*Throughout boxing’s rich history there have been many a fighter who have attempted to return to the ring after retiring from it. Muhammad Ali went against Larry Holmes and lost so bad that nearly everyone present was left in tears including Larry himself after the fight.
“Sugar” Ray Leonard came back against Terry Norris and lost. And who can forget what happened to the great Joe Louis who got in the ring against Rocky Marciano and got knocked out devastatingly. And folks, there have been so many others that there’s not enough room to print here.
So why don’t we just get right down to what happened this past Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center on the UNLV campus where we saw Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao return to the ring to fight against a young 27 year old and game Jessie Vargas who held the WBO version of the welterweight title.
Vargas came into this one with only 1 loss in 28 fights and that was to Timothy Bradley a couple years back in a bout that took place out at the Stub Hubb in Carson, Calif. And who could forget that one in which Vargas near the end of the fight came so close to knocking out Bradley that it left everyone in attendance stunned.
So with the WBO title on the line that Vargas won against Saddam Ali this was Manny’s chance to regain the same belt that he won from Bradley before going into retirement ( I hope you can follow me with this).
The “Pacman” showed us that he still has it folks and can pack ’em in as this all went down in front of a near capacity crowd of some 14,000 plus. Floyd ” Money” Mayweather decided to get a ringside seat to watch this match which really turned out to be not what a lot of people thought.
In the opening bell you really couldn’t see how this was going to end, as both guys sort of sized each other out.
But going into the second the “Pacman” connected with a short straight left down the pipe and dropped Vargas thus giving you a clue as to how the rest of this fight was going to go down.
You could clearly see the difference between the two as Vargas who showed us that he was game and had a lot of heart, but in the opinion of most ring observers was fighting like he was still in the amateurs.
Pacquiao showed us on the other hand, clearly dominated Vargas throughout the bout landing solid shots to the head and the body and displaying ring generalship. He was also letting Mayweather who was sitting ringside, know that he’s ready to get back in the ring with him to avenge that loss a couple years ago.
At the end of twelve rounds judges Glenn Feldman and Glenn Trowbridge scored the bout the same 118-109 while Dave Moretti scored it 114-113 giving the “Pacman” a unanimous decision and declaring him the new WBO welterweight champion.
Now you might want to ask, what’s next? Is the fight with Mayweather going to happen? At this point anything is possible as I always say, we’ll see what happens.
There’s still a lot of boxing left in this year to come folks, as a matter of fact we’re all looking forward to what could be this years biggest fight between Andre S.O.G. Ward and Sergei Kovalov that’s set to go down in two weeks in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.
It was certainly a pleasure to meet and greet Steve Wynn and his wife last week at the Wynn Resorts. They are two of the nicest folks that I met in Las Vegas, and I hope they have continued success.
Finally, my sincere thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Ellsworth (E.J.) Jackson who past away from a massive heart attack last Tuesday. He was a long time friend and one of my biggest supporters and the owner of the Jackson Limousine Service. He provided limo service to many in sports and entertainment and gave a lot of folk opportunities to get on their feet. And his annual turkey give away fed thousands of people. He was a pillar in the community and he will be missed. May God’s peace and blessings be on his soul.
“When the tide goes out, that’s when you’ll find out who’s been swimming naked” -Warren Buffett
Mohammed Mubarak’s Ringside Update can also be read in the Pace News, and he can be reached at [email protected] for your comments. He’s also an artist and you can go to mubarakart.com or qmubarak06 on instagram and view his works.
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