Sen. Manny Pacquiao is being prepared to go to sleep once more by a right hand similar to what Juan Manuel Marquez unleashed four years ago.
This time, it’ll be the right hand of Jessie Vargas that the Las Vegas native has nicknamed as ‘The Sleeper’ that will send Pacquiao to dreamland again when they collide on Nov. 5 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
That same right rammed into the jaw of Saddam Ali when he took the vacant World Boxing Organization welterweight crown that Vargas will defend against the 37-year-old Filipino legend.
Lending a hand to Vargas’ preparation is chief trainer Dewey Cooper, a striking expert who used to fight in the UFC.
Cooper, 41, has been breathing on Vargas’ neck as they regularly go up to Mount Charleston for endurance training.
Vargas, 27, troops to the Top Rank Gym during the evening and will book 6-9 pm through fight week, according to Lee Samuels, the longtime PR chief of Top Rank.
Pacquiao is the heavy favorite but Team Vargas is extremely upbeat of its chances in spoiling Pacquiao’s ring return folllowing the knockdown-filled victory over Tim Bradley last April at the MGM Grand.
Like Vargas, Pacquiao is likewise in the thick of things in gym sessions that usually takes place late afternoon of early evening as he has to attend Senate sessions during daytime.