Filipino boxing icon and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao will be coming out of his second retirement in November by eyeing to retake the WBO welterweight championship from reigning titlist, American Jessie Vargas.
While the boxer from Saranggani is now very busy with his work as Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, he has already started his light training for his November 5 fight against Vargas, reports GMA News.
According to reports, Pacquiao has already begun his preparation for his second comeback fight with a three-lap jogging with some members of his Team Pacquiao every morning at an exclusive village in Makati City, the Philippines business and commercial capital.
Pacquiao also performed a few rounds of shadow boxing and core exercises during his initial preparations.
The decision to fight Jessie Vargas was a deviation from the recent pronouncement of Pacquiao world-class trainer Freddie Roach that the Pacman would be pitting talents in the ring with WBO and WBC super-lightweight champion Terrence Crawford.
Boxing analysts, however, believe that Pacquiao would fight Terrence Crawford next year if and when he disposes of Jessie Vargas in their fight in November.
To train extensively in the Philippines
Unlike in most of his previous fights where he normally goes a few months ahead of the fight date in the US to do his extensive training, particularly in the Wild Card gym of Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, Pacquiao’s training for the Vargas fight will mostly be held in the Philippines.
Apparently, Pacquiao does not want his training and preparation for the Vargas fight a stumbling block to his obligations in the Senate.
In fact, for the past few days, his presence was felt during the ongoing Senate inquiry on extra-judicial killings by the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
After winning his third match against American Timothy Bradley last April, Pacquiao announced his second retirement from boxing to be able to focus on his campaign for Senator. He won during the May 2016 elections in the Philippines, garnering almost 16 million votes.
It was only early this month, or on August 10 to be exact, when Pacquiao finally confirmed that he is indeed coming out of boxing retirement for the second time to fight Jessie Vargas on November 5 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He was quoted as saying in an interview then that the fight is on and that he just can’t let boxing out of his system because it is his passion. He added that he misses what he had been doing inside the gym and atop the ring.
Looking in from the outside
Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner has some legal issues to deal with at the moment but he obviously wants a piece of Manny Pacquiao too, just in case the Filipino boxer gets past Jessie Vargas in November.
Also known as the Cincinnati Kid because he is from the place, Broner is looking to match skills with Manny Pacquiao.
At 27 years old, he is 10 years younger than the Filipino boxing icon but Broner is confident that he can defeat the future boxing Hall of Famer going the distance, reports Fight Saga.
In a recent interview, he said that he would have a big possibility of stopping Pacquiao if they fight because he can hit with both hands and that he can match the speed of the Pacman.
He also added that he is sharper puncher than Pacquiao. Broner also said that he is too confident right now that anybody who gets in the ring with him anytime soon, he will definitely be able to do some damage on.
Despite his pronouncements, Adrien Broner is not even in the list of boxers whom the Pacman wants to fight in his second comeback in boxing.
second retirement??