Top Rank Boxing pits two former world champions against each other Saturday night on June 27. Timothy Bradley Jr., dubbed “Desert Storm,” takes on undefeated Jessie Vargas in a 12-round bout for the interim WBO welterweight strap (9:45 p.m. ET on HBO).
The trash talk between the two camps heats up almost daily. It makes for guaranteed action for the lucky bunch set to be in attendance at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, which happens to be where both competitors were born.
Vargas has since relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the spring chicken here at 26 years old and was once promoted by none other than superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. He is coming off a hot 2014 that saw him tally a 3-0 mark, lifting the WBA recognized super lightweight belt from Khabib Allakhverdiev and defending it twice over Anton Novikov and Antonio DeMarco—earning a unanimous decision over all three men.
The 31-year-old Bradley hasn’t enjoyed the same type of momentum as his younger counterpart. He is technically winless since beating future hall of famer Juan Manuel Marquez in 2013. Bradley, training out of Palm Springs in California, would then after drop his second fight with Manny Pacquiao and saw his excellent record take a blemish in the form of an egregious split-decision draw in opposition of Diego Gabriel Chaves at the end of last year.
Still, oddsmakers all over the internet give Bradley the edge going in, making him as high as a -500 favorite at Sky Bet.
Are those kind of odds justified? Bradley wouldn’t entirely agree.
“He hasn’t fought the big names I’ve faced,” Bradley told Bleacher Report’s Kevin McRae. “But he’s still a tough challenger… So this is no easy task.”
Has the young, hungry Vargas been shortchanged?
This preview will tell you everything you need to know.
Tale of the Tape
Photo edit by Smiley 2nd Grafix
| Timothy Bradley | Jessie Vargas | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 30-1-1, 12 KOs | 26-0, 9 KOs |
| Age | 31 | 26 |
| Height | 5’6” | 5’10” |
| Reach | 69” | 71” |
| Weight | 145 | 140 |
| Stance | Orthodox | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Palm Springs, CA | Las Vegas, NV |
| Rounds Boxed | 254 | 168 |
11 years into his professional career, Tim Bradley is no stranger to being the shorter man in the ring. He overcame such physical disadvantages at the highest level of two different weight classes, junior welterweight and welterweight, accumulating 86 more rounds than his younger but rangier opponent.
There isn’t another notable welterweight in the world who can match Vargas’ 5’10” frame except Chris Algieri. Vargas’ arms are just as lanky, he hasn’t faced a man with a longer reach since knocking out Walter Estrada in 2011.
Both men fight primarily out of the orthodox position, so a head-clash frenzy alike Bradley’s title-unifying effort against Devon Alexander isn’t likely to occur.
Another similarity between the two California-born men is their of lack knockout prowess, demonstrated by their extremely low KO totals which stands at just 12 and 9 apiece.
Main Storylines
Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
When Top Rank CEO Bob Arum announced the world title fight between Tim Bradley and Jessie Vargas during a press conference on May 18 there was a buoyant, warm feel to the event.
Vargas’ trainer and future hall of famer Roy Jones Jr. stood up to the microphone after Arum and shared his admiration for both men calling them not only two of the better fighters in the sport but also two of the most wonderful personalities in boxing.
Now, a matter of days ahead of the fight, everything has changed.
Jones Jr. is gone—his hectic schedule forcing Vargas to set up camp with renowned Mexican megastar Erik Morales. And so, too, are the fuzzy feelings.
“Jessie Vargas, I’m gonna whoop his ass on Saturday,” Bradley said in a video posted on Top Rank’s official YouTube channel. “And if Morales got a problem and he want some he can get some at the end of the year too.”
Morales, never the kind to pull punches, responded by saying he’d fight Bradley any day of the week, per ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
Rafael reported that Morales has been “constantly referring to [Bradley] as an older fighter who has been in too many tough fights to beat Vargas.”
Morales is confident in his man, despite less than a full month of work together.
“Jessie is the best fighter I have ever trained…” Morales said via BoxingScene.com’s Miguel Rivera. “We will win this fight.”
Bradley, though, made note of Morales’ inexperience as a trainer at the world-class level when talking to FightHubTV:
[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered”][Erik Morales] is a great fighter. But he’s not a trainer. Who has he trained? Nobody. It’s different man. Being a fighter is one thing. Being a trainer is totally different.[/otw_shortcode_quote]
Morales is Vargas’ fifth trainer in seven years. “Desert Storm” has honed his craft under the tutelage of Joel Diaz for over a decade now. He continued to call the hasty trainer switch the stupidest thing Vargas could have done.
Bradley typically fights at a high temperature but he has never taken part in this sort of trash talk, which makes this welterweight clash all the more enticing.
Strengths for Each Man
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Top Rank
While Tim Bradley may not necessarily be the most complete fighter in the world—as he lacks huge punching power—he might just be the most versatile fighter around, outbrawling savage-punching Ruslan Provodnikov in 2013 and outboxing the greatest counter-puncher of this generation in Juan Manuel Marquez. The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board recognize Bradley as one of the top 5 pound-for-pound boxers in the world and justly so.
His endless stamina and uncanny ability to take a punch compliment his high-output swarming attack and his quick hands and natural ability give way to a unique style that helped him defeat a wide range of talent, including nine different world champions in his 11-year career.
It’s resume that spans over two of boxing’s most talent-laden divisions, 140 and 147 pounds. A cookie-cutter boxer-puncher like Jessie Vargas won’t present him anything he hasn’t already seen before.
When talking to Crystina Poncher earlier this week, Bradley said that Vargas’ bout with him will be his “first time fighting a real fighter.”
That’s not exactly true.
The 26-year-old Vargas, a former Floyd Mayweather Jr. protégé, has had the benefit of powerful backing for some time now. In 2011, he pummeled former world champion Vivian Harris en route to a first-round stoppage—then trained by Roger Mayweather.
Later that year, under the instruction of Robert Alcazar, Vargas traded round after round with Josesito Lopez, eventually edging the brawler by split decision. In this back-and-forth affair, the Las Vegas-native exhibited the same surgical straight rights and lefts that he used to hand the bruiser Anton Novikov his first professional loss and lift the WBA super lightweight title from Khabib Allakhverdiev, a Top 10 fighter at the time in the Transnational Rankings.
He also holds a unanimous-decision victory over Aaron Martinez who was last seen earlier this month on NBC being robbed by the judges against Robert Guerrero.
And in his most recent outing in November 2014, Vargas showed off a new wrinkle in his skill set, a splendid left hook courtesy of then-trainer Roy Jones Jr. in victory over another former champion in Antonio DeMarco.
Weaknesses for Each Man
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
As mentioned, Erik Morales will be Jessie Vargas’ fifth trainer in seven years and third in his last three fights. A fighter-trainer bond is complex and takes decades to refine. This sort of trainer hopping Vargas is doing isn’t the least bit normal.
While Morales made a career out of implementing a strategic (even if ferocious) attack—a more cerebral approach than Roy Jones Jr.’s reliance on natural reflexes—it’s hard to imagine a training camp less than even 30 days really doing much.
Vargas enthusiasts have to fear him going back to his old gunslinger ways before his refinement under Robert Alcazar. Bradley is a short, burly ball of fury who isn’t anyone to start a firefight with.
Vargas is also susceptible to being brushed around the ring with startling ease. Josesito Lopez had no problem doing so and “Riverside Rocky” isn’t exactly what you’d call a physical specimen.
“Desert Storm” doesn’t carry a lot of pop in his punches, he only has 12 knockouts to his name. That is easily the biggest knock against the Palm Springs native. He makes up for it with a high output but opponents have walked through his punches before, most notably Ruslan Provodnikov who nearly took Bradley out in the final round of their fight.
If Bradley could channel more power and separate his opponent from their senses, he would avoid catastrophes like the split-decision draw he was forced to settle for in his last outing against Diego Chaves—a fight ESPN nearly scored a shutout for Bradley: 119-109.
Winner and Why
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
Tim Bradley and Jessie Vargas, decked out in street clothes, stood toe-to-toe for pictures on thursday, June 25, at the final press conference ahead of their highly-anticipated title fight.
Two things were clear as day: Bradley was towered over by a much taller opponent and Bradley looked ready to take his head off.
The belittlement thrown his way by Vargas’ camp—namely trainer Erik Morales—has sparked a wildfire. While Bradley has since somewhat backed off the trash talk he threw back at Vargas and Morales, per BoxingScene.com, “Desert Storm” fights with the pedal to the metal each and every time he enters the square circle.
Bradley has beaten better counterpunchers (Marquez) and has survived bigger punchers (Provodnikov) than Vargas and his quality of competition at junior welterweight, alone, surpasses what Vargas has managed to in his entire career so far.
The night will belong to Bradley.
