By Chris Williams: WBA light welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (26-0, 9 KOs) is hoping that a victory over former two division world champion Tim Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs) on June 27th will open doors for him to get a big fight against former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao in the future.
Vargas, Bradley and Pacquiao all share the same promoter in Bob Arum of Top Rank, and for that reason it makes it almost a certainty that the 26-year-old Vargas will get a fight against Pacquiao if he beats Bradley, and if Pacquiao continues his boxing career.
I don’t know why Pacquiao would want to waste his time fighting Vargas, who doesn’t have a large fan base, but if Arum persuades Pacquiao to take that fight, then we could very well be seeing Pacquiao-Vargas in the future if Pacquiao’s shoulder heals up from his recent surgery on his right rotator cuff. Pacquiao has taken fights against less popular fighters like Joshua Clottey, Chris Algieri, Brandon Rios and Bradley in the past. In facing those guys, Pacquiao increased their popularity.
If Pacquiao fights Vargas, he would be doing Arum a big favor because he would increase the value for Vargas for Arum’s Top Rank stable.
“Look good and who knows? I know that beating Bradley will compare me to Manny Pacquiao, will put me in a position to fight Manny Pacquiao in fan’s eyes, which is the most important thing,” Vargas said via Thaboxingvoice.com. “I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to it. Everything depends on how I look in this fight, how I perform.”
I’m not sure that a victory over Bradley will compare boxing fans of what Pacquiao did against Bradley. I think it would be more of a case of them comparing Vargas to how Diego Chaves recently did against Bradley and how Ruslan Provodnikov did against Bradley. Chaves fought Bradley to a 12 round draw last December.
I honestly think Vargas will wind up getting a fight against Pacquiao even if he loses the fight to Bradley. Simply being in the same Top Rank stable as Pacquiao will likely result in Vargas getting a big money fight against the Filipino fighter in the future. I’m just surprised that Arum hasn’t matched Vargas against Pacquiao already because he pretty much ran out of Top Rank stable fighters to put in with him. Juan Manuel Marquez fought Pacquiao four times, and Bradley already fought him twice. The only guys left for Arum to pit against Pacquiao from his Top Rank stable are Vargas and Terence Crawford. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see both of them face Pacquiao in 2016 if Floyd Mayweather Jr. stands firm on his refusal to fight Pacquiao in a rematch.
Bradley and Vargas will be facing each other on 6/27 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The fight will be televised on HBO Championship Boxing.
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