On Saturday, March 5, 2016, undefeated No. 1 WBO Welterweight contender Sadam “World Kid” Ali (22-0, 13 KOs) will face former world champion and No. 4 WBO Welterweight contender Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round co-main event for the vacant WBO Welterweight championship.
The fight will take place at the DC Armory in Washington, DC and will be televised live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark beginning at 10:00 pm, EST/PST.
Vargas is coming off of the first defeat of his career against Timothy Bradley back in June of 2015, a fight which ended in a bizarre manner when referee Pat Russell mistakenly stepped in to end the fight, thinking he had heard the final bell.
While most spectators agreed that Bradley controlled the majority of the fight, it was the big punch that rocked him in the 12th round that prompted Vargas to claim that he would have won the fight by stoppage.
Vargas was forced to deal with the letdown for the remainder of the year after unsuccessfully campaigning for a rematch.
For Ali, 2015 offered a different sort of let down, brought on by politics outside of the ring.
Ali put on a solid performance on HBO in April of 2015, defeating the upset-minded Francisco Santana by unanimous decision. But, instead of being able to ride the momentum of that victory, Ali found himself on the sidelines waiting for a foe.
A fight with Vargas was talked about for December, but the location could not be agreed upon and eventually it left both men inactive for the remainder of the year.
Now, with almost a year of inactivity, Ali is preparing for the biggest fight of his young career, and he’s not cutting any corners during his preparation for Vargas.
“I’m working with everybody, with different types of styles,” Ali told Round By Round Boxing via a telephone interview on Wednesday.
“I don’t like to look at Jessie Vargas and say, ‘Okay he’s gonna fight like this,’ because at the end of the day you don’t know how Jessie Vargas is gonna fight. He might think he knows how I’m gonna fight, but you just don’t know. I don’t like to prepare for a fight, I like to prepare for whatever that fighter could bring and work with different styles.”
While the March 5 event announcement sprung up pretty quickly, Ali said that he has stayed in the gym and that he’ll be well prepared on fight night.
“I was never really focused on it being him [Vargas],” said Ali. “I definitely have had enough [time] to prepare. I’ve been training for a long time. Even before I knew I was gonna fight Vargas, I was thinking it could possibly be Bradley, or anybody, so I was preparing myself.”
During last weeks media conference call, many people were surprised at Vargas’ declaration that he would make Ali quit. Ali laughed off the comment and said that he doesn’t really know where that came from.
“Maybe he believes I’m a quitter,” said Ali. “Honestly, like I told everyone else, it made me laugh. It’s just funny hearing someone else say they’re going to make you quit. How are you going to do that? That’s my question [laughs], but I guess I’m gonna see.”
Although Vargas has worked with a carousel of trainers, Ali said it doesn’t really alter his game plan and that he’ll be ready for whatever style Vargas brings on March 5.
“I’m just comfortable going about with what happens and having all of my amateur experience I can attest to that. I’m prepared for anything and that’s how it should be in a fight because you never know.”
Photos by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
