Jessie Vargas: "I'm ready to face Manny Pacquiao"

He learned it the hard way. Jessie Vargas lost his undefeated record, trusting that the judges would be fair with his work, but a controversial decision put his future in jeopardy when he lost to Timothy Bradley. Now, 16 months after that bitter pill, once again as a champion, he is going for the most important fight of his career and does not intend to put his trust in others.

For that reason, on November 5th in Las Vegas, the Mexican-born champion and owner of the WBO welterweight title will not submit to face a legend, on the contrary, he will fight to pave his way as the best in his division.

"I'm not impressed. Actually, Manny Pacquiao is just another fighter. He has two arms, he has two legs and he doesn't have more than what I have. That respect I had for him went out the window. I am ready to face him. That's how I see it," he said in an interview with La Afición, the fighter who will welcome Manny Pacquiao after a short retirement.

"I don't see him as the name or the legend, I see him as the opponent I have to defeat, my goal is to beat him. I know what I have to do and I will execute my game plan. I have seen myself in this position for a long time and now I just have to work without paying attention to the name, record or history. He's just another fighter."

You are 15 days away from facing Pacquiao, how is your training camp going and what important changes have you made?

I feel very happy, comfortable with the work, with how it's going. We're reaching the end of the camp. I feel better than ever, very strong, very fast, very confident and with a lot of experience. I feel like a very complete boxer with a great team behind me and I still have two more weeks to fine-tune, but everything is going excellent.

Pacquiao underwent a significant change in his fighting style due to his religious beliefs, now with less aggressiveness, what will you be able to exploit during the fight that benefits you?

I am preparing for that Manny Pacquiao who faced Óscar de la Hoya, Juan Manuel Márquez or Tim Bradley. In other words, I'm waiting for the best he can bring. I will be ready for whatever comes. Whatever he throws, I can counter him very precisely and intelligently. I have no doubt, I will have the upper hand, I don't care if the Manny from five years ago, one year ago, three years ago or 20 years ago comes back. Whoever wants to show up, my job will be to defeat him. As a fighter, you can't stick to just one style, you have to know what you can change and we have to know when that happens. That's what I'm preparing for.

One thing that hasn't changed in Pacquiao is his speed and explosiveness, what kind of work are you doing to compensate for that?

Our goal, mine and my team's, has been to increase speed to have the same speed as him and not give him an advantage in anything. We are also working on strength to complement the speed I am gaining. I will combine them and with rhythm management, I will seek to break his timing.

Since 2014, you have been increasing the pace of fights and the importance of opponents, do you consider Manny Pacquiao to be the definitive step forward in your career?

That's right, I see this fight as the opportunity to show myself as the best welterweight and gain recognition from the whole world. I know I'm going to surprise them and they will put me as the best in my weight class. Bradley left a mark on you.

You talk about knockout, when you had never done it before with another opponent, will you try to avoid letting the judges work that night?

Of course. That filled me with experience and courage. That courage is still here and during the camp, it has pushed me to do more. I won't let anyone make decisions for me without knowing how I feel. I will no longer be so humble and so nice, because this sport is very tough and very hard.