Early Preview: Vargas vs Brook 147 Championship
- B. Posada
- May 31, 2016
- 3 min read
Only moments ago, Dan Rafael announced it's official, Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) and Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) have agreed to fight in the UK in late August or early September [full article]. Vargas is expected to make approximately $1.7 million in a career pay day for the 27 year old Mexican-American.
Kel Brook has been successfully avoided by top welterweights in the division. Even fellow countryman, Amir Khan, has largely ignored Brook's challenge to determine the best 147 lb'er who hails from England. Khan can pretend to look the other way but his ego and pride has to be bruised by the constant badgering from Brook and his fans.
Brook's signature win to date has been against the highly talented Sean Porter back in 2014. If Brook can follow that up with a big win over a very tough Jessie Vargas, it will be put all other welterweights on notice.
As is customary with English fighters, Brook hardly lacks confidence. He's challenged the pound for pound unified middle-weight champion, GGG, to a catch weight of 158 pounds even though Brook fights at 147 pounds [full article]. Whether this was a serious proposition or simply an attempt to create headlines, time will tell.
Vargas on the other hand is also desperate for a big fight. He finally got his change last year when he nearly knocked out Tim Bradley in the final seconds of what was a one sided loss for young-Vargas. The big punch was the only thing that went well for him that night. Even though Vargas got the loss, his confidence in "almost" beating Bradley was sky high leading into his next fight.
Vargas’ win over a promising rising star, Sadam Ali, was his biggest-to-date; the fight was a stylistic match-up between pure boxer vs pressure fighter. See my full article for a full recap of the fight [full article]. Once Ali made the inexperienced mistake of trying to exchange with Vargas it was all down hill. Vargas scored the TKO 7 round victory putting him in line for a career high pay day against Kel Brook.
Vargas has to make an impression against Kel Brook. Top Rank already gave him his shot with Bradley and there appears to be no plans for a rematch given it was a one sided fight. Additionally, Manny Pacquiao -- who claims to be "semi-retired" is an unlikely opponent for Vargas in the near future. That is, unless Vargas can string up a few impressive wins and change Top Rank's and Bob Arum's plans
Keys to Victory:
Vargas has to take more risk in this fight to win. He has the big punch power but will have to stay busy, aim for the body early and often, and defend Brook's jab. Jessie has no chance winning on the score cards in a remotely close fight so he'll have to knock down Brook at least once in my opinion. That said, I pulled this old video of Brook getting knocked down in 2011 (the only time of his career), and it is a punch Vargas has in his arsenal [Video]. He'll have to land it or it will be a long tough fight for Vargas.
All that said, I do not expect the English fighter to make the same mistakes Ali did. Brook seems capable of flustering his opponent, holding when he needs to, and has sneaky power. The game plan will be to disrupt Vargas' timing and rhythm. If Brook is well prepared, I see him giving Vargas a lot of trouble and should win comfortably on the scorecards.
On a side note: with the cancellation of Klitschko vs Fury, you would think HBO would be quick to pick up this fight. At this point there has been announcement on record. It makes you wonder why the delay and hopefully this fight gets made because it's going to be a great one.
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