By Ian S Palmer
Former four-division world champion Adrien Broner of Cincinnati, Ohio will be meeting former two-division champ Jessie Vargas of Los Angeles at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday, April 21st. The 12-round 144-lb catchweight tilt can be seen live in the U.S. on Showtime while fans in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports. Those in Canada will need to wait until 12:30 pm on Sunday to see it on TSN 2. Broner last fought in July when he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia while Vargas last fought in December when he beat Aaron Herrera by a 10-round unanimous decision.
The 28-year-old Broner is a former world champion at junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight and was originally scheduled to meet Omar Figueroa, but that fight fell through. He’ll climb through the ropes with a record of 33-3 along with 24 Kos. Broner suffered his other two defeats at the hands of Marcos Maidana of Argentina in 2013 and fellow American Shawn Porter back in June of 2015, who both beat him by 12-round unanimous decisions.
Broner possesses enough talent to be an elite boxer, but his maturity level, attitude and work habits could all do with a lot of improvement. He keeps promising fans he’s changed, but they’ll have to wait until Saturday night to judge for themselves. Broner stands just over 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach and possesses excellent speed and good power under as well as plenty of pro experience. He’s fought 211 rounds since turning pro in 2008 and has a current knockout ratio of 65 per cent.
Broner’s beaten some good opponents over the years such as Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jason Litzau, Eloy Perez, Vicente Escobedo, Antonio DeMarco, Gavin Rees, Paulie Malignaggi, Carlos Molina, John Molina Jr., Emmanuel Taylor and Khabib Allakhverdiev. He may have plenty of problems outside of the ring, but he’s still one of the best boxers inside the squared circle at the moment and can’t be taken lightly by Vargas.
The 28-year-old Vargas, who fights out of Las Vegas, is a former junior welterweight and welterweight champion and enters the bout with a mark of 28-2 along with 10 Kos. He has some excellent boxing skills, but isn’t known as a big puncher even though his power seems to be improving with each outing. However, his current knockout stands at just 33 per cent. Vargas has shown he has a pretty solid chin, but has been down before from a body shot and Manny Pacquiao also dropped him.
Vargas stopped Sadam Ali in the ninth round to win the vacant WBO Welterweight Title in March, 2016, but dropped a unanimous decision to Pacquiao eight months later and lost it. His other defeat came at the hands of Timothy Bradley by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision in June, 2015. Vargas struggled early, but staggered Bradley in the 12th round and appeared to have him out on his feet. However, the referee made a crucial mistake by halting the fight with about seven seconds to go as he thought he heard the final bell.
Vargas earlier won the WBA Junior Welterweight Crown in April, 2014 against Khabib Allakhverdiev and defended it against Antonio DeMarco and Anton Novikov before meeting Bradley. He’s a talented boxer/puncher with exceptional skills, but as mentioned earlier, lacks a big punch. Vargas likes to establish his jab to set up short, quick flurries to both the head and body. His other notable wins have been against Steve Forbes, Josesito Lopez, Walter Estrada and Vivian Harris.
Since he stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with a wingspan of 71 inches, Vargas has a four-inch height advantage on Broner with a negligible 1.5-inch edge in reach. Vargas turned pro back in 2008 and oddly enough also has 211 rounds of experience to his name, the same as Broner. This is a great matchup between two former world champions and could be a stepping stone for the winner to earn another title shot.
Prediction…
Both boxers have the talent to beat each other, so any outcome won’t really be a surprise here. The difference will likely be their work ethic and heart and this is usually where Broner lets himself and his fans down. Broner’s career seems to be on the downswing, but Vargas has also lost two of his last four fights, albeit to excellent opposition in Pacquiao and Bradley. And he may have finished Bradley off if the bell didn’t ring prematurely. I think this is Vargas’ fight to win if he’s at his best.
