Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines sits in his corner with trainer Freddie Roach between rounds of his WBO welterweight championship fight against Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center on November 5, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP
LAS VEGAS–For Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao gave a really bright opening Saturday. Too bad, he didn’t deliver the perfect ending.
“Yes, I’m a little bit disappointed,” said Roach during the post-fight press conference of The Legend vs
The Champ headlined by Pacquiao and Jessie Vargas.
The seven-time Trainer of the Year thought Pacquiao would be able to follow up on his second round knockdown of Jessie Vargas and end his seven-year quest for a stoppage.
Instead, Vargas survived the sporadic onslaughts and Pacquiao had to settle for a clear unanimous decision over Vargas in reclaiming the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown for the second time.
“Vargas showed a lot of heart in fighting a very good opponent,” said Roach, who had told some reporters earlier that he put a bet on Pacquiao winning by knockout.
Well, Pacquiao did try as he hurt Vargas more than a couple of times and was always looking for openings to detonate lethal bombs.
Vargas, however, turned out to be an adequate defender and counter-puncher and lasted the final bell.
“Well, you know we had a very god training camp,” said Roach. Thought he did well.”
Except, of course, that the knockout eluded him once again. Brought to you by: Cafe Puro