By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten welterweight contender Jessie Vargas (22-0, 9 continues his slow methodical march to an eventual title shot when he faces Ray Narh (26-3, 21 KOs) next month on October 11th at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Vargas, #5 IBF, #9 WBC, #13 WBO, had to struggle hard to win his last fight against the big punching Wale Omotoso by a 10 round unanimous decision last March.
Vargas was dropped in the 2nd round by Osmotoso, and the outcome of the fight looked more like a draw or a win for Osmotoso, but the judges gave Vargas a fairly wide score of 97-92, 96-93 and 96-93. Vargas was the name guy, so it wasn’t surprising to see him get the nod in the fight.
Vargas’ other big wins in his career have come against Josesito Lopez, Aaron Martinez, Vivian Harris, Lanardo Tyner, Steve Forbes, and Walter Estrada. The win over Lopez was controversial, as Lopez dominated the fight and appeared to win by 4 rounds.
At this point in Vargas’ career, he should be facing better opposition than Narh you would think. This is the type of fight that Vargas should have taken 2 years ago, not now with him ranked high as he is.
Narh, 35, has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights to Mike Alvarado and Ray Robinson. Alvarado stopped Narh in the 3rd round in a stay busy fight for him in 2011, and Robinson stopped Narh in the 8th round last month.
Narh didn’t fight at all in 2012 after his loss to Alvarado. In early 2013, Narh defeated Ronald Cruz by a 10 round unanimous decision last June. Cruz has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights in defeats against Narh and Antwone Smith.
Vargas needs to work on improving his power, and he needs to work on mixing it up more with his opponents. Vargas likes to jab, clinch and circle the ring a lot, and it makes it difficult to watch him fight. If that’s all he can do, then that’s fine, but I doubt that any of the welterweight champions are going to have him at the top of their list as far as guys they’d like to fight.
That’s why Vargas needs to improve his fighting style to become more of a puncher. No one wants to watch him jab, clinch and circle the ring for 12 rounds. It’s really boring to watch.
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