The WBO interim welterweight championship is on the line when Timothy Bradley and Jessie Vargas square off in the middle of the ring.
Bradley, who rose to stardom after a string of victories against Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov gets a chance to find himself back in the winning column after a winless 2014. Vargas is a star in the making with slick boxing and an action-packed style that’s sure to entertain fans. Read on as we break down the havoc to ensue.
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[sc:Other240banner ]Timothy Bradley had a rough 2014. Desert Storm suffered the first professional defeat of his career in a unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in April. He then had a setback after a controversial split draw against Diego Gabriel Chaves in December, a fight which most experts and fans believe he won. Bradley outlanded Chaves 225-152 throughout the bout, and he held the edge in punches landed in all but one of the 12 rounds.
Bradley is one of the grittiest boxers in the welterweight division, perhaps tailor made to give Jessie Vargas plenty of problems. His forward pressure and volume should frustrate the young Mexican into committing mistakes.
Bradley already faced another lanky but more talented counter-puncher in his career — Juan Manuel Marquez. He outpointed Marquez in a well-deserved split decision win, dazing the rugged Mexican on multiple occasions in the final round. Bradley landed 168 punches to Marquez’ 153. His jabs were especially effective to disrupt Marquez’ counter-punches (Bradley landed 82 of them).
But Desert Storm has a penchant for getting sucked into brawls to entertain the fans. He brawled with Ruslam Provodnikov in 2013 leaving him severely concussed, albeit in a split decision win. Bradley also opted to fight fire with fire in his rematch against Pacquiao, repeatedly winging missed overhand rights.
Should he fight smart, the game plan for Bradley is simple. He’ll need to push the pace and force Vargas onto the ropes to land punches in bunches. Bradley isn’t too shabby on the back foot as well, capable of stringing together crisp close quarter counters that could stop Vargas on his tracks.
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Betting on Jessie Vargas
Jessie Vargas is a young and talented Mexican slugger. He’s well on his way toward the biggest fight of his boxing career against Timothy Bradley. Considering who he’s training with (he switched trainers from Roy Jones Jr. to Erik Morales), we could expect Vargas to come into the ring to fight his heart out.
Vargas is an excellent, technical boxer with a wealthy background in amateur competition. He compiled an impressive amateur career record of 120-20. He was a two-time Mexican National Champion, a two-time U.S. Junior National Champion and a member of the 2008 Mexican Olympic boxing team.
This experience in amateur competition helped develop a good jab and lead hook to the body as two of Vargas’ best weapons against highly-mobile fighters like Bradley. He excels at distance by peppering opponents with jabs before going inside for short and crisp combinations. Vargas also mixes it up well, changing levels in his head-to-body combos.
Vargas’ amateur style was prominent in his last outing in November 2014. He outlanded Antonio DeMarco 263-179 (220-148 in power punches) in a 12-round unanimous decision victory.
But Vargas also gets wild at times, especially when he smells blood. He goes for flurries while failing to protect his head from counters. While Bradley doesn’t have the knockout power to capitalize on the openings Vargas leaves on wild flurries, the Mexican himself isn’t a power puncher capable of turning his opponent’s lights off. Vargas has just nine knockouts in 26 professional fights, all victories.
Writer’s Prediction
Bradley (-350) wins a dominant unanimous decision victory.
