By Chris Williams: Unbeaten fringe welterweight contender Jessie Vargas (20-0, 9 KO’s) has been added to the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez HBO televised rematch on December 8th at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Vargas, 23, is a recent Top Rank boxing stable signee and it looks like his promoter Bob Arum wants to get him some visibility by putting him on the Pacquiao-Marquez card against an opponent still to be determined.

Vargas is one of those finesse fighters that mostly jabs and moves around the ring. It’s unclear what Arum plans on doing with him because his style isn’t one that’s doing to win him many fans, but I guess he’s a potential Pacquiao opponent given that he’s in the same weight class as Pacquiao. It doesn’t hurt that he’s Mexican because Arum might like the idea of potentially getting a lot of Mexican fans interested in seeing Vargas against Pacquiao at some point, even though it’s difficult imagine seeing Vargas as ever being more than a fringe contender.

Vargas previously was promoted by Mayweather Promotions. He fought Josesito Lopez last year and won a controversial 10 round split decision in a fight that he appeared to lose in the minds of many boxing fans. I had Lopez winning by four rounds. I hope for Arum’s sake Vargas improves because he looked terrible against Lopez, and just as bad in his wins over Steve Forbes, Lanardo Tyner and Aaron Martinez.

Vargas’s opponent should be determined shortly.

Here’s how the Pacquiao-Marquez card is shaping up right now:

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez
Javier Fortuna vs. Patrick Hyland
Miguel Vazquez vs. Mercito Gesta
Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Miguel Beltran Jr
Michael Farenas vs. TBA
Jessie Vargas vs. TBA
Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr vs. TBA
Wale Omotoso vs. Irving Garcia

The undercard is really hurting for talent and interesting fights. Right now based on the lack of competitive fights on the undercard I see the Pacquiao-Marquez card being worth $5 at most. First of all Pacquiao and Marquez have fought too many times and I’ve lost interest in seeing the same old fight recycled over and over again. It’s old and overplayed already, and it just looks like they’re trying to milk the fight. They need to other fighters because it’s old already.

Second, I have no faith in the judges giving Marquez a win if it goes to the cards no matter how badly Marquez dominates Pacquiao. I see the judges giving it to Pacquiao again just like they did the two of the three previous times they fought. Third, with the undercard being barren of talent and competitive fights, I can’t see paying $49.95 to see this. At most it’s a $5 card. Arum needs to get better at adding boxing talent because his cards recently have been terrible in my estimation involving Pacquiao, and this one is no exception.