LAS VEGAS: Filipino southpaw Manny Pacquiao reclaimed the World Boxing Organization welterweight title for the third time with a unanimous decision victory over former champion Jesse Vargas in his comeback fight on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Pacquiao systematically dismantled the former welterweight champion despite Vargas’ size and reach advantage.

He used a short right-handed counterpunch to floor Vargas in the second round en route to a one-sided win in front of a crowd of 16,132 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“I feel happy,” Pacquiao said. “I’m trying every round to knock him down but also not be careless.”

Pacquiao, 59-6 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, showed he still has a lot left in the tank but he failed to get the knockout victory that has eluded him for the past seven years.

All three judges scored the bout for Pacquiao, two of them by 118-109 and the other by 114-113. Pacquiao won the WBO title for the first time in 2010 when he beat Miguel Cotto. He lost it two years later to Timothy Bradley, then got it back by winning the rematch with Bradley in 2014.

He then lost it last year to the now-retired Floyd Mayweather, who had a front row seat for Saturday’s bout.

“Yes I invited him to come tonight,” Pacquiao said of Mayweather.

Asked if he wanted a rematch with Mayweather, Pacquiao said, “We will see.”

Pacquiao said he was retiring following his April 9 two-knockdown victory over Bradley in their third fight.

Pacquiao looked impressive in stopping Bradley, showing that he has recovered from a shoulder injury which hampered him in his mega fight against Mayweather in May 2015.

Pacquiao took seven months off to concentrate on his job as a newly elected politician in the Philippine Senate. After serving his first stint as a rookie senator, he says the fire was rekindled and the stage set for a return to boxing.

On Saturday, both fighters felt each other out as very few punches were thrown in the first round.

Pacquiao was quicker to size up his opponent as the Filipino learned early on that he could counter Vargas’ left jab with a right to the jaw.

That’s what happened in the second round when Pacquiao connected on a right counterpunch that sent Vargas stumbling backwards and onto the canvas.

Pacquiao said he had to respect Vargas’ punching power.

“I’m very careful to go inside because I knew he would counter me. I felt I could do more but every round I tried to knock him out,” Pacquiao said.

Vargas started coming on in the middle rounds. His confidence grew after a strong sixth round which turned out to be one of the few times he was able to trade punches with Pacquiao.

He had a big smile on his face while walking back to his corner after the bell to end the eighth.

“Fighting Manny Pacquiao is like playing a very fast game of chess,” Vargas said. “You have to be alert at all times. He was very fast but I was able to get in a few counters.”

Las Vegas boxing fans showed their love for Pacquiao. Even with a hometown boxer in the ring, the crowd was chanting his name and cheering for Pacquiao to get the knockout.

The two fighters traded heavy blows in the eighth round as Vargas’ face started to show some of the damage from Pacquiao’s potent right hand. AFP </s> Manny Pacquiao put on a dazzling display in his return to the ring after a brief retirement, scoring a unanimous decision over champion Jessie Vargas to claim the WBO welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Despite giving away 10 years to his opponent, the 37-year-old Pacquiao fought with more intensity and energy, and dominated the American in the final rounds to close out an emphatic victory.

The judges scored the bout 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 in favour of Pacquiao, the only fighter to hold titles in eight divisions, with the Filipino improving to 59-6-2, while Vargas fell to 27-2.

It was a master class taught by the first sitting Senator to win a world boxing championship as Pacquiao temporarily left the ring to win election in the Philippines and serve in office before making a return to what he called his "passion".

Pacquiao, whose last previous bout was a unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley in April, showed quickly that he had not lost his skills, knocking Vargas down in the second round with a straight left to the champion's face.

Vargas battled back and landed his dangerous right several times but Pacquiao withstood the punishment and by the end of the bout, the American's face was swollen on one side and he had a cut over his right eyebrow.

The Filipino southpaw piled up the points in the later rounds by peppering the title holder with stiff right jabs that set up his quick, punishing left hook.

"I feel happy," said Pacquiao, whose only regret was in not recording his first knockout victory since 2009. "I feel like I could do more but my aim in every round is not to knock him out.

"Thanks to all my fans! Thanks to all the Filipino people!" he added in the ringside interview.

Among the spectators at the Thomas & Mack Center were the currently retired Floyd Mayweather and light-welterweight champion Terence Crawford. Pacquiao lost the richest bout ever to Mayweather last May.

"Next? I'm going back to the Philippines to work in the Senate," Pacquiao said about his immediate plans before being asked about Mayweather or Crawford.

"I don't know, whoever the people wants to fight me. Whoever my promoter gives to me, I will fight."

Vargas described the bout as "a chess match".

"It was interesting for me. We were on our toes trying to catch a big shot. He caught me a couple of times, I caught him a couple of times. It was an entertaining fight," he said.

"It's a good learning experience being against one of the best such as Manny Pacquiao. This automatically elevated my game and I know I have more potential."

Earlier, undefeated 25-year-old Mexican Oscar Valdez Jr (22-0) topped the undercard with a brutal seventh-round stoppage of Japan's Hiroshige Osawa (30-4-4) to retain his WBO featherweight championship. </s> Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao Sunday defeated Argentine Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round, winning the World Boxing Association's welterweight title.

Pacquiao controlled fight from the beginning at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, forcing Matthysse to the canvas in the third, fifth and again in the seventh round. </s> Last summer Manny Pacquiao was elected a senator in his home country of the Philippines.

Saturday night he dusted off the boxing gloves as if he'd never missed a day in the gym, outclassing Jessie Vargas to reclaim his World Boxing Organization welterweight belt.

In the second round Pacquiao landed a stiff left, dropping Vargas to the canvas, and the Thomas & Mack Center crowd erupted in cheers.

“His speed surprised me at the beginning, and that knockdown woke me up,” Vargas said. “He has tremendous speed, and sometimes you get caught with those quick shots you don’t see and it knocks you down.”

The 37-year-old legend was more than 7,000 miles from his home country but appeared at home inside the boxing ring.

Pacquiao (59-6-2, 28 KOs) defeated Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs) via unanimous decision (114-113, 118-109, 118-109) to win the belt that he relinquished upon retirement last year.

“I feel happy,” Pacquiao said. “I tried every round to knock him down, but I don’t want to be careless. I was very careful to go inside because I know he could counter me.”

The now-11-time champion represents his country in office — he didn’t miss a senate session over the past year — and in the ring with his signature hand speed that baffles opponents.

His fans rewarded him, showering him with a deafening “Manny” chant as he stalked Vargas around the ring.

Vargas ended the fight with a bleeding right eye that was nearly swollen shut after 12 rounds of snapping right hooks from “Pacman.”

Pacquiao nearly had two other knockdowns late in the fight, but referee Kenny Bayless waved them off as slips.

Vargas did manage to hang with Pacquiao for the first half of the fight — sans the knockdown in the second round — but Pacquiao cruised in the second half of the fight as his superior speed allowed him to beat Vargas to the punch.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. watched ringside, raising obvious questions about a rematch of the record-breaking megafight from May 2, 2015.

“I’m going to go back to the Philippines and back to work at the Senate and I will talk to Bob (Arum) about my next fight,” Pacquiao said. “I don’t know who it will be. Whoever the people want me to fight. I’m not picking an opponent. Whoever my promoter picks for me I will fight.” </s> GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines: Manny Pacquiao said on Monday (Jul 16) he was good for "two or three" more fights, naming Terence Crawford, Vasyl Lomachenko or Floyd Mayweather as possible opponents a day after winning a new world title.

The 39-year-old Filipino shrugged off renewed calls by friends including President Rodrigo Duterte to hang up his gloves after stopping World Boxing Association welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse, saying he would be "lonely" outside the ring.

Pacquiao flew back from Kuala Lumpur to his southern Philippine home town on Monday, where a crowd of at least a thousand supporters waited for more than four hours to wave at or shake hands with him.

"I feel good for now. Boxing is my passion and I would be lonely if I quit boxing," he told reporters.

"I believe I still have two or three fights left in me."

Pacquiao, already one of the greatest boxers in history with unprecedented world titles in eight weight classes, silenced some of his critics last weekend by pummelling the dangerous Argentine into submission by technical knockout in the seventh round.

It was the first knockout win in nine years for the rags-to-riches southpaw, who is now an elected Philippine senator but who lost his World Boxing Organization welterweight title to unfancied Australian Jeff Horn in Brisbane last year.

Pacquiao, now with a win-loss-draw record of 60-7-2, said he was enjoying his win and was not in negotiations at this time for his next bout.

However he said he would relish another bout with Mayweather, who beat Pacquiao on points in 2015 and later retired undefeated.

"If Mayweather comes back to boxing there is a possibility of a rematch," he said.

"But there are many other challenges, like Crawford, Lomachenko, Amir Khan and many others," he added.

The undefeated American Crawford beat Horn for the WBO welterweight title last month, while Lomachenko holds the WBA super world lightweight title.

Pacquiao soaked up the adulation Monday as a brass band played and a police and military honour guard staged a welcome at the airport in the city of General Santos on Mindanao island.

"I'm a diehard fan of the senator. As you can see, I brought my baby along because I wanted to see a man who had made the Philippines proud," resident Bayra Malagat told AFP as she joined the welcoming crowds while cradling her two-year-old boy.

"We're here to see Manny. Hopefully we get a glimpse of him and get a photo, hopefully," Cieran Fox, one of two southern Philippines-based Irishmen in the welcoming crowd, told AFP. </s> KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Manny Pacquiao clinched his 60th victory with a seventh-round knockout Sunday of Argentinian Lucas Matthysse, his first stoppage in nine years.

Pacquiao said he worked hard but was surprised by the swift win in the World Boxing Association welterweight title fight.

Pacquiao rebounded from his disappointing loss last year to Australian Jeff Horn and his victory could extend his boxing career that had taken a backseat to his political life as a Filipino senator.

“This is part of boxing. You win some, you lose some,” Matthysse said. He hailed Pacquiao as a “great legend” and said he will take a break after his loss.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also attended the fight, the biggest boxing match in the country since the 1975 heavyweight clash between Muhammad Ali and Australian Joe Bugner.

Duterte said: “I would like to congratulate Senator Manny Pacquiao for giving us pride and bringing the Filipino nation together once more.” </s> 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. </s> LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement seven months ago but after serving his first stint as a rookie senator, the fire was rekindled and the stage set for a return to boxing.

Pacquiao is hoping to reclaim the WBO welterweight title for the third time. But juggling two jobs, including his new gig as a full-time politician in the Philippine Senate, has cut into his training camp.

Pacquiao, who turns 38 next month, is going up against the younger WBO champ Jessie Vargas, who has a height, reach and weight advantage.

Pacquiao tipped the scales at 144.8 pounds (65.7 kilograms) in front of a crowd of about 900 at Friday’s weigh-in at the Encore Theater inside the Wynn hotel and casino. Vargas (27-1, 10 knockouts) weighed in at 146.5 pounds.

“I know I am the challenger going in and I have to fight that way,” Pacquiao said Friday. “It is not enough to do well, I have to take the title away from him.”

Pacquiao arrived first stripping off his black and gold tracksuit and stepping on the scale wearing gray boxer shorts and trademark white socks.

“I want to make history. It would mean a lot for me to win this fight,” he said.

Pacquiao won the WBO title for the first time in 2010 when he beat Miguel Cotto. He lost it two years later to Timothy Bradley, then got it back by winning the rematch with Bradley in 2014. He then lost it to Floyd Mayweather last year.

Pacquiao (58-6-2 with 38 KOs) still has a lot left and a seven-month hiatus can hardly be considered a retirement. But he’s not getting any younger and hasn’t had a knockout victory since 2009.

No fighter can go on forever. It remains to be seen if his part-time training routine and the wear of 66 professional fights finally brings Pacman to a halt against Vargas, who is 10 years younger, five inches (13 centimeters) taller and has a four-inch reach advantage.

Pacquiao said he was retiring following his April 9 two- knockdown victory over Bradley in their third fight.

Pacquiao looked impressive in stopping Bradley, showing that he has recovered from a shoulder injury that hampered him in his fight against Mayweather in May 2015.

Now it remains to be seen what Vargas’ youth and size advantage means against the highly skilled and more experienced Pacquiao.

Vargas is making his first title defense after winning the vacant WBO crown by beating Sadam Ali.

Donaire ready to defend crown

 In another bout on the card, Nonito Donaire of the Philippines will put his WBO junior featherweight crown on the line against Jessie Magdaleno of the United States.

Donaire, 37-3 with 24 knockouts, has been training hard under new trainer Ismael Salas.

Two time Olympic gold medallist Zou Shiming will also share the billing with Pacquiao as he goes for his first-ever professional boxing crown against a familiar foe in Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym of Thailand.

First defense

 “Manny Pacquiao has had a great career,” said Vargas, who is from Las Vegas but says he is fighting for Mexican pride. “Everybody that beats him becomes a legend and I look forward to becoming a legend.”

Not many of the fans inside the Encore Theater on Friday were giving Vargas much of a chance.

“Manny will win because he favors this type of boxing style,” said Alex Picarra, of Henderson, Nevada. “Vargas is a good fighter but he is also a brawler and that plays into Manny’s style.”

Picarra, who works for an air conditioning company, said Vargas is out of his league.

“Manny’s still got it,” he said. “I watched Vargas fight Bradley and Bradley dominated him. If Bradley can dominate him, then what is Manny going to do?”

Mikael Osorito, of Daly City, California, is an example of the Manny mania of Filipino expats.

The 41-year-old airport worker flew to Las Vegas just so he could attend the weigh-in.

Osorito will fly home Saturday morning and enjoy the fight on a big screen TV with about 30 friends and family.

“I come to all of Manny’s weigh-ins,” said Osorito, who paid $100 just to watch the weigh-in prior to the Mayweather mega fight in 2015.

“Manny has more explosive power. He is not afraid in the ring. It’s do or die.”

$200M to charity

 Pacquiao, known as the “People’s Champ” in his native Philippines, says he has given away about $200 million on projects to help the less fortunate.

“Every income I receive in boxing, almost half of it goes to the less fortunate,” Pacquiao said. “After each fight, half of my income goes to the poor.

According to Forbes, Pacquiao’s income from career purses and endorsements is around $500 million.

Pacquiao has a number of projects underway in the Philippines including building 1,500 homes on the island of Mindanao. He also helped to buy a fleet of new boats for fishermen in a coastal community.

Pacquiao says he needs to keep fighting so he can continue the charity work that has done throughout much of his 21-year boxing career.

Pacquiao was elected to the Philippine Senate in May. He sits on 15 committees, two of which he chairs. His Senate duties have meant he has only been able to train part-time for the upcoming fight against Jessie Vargas.

“I enjoy politics because I do not have a hidden agenda. I serve honestly,” he said. </s> BRISBANE, Australia (CBSNEWS/AP) – It went all the way and ended in a contentiously bitter loss — the opposite of what Manny Pacquiao’s handlers predicted for his WBO welterweight world title fight against Jeff Horn.

Pacquiao’s long-time trainer Freddie Roach tipped a “short and sweet” knockout win for the 11-time world champion in Sunday’s so-called “Battle of Brisbane,” but Horn got a unanimous points decision in his first world title fight — delighting the 51,052-strong crowd.

The 38-year-old Philippines senator arrived in Brisbane a week ahead of the fight with a chartered plane carrying more than a hundred supporters and as the hot favorite to beat Horn. He leaves without the WBO belt.

All three judges awarded it to Horn, with Waleska Roldan scoring it 117-111 and both Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan scoring it 115-113.

Some critics slammed it as a hometown decision, saying the statistics had Pacquiao landing twice the number of power punches as Horn.

“That’s the decision of the judges. I respect that,” Pacquiao was quoted as saying by broadcaster ESPN. “We have a rematch clause, so no problem.”
In boxing, Philippine Senator Manny Pacquiao defeats Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas to claim the World Boxing Organization's welterweight title.