by Edward Chaykovsky
Eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38KOs) will only need five rounds to end the reign of Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10KOs), according to assistant trainer Jonathan Penalosa, who is the older brother of former world champion Gerry Penalosa.
Pacquiao will challenge Vargas on November 5th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Top Rank, who promote both fighters, will handle the pay-per-view.
Undefeated Olympian Jose Ramirez, who like Pacquiao is trained by Freddie Roach, is giving Pacquiao some hard rounds of sparring in the ongoing training camp in the Philippines.
“Manny is now 60 to 70 percent in good fighting form based on my own opinion,” Penalosa told The Manila Times in an interview. “He had a tough sparring session last week because Ramirez is also a good boxer.”
When asked for his opinion on the outcome, Penalosa believes Pacquiao could close the show by the fifth. Vargas captured the title in March when he knocked out unbeaten Sadam Ali to snag the vacant belt.
“"I believe Manny could win by a fifth round technical knockout and that’s my personal opinion so far. Manny will become stronger and faster as the fight goes near. I guess coach Freddie (Roach) is impressed with Manny’s latest condition,” Penalosa said.
Roach had been concerned with a recent sparring session when Pacquiao fatigued and was struggling to keep up with Ramirez. The boxer was worn down after a week of camp and handling a lot of senatorial duties.
Pacquiao’s personal adviser Mike Koncz told the paper that Pacquiao is in best shape so far and his performance in the recent sparring session with Ramirez looked very great.
“Saturday’s sparring looked great and fine,” Koncz told The Manila Times in a phone interview. “I think he’s 70 to 80 percent ready. Ramirez is doing well in sparring.”
