By Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton
Las Vegas - Brian McIntyre, trainer and co-manager of WBO/WBC junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (29-0, 20KOs), was not overly impressed with Manny Pacquiao's victory on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
McIntyre was ringside, along with Crawford, and watched Pacquiao win a twelve round unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas to capture the WBO welterweight championship.
The judges scored the bout 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 for Pacquiao - raising his record to 59-6-2, with 38 knockouts.
Pacquiao dropped Vargas in the second round and controlled most of the fight, but he wasn't throwing a lot of punches in the contest and he seemed to get hit more than usual.
McIntyre graded his performance with a "B" at best, and feels the eight division champion - who is nearly 38-years-old - is starting to show his age.
"I give him a B... B-.. B+. I thought personally he lost a step, he lost a step," McIntyre said to krikya360.com.
Retired pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. was watching from ringside, which generated instant speculation that a rematch with Pacquiao is being eyed for 2017. They fought last May in the richest fight in boxing history, with over $600 million in revenue and 4.6 million pay-per-view buys. Mayweather won a twelve round unanimous decision, but Pacquiao later claimed that a pre-existing right should injury affected his performance. If they only do a third of their previous financial numbers, it would still be the biggest and most lucrative fight in boxing.
McIntyre believes the fans are clamoring for a fight between Crawford and Pacquiao - NOT a Mayweather rematch. A lot of fans were left disappointed, after six years of hype, by the lack of action in the Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Pacquiao and Crawford share the same promoter in Top Rank and their anticipated showdown is expected to happen somewhere down the line.
"Everybody wants to see that matchup and they know Crawford is one of the pound for pound fighters in the world right now," McIntyre said. "It's going to happen if [Pacquaio] don't get out the game."
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