By Cliff Rold

He ain’t what he used to be.

He’s still pretty damn good.

At 37, Manny Pacquiao doesn’t throw the same sustained combinations, doesn’t appear to have his finishing touch, and rarely fights three minutes of a round. Matched right, he doesn’t have to. There are some young guys out there that might be ready to push him over the edge into the pastures of old fistic age but in 2016 he was still good enough to beat Timothy Bradley and a game Jessie Vargas.

What he saw on Saturday night might have Terrence Crawford licking his lips.

Could it be more likely that, before a young premiere talent gets a shot, Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will be dancing to a bigger money tune?

Let’s go the report card

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Pacquiao A-; Vargas B/Post: Same

Pre-Fight: Power – Pacquiao B+; Vargas B-/Post: Same

Pre-Fight: Defense – Pacquiao B; Vargas B/Post: B+; B-

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Pacquiao A; Vargas B/Post: A; B

Saturday night gave fans a competitive scrap for about seven rounds. Jessie Vargas showed up with a good plan A. He used his jab, gave Pacquiao fits trying to find the right punching range, and fired in combination whenever Manny finished a combo. His height and reach advantages gave Vargas a lot of scoring opportunities to the body and more to the head than he got credit for on television.

Facing even an aged version of one of the great fighters of all time, starting with a solid plan A is a start. What happens when plan A gets figured out?

For Vargas, a good fighter but hardly one who will go down as a memorable welterweight titlist/contender, plan A was the best he had.

Pacquiao, whose ring IQ and boxing skill has often been underrated, adjusted in the second half. He started picking off the shots that landed early on his arms and gloves. He found the range and timing for his left hand.

By the end, Vargas was bleeding and bruised. He survived a flash knockdown and extended Pacquiao’s streak of fights without a knockout win to every year since 2009. He’s not getting any younger and that may last until he’s done.

But we should enjoy this while it lasts. He just added another alphabet title eighteen years after his first. It’s an absurd level of career accomplishment. Some haven’t gotten past the Mayweather fight and that’s fine but Mayweather was just better.

He probably would be again.

Will we see it again?

Mayweather is suddenly saying in public that he hasn’t shut the door on a return. He was in the audience Saturday. Their first fight split almost half a billion dollars.

That’s billion…with a B.

They won’t do that again but they can’t fight anyone else who makes them as much as each other.

In the absence of that, Pacquiao-Crawford would be the preferred fight from here. Pacquiao probably can’t beat Crawford at this point. It would have been a tough night in his prime. It would be the best thing for boxing. If Crawford won, Pacquiao would pass his torch in the way that Oscar did to he and Floyd.

It wouldn’t be a happy ending but it would be a boxing ending.

For now, just enjoy seeing Pacquiao still find ways to beat much younger men and entertain along the way. You’ll miss him when he’s gone. 

Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 37-13

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com