It’s a very solid, if not overly intoxicating fight, and a WBO/IBF welterweight unification showdown between Britain’s Kell Brook and California’s Jessie Vargas is all set to go in either August or September. Vargas signed on for the fight on Tuesday of this week, no doubt enticed greatly by the promise of a career high payday of $1.7 million. Brook, who has craved a meaningful fight for months now, is expected to sign imminently and promoter Eddie Hearn told RingTV.com how he expects to officially announce the fight – for either Aug. 27 or Sept. 3rd in a big stadium in Sheffield – next week.
Vargas, though, is somewhat worried about the prospect of getting robbed if the fight goes to the score-cards; this despite that fact that his contract, dually worked out and agreed by Hearn and the WBO champ’s manager Cameron Dunkin, stipulates neutral judges (and no rematch clause). Vargas was not initially thrilled with the idea of fighting Brook, 36-0(25) in his hometown of Sheffield, preferring to have the fight in the US, but he has agreed to travel and now wants one thing: a KO so as to make his victory absolute.
Speaking with the website of The Bible of Boxing, Dunkin expressed the concerns of his fighter.
“He mentioned that a couple of times, that he has to go forward, he has to put pressure and he has to knock him out,” Dunkin said of Vargas, 27-1(10). “He wants to go and get a stoppage because that clarifies everything. That takes away all the risk. So he’s going to fight like there’s no tomorrow.”
This mindset on the part of Vargas – who has been beaten only by Tim Bradley (in a mildly controversial fight that saw a last-round punch by Vargas stagger Bradley, only for the referee to mistakenly signal the end of the fight when in fact he had heard the final ten-second warning; Vargas claiming he was robbed of a potential KO win) and will be making the first defence of his belt – might make for a good action fight, but Vargas has two problems: he is no huge puncher and Brook, massive for the weight, has a solid chin.
In order to go all out for the KO, Vargas may make mistakes and leave himself vulnerable to Brook’s own, not too ineffective, punching power and well placed shots. Of course, it could all be talk and nothing more and maybe Vargas, a good boxer, will come in and do just that, box. But Brook will likely enjoy things if Vargas, who has had less fights at 147-pounds than he has, comes in and tries to make things physical. Brook is, to repeat, big for the weight, and he has seen off his last three foes (albeit opponents far lesser than Vargas’ level) by stoppage.
But does Vargas really have to score a KO to win in Sheffield? Okay, the UK, like any country you care to mention, has handed in its share of bad, or “home cooked” decisions in the past, but travelling fighters have also been treated fairly in the UK, on numerous occasions. Vargas, if he outworks, out-punches and out-classes Brook, will get his win; even if the fight does go to the cards.
That said, and for what it’s worth, this writer has this prediction: Brook on points in a close one. Let’s just hope Vargas does not leave England with a legitimate reason to cry robbery after all!