Manny Pacquiao returns to the ring against Jessie Vargas as a huge betting favorite. Here are the full odds for the fight.
Manny Pacquiao has hardly ever known what it’s like to be an underdog. Given that he’s won a championship in eight different weight classes, he’s one of the most well-regarded boxers of all time. The only noteworthy fights in which he opened as an underdog were against Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather. While the former ended up working to his advantage, he wasn’t so lucky in the latter.
Pacquiao is knocking on the door of 38, and isn’t training full-time since he’s a Senator of the Philippines. Despite that, he is a massive favorite in his bout against Jessie Vargas. According to Odds Shark, Manny opened as a -1000 favorite, while Vargas sat at +550. However, the line has since closed to as much as -550 on sites like Bodog. That would still mean you’d have to bet $550 in order to win back $100 for Pacquiao.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise – Vargas has a loss to Timothy Bradley, an opponent Pacquiao has soundly beaten twice. His signature win might be against Sadam Ali, and that’s nothing when you compare that to Pacquiao’s resume.
Manny’s age also means that a knockout is unlikely. He hasn’t recorded a stoppage since 2009, when he beat Miguel Cotto. But he did show off some of his punching power in his last fight against Bradley, when he knocked him down twice. Vargas’ last knockout came in his last fight to Sadam, which means Manny will probably try to win on points. And they call Floyd Mayweather boring.
While Vargas deserves more respect, he was the easiest opponent Pacquiao could’ve chosen to come out of retirement. Had Pacquiao faced Terence Crawford, which was a fight that everyone wanted to see, he might very well have opened as an underdog. But if Manny wins, he’ll likely retire again which means we’ll never see that come to fruition. Talk about going out on a whimper instead of a bang.
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