By Charles Brun: Jessie Vargas looked like a spitting cobra during Friday’s face-off with former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith for their 12-round chief support bout this Saturday night on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Moments weighing in at the limit at 154 pounds, the former two-division world champion Vargas (29-3-2, 11 KOs) got in the face of the 33-year-old Smith (30-3-1, 17 KOs) and just started letting him have it, letting the Liverpool native know what’s in store for him on Saturday night.
Vargas has only won once in the last five years dating back to 2017 and that was against former super featherweight champion Humberto Soto in 2019. All those years without winning has Vargas like a steam kettle that is about to blow.
You can argue that the loser of Saturday’s Vargas vs. Smith fight might as well pack it in, seeing that they would be in an impossible position to try and come back from the defeat, and neither guy is young enough to climb back in contention.
Smith is coming off an eighth-round stoppage victory over domestic level fighter Anthony Fowler last October. Before that, Liam lost to Magomed Kurbanov by a 12-round unanimous decision last May.
“Jessie is saying he’s going to destroy me, and I’m baffled by that. I’m thinking, ‘When was the last person you destroyed, Jessie?'” said Liam Smith to Matchroom Boxing about Jessie Vargas vowing to knock him out.
“Who destroyed me? Canelo, who is the best fighter in the world. No one has destroyed me. What makes you think you’re going to destroy me? So, it’s going to be interesting on Saturday, and it’s one that I’m looking forward to,” said Liam Smith.
“I think he still has sharp hands, quick hands. He reacts to everything. You throw anything, and he comes right back. I’m not going give too much away. I feel if I turn up with my A-game, I think I beat Jessie.
“I do 90% of things better than Jessie, and I’m confident in myself, especially at 154, I’m confident in myself against anyone in that division.
“He’s saying he’s in the best shape. He’s making noise about how good of shape he’s in and how he feels. It’s music to my ears. I hope he is because I hope for a good fight on Saturday night.
“I’ve trained for a great fight, and I’ll be more than ready for a great fight on Saturday. He’s got to back himself now, but has he had that same mentality for the past eight weeks, ten weeks? I don’t know.
