https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOWxBVxOj30&feature=youtu.be

By Allan Fox: Today’s official weigh-in involving Tim Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs) and Jessie Vargas (26-0, 9 KOs) will be streamed on this site starting at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT. The two top fighters will be facing each other this Saturday on HBO Championship Boxing starting at 9:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. PT. It’s a match-up for the vacant interim WBO welterweight title, but the belt could wind up as the full title if Floyd Mayweather Jr., the current WBO title holder, doesn’t pay the $200K sanctioning fee that the WBO is asking him to pay if he wants to keep the belt.

The 26-year-old Vargas really wants this fight because it could open the doors for him to get bigger money fights in the future. He’s not had the big money fights like the 31-year-old Bradley has had, and that’s why he’s not about to lose on Saturday.

In moving up to 147, Vargas could make some really could money against the other top fighters if he can get past Bradley somehow. Vargas’ new trainer Erik Morales has come up with a good game plan that he feels will enable Vargas to defeat Bradley, who is looking like he’s starting to slip a notch as far as his ability goes.

“Bradley’s got more going for him with experience and he’s faster, but (Jessie) is so hungry,” Vargas’ manager Cameron Dunkin said via the desertsun.com. “He’s big, he’s strong, and I’ve never seen anybody train like this in my life, and he’s so confident that he’s going to win. He really doesn’t think he’s going to lose.”

Vargas, 5’10”, will have a huge four inch height advantage over the 5’6” Bradley, as well as a two inch reach advantage. That’s going to make it hard for Bradley to control the fight on the outside because Vargas likes to use his reach to jab his shorter opponents, and tie them up when they come inside trying to punch. It’s likely that Vargas will try and use his size in this fight to keep Bradley at range because Vargas doesn’t have the same hand speed. Vargas can’t let Bradley get his combinations off because it could be bad for him if he does.

Vargas has recently stepped up the level of his competition in beating Antonio DeMarco, Anton Novikov and Khabib Allakhverdiev in his last three fights. In proving that he can beat those caliber fighters, Vargas showed that he can beat some of the best contenders at 140.

“I want to make him [Morales] look good and I don’t want to let him down,” Vargas said. “I want to show everybody what we have been working on, that he’s a great trainer.”

Vargas recently switched trainers from Roy Jones Jr. to boxing great Erik Morales. Since being with Morales, Vargas has learned a lot of training tactics that he plans on using against Bradley on Saturday night.

Bradley is considered the favorite in the fight, but Vargas is a real live underdog due to his youth, size and boxing ability. He’s not a big puncher, but he may not need to in order to get a win over Bradley.