By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Jessie Vargas of Los Angeles will be defending his crown for the second time as he takes on former WBC Lightweight Titleholder Anthony DeMarco of Mexico this Saturday, November 22. The fight takes place at the Venetian Resort, in Macau, China as part of the Manny Pacquiao vs Chris Algieri undercard. The 12-rounder will be shown live on HBO pa-per-view in North America and British fans can catch the action on BoxNation.
The 25-year-old Vargas enters the ring with a perfect mark of 25-0 along with 9 Kos while the 28-year-old DeMarco is 31-3-1 with 23 Kos to his name. Vargas stands five-feet-10 inches tall and has a 71-inch reach while DeMarco is the same height and has the same reach. However, he’s used to fighting at a lighter weight. Vargas’ last fight was a 12-round unanimous decision against Anton Novikov in Las Vegas in August as he defended his title for the first time. He won the belt back in April of this year by beating Khabib Allakhverdiev by a unanimous decision.
DeMarco is a southpaw who has pretty good power and doesn’t shy away from, toe-to-toe fights. It’s worked for him most of the time, but two of his three defeats have come by the way of knockout. His last bout was a 10-round unanimous decision victory against Lanardo Tyner back in August. Vargas doesn’t carry much power in his fists, but that doesn’t mean he fails to let his hands fly when fighting. He throws punches in bunches and that’s what wins him the rounds.
Vargas, who is now trained by Roy Jones Jr, said DeMarco is a rugged and tough boxer and is expecting a good fight out of him. He feels it’s going to be an exciting encounter for the fans, but is confident that he’ll be taking the title back to America with him when it’s over. There’s no doubt that it will be hard work to keep up with the champion’s punch output, but DeMarco does have enough power to stop him in his tracks if he can land cleanly and has a 66 per cent knockout percentage.
Vargas turned pro in 2008 and has beaten the likes of Vivian Harris, Josesito Lopez, Steve Forbes, and Aaron Martinez, and has fought 156 pro rounds. DeMarco was stopped by Adrien Broner in the eighth round in November of 2012 and was stopped in nine by Edwin Valero two years earlier. He fought to a six-round draw with Curtis Meeks in 2006 and was beaten by a six-round majority decision the same year by Anthony Vasquez. He turned pro in 2004 and has beaten some good boxers such as Jose Reyes, Daniel Attah, Reyes Sanchez, Jorge Linares, Miguel Roman, and John Molina.
Prediction
Since DeMarco has a questionable chin he’s fortunate that he’s fighting a light-hitting opponent in Vargas, especially at a higher weight class. If DeMarco’s power doesn’t go with him north into the junior welterweight division then he’s going to have to outbox Vargas and that’s not going to be an easy task. If Vargas can handle DeMarco’s power, and he should be able to, then he’ll be leaving Macau the same way he arrived there, as the WBA Jr. Welterweight Champion, likely by a decision.
