Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring to score a unanimous decision over champion Jessie Vargas to claim the WBO welterweight title in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Former eight-division world champion Pacquiao, 37, had announced his retirement after beating Timothy Bradley in April.<\/p>\n
The judges scored the bout 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 in favour of the veteran Filipino.<\/p>\n
His former world title rival Floyd Mayweather Jr had a ringside seat.<\/p>\n
“Not bad,” Mayweather said, giving Pacquiao a thumbs up after the fight.<\/p>\n
Mayweather beat Pacquiao to become the undisputed welterweight champion in May 2015 in what was billed as “the fight of the century”.<\/p>\n
“I invited him to be here tonight,” Pacquiao said. When asked if the two could meet again, he replied: “We’ll see.”<\/p>\n
Pacquiao returned to what he called his “passion” after quitting boxing to win election to the senate in the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Despite giving away 10 years to his opponent, Pacquiao fought with more intensity and energy.<\/p>\n
Pacquiao pressed the fight from the opening bell, trying to score a knockdown. He looked as if he would when he caught Vargas with a straight left that put him on the canvas in the second, but Vargas got up quickly.<\/p>\n
Vargas had difficulty dealing with Pacquiao’s speed, but was more than willing to trade punches to try to lure him into a brawl.<\/p>\n
He succeeded in the eighth, but came off worse when he suffered a cut in an accidental clash of heads. Pacquiao increasingly dominated in the final rounds to close out an emphatic victory.<\/p>\n
“I feel I could have done more but every round I tried to knock him out,” Pacquiao said.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring to score a unanimous decision over champion Jessie Vargas to claim the WBO welterweight title in Las Vegas. Former eight-division world champion Pacquiao, 37, had announced his retirement after beating Timothy Bradley in April. The judges scored the bout 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 in favour of the veteran Filipino. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":265679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n