Jessie Vargas on possible bout with Manny Pacquiao: ‘I am happy to give him a title shot’

Los Angeles // There are no shortage of suitors for Manny Pacquiao, but Mexican-American boxer Jessie Vargas thinks he has the inside track when it comes to enticing the Filipino superstar back into the ring.

“I am the WBO welterweight champion and he wants to return to fight for this belt. So I am happy to give him a title shot,” Vargas said during the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame function on Friday.

Vargas (27-1-0) said Friday he is in talks with Pacquiao’s camp to hold a fight on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center arena in Las Vegas.

“The fight is still under negotiation and I can say that soon we will announce it, although I do not want to advance because in boxing everything can change every minute,” Vargas said.

• 'He has given us the go-ahead': Manny Pacquiao will fight again, says Bob Arum

Undefeated Terence Crawford has also been named as potential opponent for Pacquiao, who is likely to return to the ring later this year according to his promoter Bob Arum.

Arum tweeted Friday night that he is also talking to a group that wants to stage Pacquiao’s next fight in the Middle East.

“Meeting on Sunday with people anxious to put on a @MannyPacquiaoTR fight in the Middle East,” Arum wrote.

Vargas won the vacant WBO welterweight title with a ninth round TKO of Sadam Ali in March.

“Manny has never faced someone like me. I’m at my best, I have several advantages. I’m taller and faster than him. I’m really smart fighter too,” Vargas said.

“I not only want to face him but I want to beat him. Juan Manuel Marquez did it and I want to beat him too, mainly because at his best he was someone who gave many headaches to Mexico fighters,” he said.

Record eight division champion Pacquiao announced his retirement from boxing in April after his unanimous decision victory over Timothy Bradley.

Stevenson defends title with fourth round KO

Canada’s Adonis Stevenson made his seventh successful title defense by knocking out Thomas Williams at 2:54 of the fourth round to retain his WBC light heavyweight belt on Friday night.

Stevenson improved to 28-1, with 23 knockouts as he almost ended the southpaw slugfest in opening round at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.

With about 30 seconds left in the first round, Stevenson slammed a hard left into the side of Williams’ head, sending the American to the canvas. But Williams was able to get up and beat referee Michael Griffin’s count.

“He wanted to put on some pressure, so I put some on as well,” said Stevenson. “Two men who know how to fight. We gave a good show, and that’s what people want to see.”

Stevenson was fighting for the first time since scoring a third-round knockout 10 months ago of journeyman fighter Tommy Karpency in Toronto.

The 38-year-old Stevenson went on the attack in the fourth, landing a barrage of body shots which took their toll on Williams. With the challenger slowed and unable to put up a proper defense, Stevenson landed a vicious left to the head that put Williams down for good.

It was Stevenson’s seventh title defense of the crown he took from US fighter Chad Dawson by knockout in June 2013.

Stevenson is on a 15-fight win streak since suffering his lone loss to Darnell Boone in 2010, a defeat he avenged by knocking out the American in 2013. In all, Stevenson has 13 knockouts in his past 15 bouts.

Stevenson, who hasn’t fought outside Canada since 2011, holds the lone belt in the division not owned by Russian fighter Sergey Kovalev.

Williams’ record dropped to 20-2 with 14 knockouts.

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RESULT

Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')

Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)

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Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

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