Jessie Vargas might be too dangerous for Amir Khan

By Boxing News - 09/08/2011 - Comments

Image: Jessie Vargas might be too dangerous for Amir KhanBy William Mackay: While WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan would love to have a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., he’s not the type to want to face a dangerous puncher like Jessie Vargas (16-0, 9 KO’s) to get that shot. Boxing fans may not be too familiar with the 22-year-old Vargas right now, but they will be in the near future.

Vargas is a big puncher who is going to be a future star in the light welterweight division. Right now, he’s still working his way up to the big time fights. However, his promoter Mayweather Jr. is giving him a big opportunity by trying to lure Amir Khan in for a fight against Vargas.

Mayweather Jr. recently told ESPN that he would agree to fight Khan after Mayweather’s September 17th fight against Victor Ortiz if Khan takes on Vargas. It can’t get any easier for Khan if he wants a straight path to a big money fight against Mayweather. However, the catch is Vargas is the exact kind of guy that Khan has major problems with.

Vargas can punch with amazing power on the inside and the outside with his powerful left hook and sneaky right hand. His left hook reminds me of Nonito Donaire’s left hook in that it’s always devastating. Vargas’ right hand is more of a sneaky weapon because he doesn’t load up with it all the time, but when he does it’s huge and catches his opponents off guard.

Against Vivian Harris, Vargas basically mugged him in close with a powerful body attack. When the round was almost over, Vargas caught Harris with a crushing right hand that staggered him and bloodied his nose. In between rounds, Harris quit on his stool rather than risking going out for the second round and getting annihilated by Vargas. Khan doesn’t do well against guys like Vargas.

This would be like fighting Breidis Prescott and Marcos Maidana. I’m sure Khan wants the Mayweather payday fight, because he’ll get a ton of money even in losing the fight, which he will obviously lose. But if Khan faces Vargas, Khan will have a high possibility of being knocked out. And Mayweather Jr. goes ahead still fights Khan, that would be yet another loss for Khan.

It would be kind of a joke by then where no one would be able to take Khan seriously. Vargas would be the start of Khan’s downfall and Mayweather would be the finisher. That’s why I don’t see Khan taking the fight against Vargas despite it leading to a Mayweather money bout.

Even under the best of circumstances for Khan, he’s going to get beaten up ugly by Vargas, and will look like one of the walking dead by the end of the fight. Khan already looked like he crawled out of a nuclear reactor in his life and death fight against Maidana. Vargas would do the same thing to do Khan, and possibly much worse because there won’t be a referee to pull Vargas off of Khan like there was in the Maidana-Khan fight. This Vargas kid can really punch and he makes a mess of people when he hits them.



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