By Gerardo Granados: This Saturday at the Ice Arena, Hull Yorkshire, two hungry fighters will fight for the vacant WBC super-bantamweight title in Gavin McDonnell, who has the support from the locals better show his hunger and determination to defeat a young lion Rey Vargas who will have legendary trainer Ignacio Beristain in his corner.
For Gavin this is the chance for him to join his brother Jamie McDonnell WBA bantam titlist as brother champions and also for the loud fervent UK fight fan base to add one more champion to their last years long list of champions which to me represent an UK Boxing Golden Era.
For Vargas, it is his first shot at a world title and to be honest I believe next Saturday he has a big chance to win and add his name to previous Mexican WBC super-bantamweight champions Juan Meza, Lupe Pintor, Daniel Zaragoza, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Abner Mares, Victor Terrazas, Leo Santa Cruz, Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz.
As for Nacho Beristain this is a really good opportunity for him to crown one more world champion, possibly his twenty seventh to add to his long list of boxing achievements.
It will be interesting to see how the boxing styles mix. I expect a boxing tactic exhibition from Vargas and McDonnell. As usual I demand from the referee to enforce the rules and avoid to allow excessive clinching, but I am realistic and can only hope this time the referee will do a clean efficient job.
Local decisions are as old as prize fighting itself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that next Saturday the fight judges won’t be fair if this bout goes to the score cards. None the less Vargas better not leave it to the judges to decide the winner.
McDonnell holds a record of 16 wins no losses and two draws. Gavin is facing his hardest opponent to the date. I think that Gavin´s lack of punching power, having only four wins by knockout is his major weakness against Vargas, who has a solid punching power and also good 3-4 punch combinations. I think that Gavin better be cautious and effectively move using his height and reach advantage.
Vargas has an undefeated record in 28 fights with 22 wins by the way of knockout no losses and no draws. Rey has faced and defeated better opposition than McDonnell, but Gavin must be the most difficult foe Vargas has ever faced. I see Rey Vargas as the clear favorite and I am betting on him to win by late stoppage but hey I am not saying it will be an easy fight for him at all.
I don’t care that much about statistics but the last fights between UK and Mexican fighters have drawn much attention. I do recall Ricky Hatton stopping Jose Luis Castillo, recently Lee Haskins decision Ivan Morales and Canelo Alvarez decision Mathew Hatton and stopped Ryan Rhodes, Amir Khan and Liam Smith.
To be honest regardless of the winner a rivalry between the UK and Mexican boxing fan bases can only mean big business. Maybe this one can be as good as the last two Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton fights. Perhaps this bout could turn out into a really good scrap. But for sure I am not missing this fight. But do the readers think the Vargas vs McDonnell will fuel the UK vs Mexico rivalry?