EIGHT-DIVISION world champion Manny Pacquiao looked good in sparring with unbeaten 24-year-old super lightweight Jose Carlos Ramirez (18-0, 13 KOs) at the classy Elorde Gym inside the Telstra Building at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City on Tuesday.
After four rounds of sparring in preparation for his WBO welterweight title fight against Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 6 (Manila time), Ramirez told the Manila Standard that Manny “looked very good. Very smooth with his speed, very fast in his combinations and did pretty well.”
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach who worked the mitts with Pacquiao and watched him spar, concurred.
“There is a lot of fight left in him. He is still fast, fundamentally very good and hasn’t lost a step anywhere,” Roach said.
Proud of the accomplishments of Pacquiao so far, Roach told the Manila Standard “we are not done yet.”
Ramirez noted that when Pacquiao missed, he “saw a few openings but other than that, he is very sharp in his offensive, very good, very strong and fast. He looks well and has more than a month to learn in camp.”
Ramirez said the Vargas fight will be a good one for Pacquiao. “Manny is so much stronger, has speed and is experienced. Vargas is a good, young, strong fighter and it should be a good fight,” Ramirez said. “Manny fights harder when he meets a challenge and meets expectations. He’s a tremendous athlete, a strong athlete and has a big heart inside the ring. It should be a very good fight.”
He said Vargas looked very well in his last fight against Sadam Ali last March 5, when he won the vacant title with a ninth-round TKO. “He (Vargas) is hungry and wants to prove a point in boxing. He’ll come out strong. I’m sure Manny is going out there to perform,” said Ramirez.