Jessie Vargas is the next opponent for the fighting senator Manny Pacquiao. The Pacquiao-Vargas title fight has been officially scheduled for November 5, 216 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Vargas is the current WBO world welterweight champion and previously held the regular WBA and IBO super lightweight titles. He was born May 10, 1989 in Los Angeles, California. Vargas transferred to Las Vegas at age 6 years old and started boxing at the Nevada Partners gym when he was 8.
Nicknamed La Nueva Generacion
(The New Generation), he stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) with a reach of 72 in. (183 cm) and an orthodox stance. His pro record is 27 wins, 10 wins by KO, with 1 loss.
Former two-division titleholder Roger Mayweather, Floyd Jr.'s uncle and trainer, has been Vargas' trainer since his first amateur bout until he turned pro. Vargas won the Junior Golden Gloves national championship in 2002 and 2005 and the national Police Activities League (PAL) boxing tournament in 2005.
Vargas had an amateur record of 120–20. Being a Mexican-American, he was a two-time Mexican National Champion, a two-time United States Junior National Champion and was a member of the 2008 Mexican Olympic Team before he graduated from Palo Verde High School but was eliminated in the North American qualifying rounds.
He turned pro in September 2008 and immediately made a name for his fearless acts of facing tough foes and undefeated opponents.
Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez compared Vargas to a young Antonio Margarito: “I think Vargas better than Margarito was at the same stage of his development because he can box. His technique is more sound. He can punch and he has a steady attack but he’s learning how to counter punch.”
Vargas won against the undefeated Joel Gonzalez by first round K.O. in his pro debut.
During his fight against American Trenton Titsworth, Vargas was kissed on the neck and he retaliated by punching Titsworth during the break. Titsworth was deducted two points and Vargas one point in a bout that caught a lot of media attention.
In his twelfth fight, Vargas knocked out a former IBO light welterweight champion Daniel Sarmiento of Argentina in the first round.
In the next fight, he won an eight-round unanimous decision against Mexican Ramón Montaño on the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana WBA world light welterweight championship.
On April 8, 2011, Vargas stopped former WBA light welterweight champion Vivian Harris of Guyana in the first round.
On March 16, 2013, Vargas won a unanimous decision against Nigerian Wale Omotoso.
On April 12, 2014, Vargas won his first world championship when he defeated Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev by unanimous decision for WBA and IBO junior welterweight titles.
On November 22, 2014, Vargas made his second title defense against Mexican superstar and former lightweight world champion, Antonio DeMarco. This fight which he won by unanimous decision was on the undercard of Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri at The Venetian Macao in Macau.
Vargas faced Timothy Bradley on June 27, 2015 at Stubhub Center. Bradley punched Vargas repeatedly to the body and head while Vargas also hurt Bradley in some instances. With 20 seconds left in round 12 Vargas landed a strong punch that wobbled Bradley's knees. This was followed by two more blows on the head. The referee mistakenly heard the 10 second warning as the bell ending the bout that he stopped the fight. Vargas thought he had won by TKO and celebrated on the ring. The officials decided go to the scorecards. Bradley won by unanimous decision and Vargas demanded a rematch.
Bradley instead fought Manny Pacquiao for the third time so the WBO welterweight crown was declared vacant. Vargas gained another shot at the world title against Sadam Ali. Vargas floored Ali in rounds eight and nine. Vargas landed feroceous body and head shots for the 9th round TKO win for the vacant WBO world title. Vargas was ahead on all judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage (79-72, 77-74 twice). Vargas landed 159 punches out of 428 thrown compared to 118 landed from 408 by Ali.
Vargas warned Pacquiao: “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.”
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