Jessie Vargas

Amateur career

Vargas had an amateur record of 120 wins and 20 losses. He was a two-time Mexican national champion, a two-time United States junior national champion, and was a member of the 2008 Mexican Olympic team.

Early career

In September 2008, Vargas won his pro debut against the undefeated Joel Gonzalez by first round K.O.

Vargas got attention when, during a fight against Trenton Titsworth, Vargas was kissed on the neck and he responded by hitting Titsworth during the break. Titsworth was docked two points, Vargas one.

In his twelfth fight he knocked out a former IBO Light Welterweight Champion Daniel Sarmiento of Argentina. The bout was the main event of FSN's Fight Night Club. In his next fight Vargas won an eight-round unanimous decision against Mexican Ramón Montaño on the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana.

Vargas vs. Harris

On April 8, 2011, Vargas stopped former WBA Light Welterweight Champion, Vivian Harris. This bout was televised on TeleFutura.

On March 16, 2013, Vargas won a unanimous decision against Wale Omotoso.

Vargas vs. Allakhverdiev

On April 12, 2014, Vargas won his first world championship when he defeated Khabib Allakhverdiev by unanimous decision for WBA and IBO junior welterweight titles.

Vargas vs. DeMarco

On November 22, 2014, Vargas made his second title defense against Mexican superstar and former lightweight world champion, Antonio DeMarco. This fight took place at The Venetian Macao in Macau, SAR on the undercard of Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri.

Vargas vs. Bradley

Making his welterweight debut, Vargas fought Timothy Bradley on June 27, 2015 in front of a small crowd of 4,311 at StubHub Center for the WBO interim title. Bradley pretty much dominated the exchanges throughout, punishing Vargas repeatedly to the body and head. While absorbing major damage, Vargas had showed the ability to hurt Bradley and with 20 seconds left in round 12 landed a massive punch that buckled Bradley's knees and had him stumbling across the ring. Vargas followed him and landed 2 more head shots before being tied up near the ropes. The referee heard the 10 second warning and mistakenly signaled that the fight was over with 7–8 seconds remaining. Vargas believed he had TKO'd Bradley and celebrated atop the turnbuckle. When order was restored it was ruled that the referee's mistake was impossible to fix and the fight would go to the scorecards. Bradley, at that point, deserved the unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 115-112, 116-112 & 117-111 all in Bradley's favour. Vargas had called for a rematch.

Vargas vs. Ali

After Bradley decided against the rematch, instead opting to fight Manny Pacquiao for a third time, the WBO Welterweight title became vacant. It was announced that Vargas would still have a chance at the World title against Sadam Ali. In the fight, Vargas landed the more effective blows in what wasn't really a close fight. Vargas knocked down Ali in rounds eight and nine. Vargas landed a brutal body shot followed by a right to the head to knock him out on his feet and win the vacant WBO world title. Vargas was ahead on all judges scorecards at the time of TKO (79-72, 77-74 twice). Vargas credited new trainer Dewey Cooper, his sixth trainer in eight years as a pro, for the game plan and conditioning. Vargas landed 159 punches from his 428 thrown compared to 118 landed from 408 from Ali.

Vargas vs. Brook negotiations

It was announced on May 12, 2016 that negotiations for a unification fight with IBF titleholder Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) were under way. Hearn told Sky Sports he had "offered a huge amount of money" to make the fight happen and while he conceded Brook might have to travel to America, Vargas insists was willing to cross the Atlantic. Vargas signed his contract, manager, Cameron Dunkin, told ESPN.com on June 1. Eddie Hearn said the fight will take place August 27 or September 3 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Vargas would be making his biggest purse at $1.7 million, by a lot. Vargas confirmed via his Twitter account that the bout was set for September 3. Negotiations fell through on July 9 for the unification title fight, when it was announced that Brook would be moving up two weight divisions to challenge Gennady Golovkin instead.

Vargas vs. Pacquiao

Sky Sports announced on 4 August 2016, Vargas would defend his WBO welterweight title against eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs), coming out of retirement, on November 5. It was also reported that promoter Bob Arum was looking to hold the fight in Las Vegas or Dubai. The fight took place at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas, in front of a crowd of 16,132, which included retired pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. Vargas earned a guaranteed base purse of a career high $2.8 million for the fight.

Vargas lost his WBO title after losing via unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 114-113, 118-109 and 118-109 in favour of Pacquiao. Vargas thought he had done enough to retain his title, after the first score of 114-113 was read, he climbed on to the corner raising his arms in the air, only for Pacquiao to be read out the eventual victor. After a steady first round, Pacquiao woke the crowd up in the second round when he hit Vargas with a straight left hand that put him on the mat. The knockdown set the tone for the rest of the fight which had action back and forth. Vargas seemed to have picked up in the middle rounds, but it was Pacquiao who was the more dominant one throughout the 12-rounds. Vargas managed to land a few hard right hands, but none were enough to turn the scores in his favour. In the post-fight interview, Vargas had no excuses, claiming he 'lost to a legend'.