Photos: Manny Pacquiao defeats Jessie Vargas; Floyd Mayweather Jr., Steve Wynn in attendance
All the buzz ringside at Saturday night’s victory by Manny Pacquiao over hometown hero Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center was that the senator from The Philippines will fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. again.
Insiders from Manny’s camp and Las Vegas promoter Bob Arum’s organization Top Rank confirmed that initial discussions have been held for a 2017 rematch. It would probably be the biggest-ever payday in boxing history.
“Money” Mayweather was ringside watching every fast-foot maneuver as Manny scored his decisive victory on points. Manny even waved his right-hand boxing glove at Floyd with a smile. A Los Angeles Times sports writer said Manny ran over Jessie with power, speed and smarts.
Our thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue for his close-up ring-action photos, and you can see why readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2016 Best of Las Vegas Awards today voted him Best Photographer. Congratulations to our hard-working and talented Tom!
Tom told me that he heard from everybody ringside that a Manny vs. Floyd fight is in the planning stages for the New Year. No word yet where that fight would take place. MGM Grand Garden Arena used to have rights to stage Floyd’s fights in Las Vegas.
My neighbor Bob Arum has said such a fight deserved to be in an arena much larger than what we currently have in our desert kingdom. In addition to Floyd being ringside, hotel mogul Steve Wynn and his wife, Andrea, sat beside Bob in the front rows.
Also there, newly coiffed Pia Wurtzbach, the reigning Miss Universe from The Philippines, with pageant chief Paula Shugart, who went directly to the Thomas & Mack from hair guru Michael Boychuck’s Color Salon, a 2016 BOLV silver medalist, at Caesars Palace.
Manny celebrates his 38th birthday next month. He is 10 years older than Jessie. Despite being off from the gym and ring for the last 7 months, Manny landed 101 of his 212 punches, Jessie 104 of 561. Manny had 6 weeks of workouts while juggling parliamentary duties.
Manny was noncommittal about the possible fight against Floyd, saying: “I’m not going to pick my next opponent. I’ll fight whoever the people want me to fight. I’m just so happy about my performance tonight. We’ll just have to wait and see if Mayweather is next.”
This is the fourth time that Manny holds the World Boxing Organization’s welterweight belt. Jessie won the then-vacant title in March when he defeated Sadam Ali. Be sure to check out the RJ’s round-by-round report.
