Jessie Vargas

By Scott Gilfoid: The unification fight between IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) and WBO 147lb champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) finally has a set date on September 3, according to Vargas’ post on his Facebook. The Brook-Vargas fight will take place in Sheffield, UK, and will likely be televised on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, and on HBO. Vargas is with Top Rank, and it’s possible the fight could wind up on HBO PPV if Top Rank boss Bob Arum decides to designate it for pay television.

It’s obviously not a pay-per-view worth fight in the States, but then again neither is the July 23 fight between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol. That fight will be on HBO PPV.

“It’s already confirmed my next fight for the 3th of September in England and will be televised by PPV / HBO and / Azteca! I’ll be defending my championship of the world and I’ll be fighting for another world championship to add to my list. On 3 September, I crowned WBO and IBF champion,” said Vargas on his Facebook.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) has very little time left at 147 to make things happen for him. Brook, 30, says he wants to unify all the titles at welterweight, but his unification attempts in that direction will likely begin and stop after his next fight against WBO 147lb champion Jessie Vargas in August or September.

Brook isn’t going to stick around long enough to try and unify all the belts. His promoter Eddie Hearn says Brook will definitely be moving up to junior middleweight to campaign as the 154lb fighter in 2017. Just why Brook will move up in weight in 2017 is the big question. I mean, if Brook is so worked up about unifying all the straps at 147, then why set a timeline on that goal of just one year and then move on when/if that goal isn’t accomplished?

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By Daniel Arissol: There is a man, a fighting man. He hails from Sheffield, England. He is undefeated in 36 professional fights. 25 of those fights have ended in knockouts. His speed and accuracy have led to many pugilists either avoiding the welterweight supremo or have simply woken up in the middle of the square ring with 20,000 fans screaming and chanting the name of the IBF champion of the world, Kell “The special one” Brook.

Brook won the title fighting against Shawn Porter in the stubhub centre in Carson, California back in August 2014.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is finishing up on the touches of a deal for a unification fight between his fighter IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) and the Top Rank promoted WBO 147lb champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) for a fight in either late August or early September, on August 20, August 27, and September 3rd.

The fight will take place in Sheffield, UK. Hearn has made the 27-year-old Vargas an offer he can’t refuse, and he’s now willing to come over to the UK and fight on Brook’s own turf. The money that Vargas is getting for the fight is rumored to be three times more than he’s received for his biggest payday of his career.

As such, you can argue that Hearn is buying Brook a world title by getting Vargas to come over to the UK and fight in an unfriendly environment where he may need a knockout to have a chance at winning the fight.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook and WBO belt holder Jessie Vargas have agreed to terms to a fight for August and are ready to go to contract to get the fight done. Brook and Vargas will be fighting in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, UK. This is a fight that Brook and Hearn wanted because he’s looking to capture more world titles in the 147lb division.

The idea is likely that by beating Vargas, who is highly vulnerable, it will help make it easier for Brook to get fights against other welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman. Personally, I think Brook will take the Danny Garcia fight if he can get it, but he’ll drag his feet when it comes to fighting Thurman. That’s a fight I don’t see Brook or Hearn going for. The same with a fight against Errol Spence. I don’t see Hearn and Brook ever agreeing to that fight either.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has reached a deal for a unification fight between his fighter WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) and IBF 147lb champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) for a fight in August in Sheffield, UK, according to Dan Rafael. The contracts are supposed to signed this coming week.

This is obviously a great deal for the 30-year-old Brook because he’s got a light punching fighter in Vargas coming over to his own hometown to fight him. Many boxing fans see the 27-year-old Vargas as a paper champion, and I wouldn’t disagree with that.

Vargas is low hanging fruit for Brook in my view compared to the bigger punching champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman. But it’s also the only fight that Brook could probably get in terms of the upper cuts.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it’s starting to look possible that Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is going to be able to lure WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) to come over to the UK to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) in unification fight.

Vargas, 27, initially sounded dead set against the idea of fighting in Brook’s home country of England, but he’s now starting to sound like he might do it. Vargas just wants to make sure he gets fair judging and doesn’t go there and get royally robbed.

Vargas had a fight end strangely last year where he had Tim Bradley out on his feet only to have the referee end the fight 10 seconds early before he could put the coup de grace on the aging fighter.

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By Jeff Aranow: WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) says he’s interested in fighting IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) in a unification fight next, but Brook would need to agree to fight him in the United States because he doesn’t trust the judging in the UK.

If he had a preference, Vargas wants to fight a rematch against Tim Bradley so that he can avenge his loss from last June. However, Bradley won’t be available for the summer, which is when the 27-year-old Vargas plans on fighting next. He wants to fight in July or August. That time frame would work for Brook, but not for Bradley.

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