Sadam Ali vs. Jessie Vargas for vacant WBO 147lb title on 3/5

By Boxing News - 02/08/2016 - Comments

vargas986By Chris Williams: Surprisingly, #4 WBO Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs) will be getting another chance to win the WBO welterweight title when he faces unbeaten #1 WBO Sadam Ali (22-0, 13 KOs) on March 5 in the co-feature bout on the undercard of Tony Thompson vs. Luis Ortiz on HBO from the DC Armory, in Washington, District of Columbia.

Apparently, the World Boxing Organization is going to be stripping current WBO 147lb champion Tim Bradley of his title. At this time though, Bradley is still listed as the WBO champion as he heads into his April 9 fight against Manny Pacquiao.

Without Bradley’s WBO welterweight title on the line, the Pacquiao-Bradley 3 fight has a little less meaning to it. The fight doesn’t make any sense to me anyway, as I see it as little more than a money grab without any meaning.

Bradley was obviously selected because he would bring in more money than the other choices that were offered up by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. Amir Khan’s name was among the three options for Pacquiao to choose from, but I think the options were really only Top Rank fighters Terence Crawford and Bradley. Khan isn’t with Top Rank.

“To fight for the world championship is something that I have been training and fighting for my whole career,” said Sadam Ali. “I am grateful for the opportunity and promise all my fans I will not let them down. On March 5, I will have my hands raised up in victory as the new WBO Welterweight World Champion.”

Bradley, 32, could have kept his title if he had faced Sadam Ali. Of course, a fight between Bradley and Ali wouldn’t have given Bradley the same kind of payday that he’ll be getting in his fight against Pacquiao on April 9.

Vargas is a really poor choice to be fighting for a world title in this fight. He lost his last fight to Bradley, and it doesn’t make sense that Vargas is being given another chance to win the WBO title straightaway without redeeming himself. The World Boxing Organization should have rejected the Ali-Vargas fight being for their WBO 147lb title, because it makes no sense for the two of them to be fighting for the title. Ali should be facing someone not coming off of a loss.

“This is a different Jessie Vargas,” said Jessie Vargas. “I learned a lot from my last fight and I am ready to prove that I am still a world champion. I’m coming back with a Vengeance!”

Vargas looked really poor for the first 11 rounds in his loss to Bradley. In the 12th, Vargas hurt Bradley with a right hand shot to the head. Unfortunately for Vargas, the referee made a mistake and stopped the fight with 10 seconds to go as he was trying to finish Bradley off. The question is why did Vargas wait until the 12th round to load up with a big right hand on Bradley? It was confusing to watch Vargas because he looked so poor and so overmatched in that fight. Now he’s getting another chance to fight for a world title off the back of a loss. That just seems disappointing. It’s like the Carolina Panthers getting a second shot at the Super Bowl after losing to the Denver Broncos. It makes no sense.



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