champion Gerry Penalosa told us Vargas? dreams ?will turn into a nightmare? and there is no way he can beat Pacquiao.
Penalosa has followed Manny?s training camp in Manila intently and believes that the hand-speed of the ?Fighter of the Decade? and his footwork will prove too much for Vargas to overcome.
Arum feels that since Manny has been juggling his training camp with his senatorial duties, the ?Fighter of the Decade? will come out hunting for a knockout win.
He conceded in a conversation with Fox Sports 1, "Vargas is a kid who is coming on. He's becoming a knockout artist. He used to be a defensive fighter. Now he's really punching hard and he knows that he's not going to fool around with Manny defensively. He's going to go and try to get a knockout. And Manny, who is smart, realizes that his training hasn't really been ideal, so he's going to go out and try to knock Jessie out. I don't know who is going to win the fight - and that's the truth - but I know for sure it's going to end with a knockout - I guarantee it's going to be a knockout."
ABS-CBN reporter Dyan Castillejo told the Manila Standard that Pacquiao worked out on the University of Las Vegas Track yesterday morning and then did a few rounds on the punch-mitts.
She said Pacquiao?s footwork was amazing and it may well be the deciding factor in his clash with Vargas and noted that Jessie was ?comparatively slow and lumbering and didn?t move with the same zip.
WBO Asia Pacific head Leon Panoncillo told the Manila Standard that the officials for Pacquiao-Vargas fight are referee Kenneth Bayless and judges Glenn Feldman, Glenn Trowbridge and Dave Moretti while the official supervisor will be WBO president Francisco ?Paco? Valcarcel while the officials for the title defense of Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire vs Jessie Magdaleno will be referee Tony Weeks and judges Steven Weisfeld, Burt Clements and Adelaide Byrd while the Supervisor will be Richard De Cuir.
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