Las Vegas, NV (November 6) – Boxing’s only eight division world champion and the reigning Fighter of the Decade Senator MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO (59-6-2, 38 KOs), from General Santos City, Philippines, dethroned World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight world champion JESSIE VARGAS (27-2, 10 KOs), of Las Vegas. Pacquiao and Vargas went mano a mano and toe-to-toe in a high-stakes welterweight showdown. While Pacquiao became a three-time WBO welterweight champion as well as the first senator to win a world title, Vargas gamely failed to enforce a term limit on the future Hall of Famer’s boxing career.
Promoted by Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, Wynn Las Vegas and Tecate, Pacquiao vs. Vargas took place Saturday, November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Pacquiao vs. Vargas and its three co-main event world title fights were produced and distributed live by Top Rank® Pay-Per-View, and was available on all conventional platforms, including all major cable and satellite systems, as well as Top Rank’s digital distribution via www.TopRank.tv and mobile devices. No replay is scheduled.
The three additional world championship fights on the pay-per-view telecast included: four-division world champion NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE (37-4, 24 KOs), from General Santos City, Philippines, losing his WBO junior featherweight title to undefeated No. 1 contender JESSIE MAGDALENO (24-0, 17 KOs), from Las Vegas; and newly-minted WBO featherweight champion and two-time Mexican Olympian ÓSCAR VALDEZ (22-0, 19 KOs), from Nogales, Mexico, successfully defended his title, stopping No. 1 contender HIROSHIGE OSAWA (30-4-4, 19 KOs), from Osaka, Japan. The pay-per-view telecast opened with the rematch between top-rated contenders Chinese Olympic icon ZOU SHIMING (9-1, 2 KOs), from Guizhou, China, and PRASITAK PAPOEM (39-2-2, 24 KOs), of Buriram, Thailand, battling for the vacant WBO flyweight world title. Zou a two-time Olympic gold medalist trained by Freddie Roach, defeated Prasitak, who had entered the fight riding a two-year, 12-bout winning streak, with all of his victories coming by way of knockout.
