Danny Garcia to fight another heavy underdog, Samuel Vargas, in nontitle bout

Dan Rafael
ESPN Senior Writer

Welterweight world titleholder Danny Garcia, who has been heavily criticized for his lack of quality opponents over the past three years, will face yet another heavy underdog in his next fight.

Garcia will take on Samuel Vargas in a 10-round nontitle bout on Nov. 12 in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Spike, PBC announced Wednesday.

The card will take place at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Garcia’s hometown. A news conference is scheduled for Thursday at the arena.

PBC officials announced that the bout will be Garcia’s “final hurdle before his highly anticipated welterweight world title unification showdown against undefeated champion Keith Thurman planned for the first quarter of 2017.”
Welterweight world titleholder Danny Garcia will take on Samuel Vargas on Nov. 12 in a nontitle bout. Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs), 28, the former unified junior welterweight world champion, vacated his title and moved up to welterweight last year. In January, he won a unanimous decision — 116-112 on all three scorecards — against faded Robert Guerrero to win the welterweight title belt vacated by Floyd Mayweather following his retirement in September 2015.

But since his a decision victory against Lucas Matthysse in September 2013, Garcia has maintained a soft schedule. Other than eking out a 12-round majority decision against Lamont Peterson in April 2015, Garcia has beaten Guerrero, long-faded former titleholder Paulie Malignaggi, wildly overmatched club fighter Rod Salka and fringe contender Mauricio Herrera, who many thought deserved the decision against Garcia.

A Garcia-Thurman showdown is one of the biggest welterweight fights that can be made and would rank as perhaps the most significant fight in PBC history since it debuted in March 2015.

Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), 27, of Clearwater, Florida, is regarded by many as the No. 1 welterweight in the world. He has made three successful title defenses, including a one-sided decision against Guerrero in the first PBC main event, a seventh-round knockout of former titleholder Luis Collazo and a close unanimous decision against former titleholder Shawn Porter on June 25 in a fight-of-the-year candidate.
Vargas (25-2-1, 13 KOs), 27, who is from Colombia and based in Canada, has no résumé to speak of against world-class opposition. In his most notable fight, he got crushed in a fourth-round knockout loss to then-prospect Errol Spence Jr., a 2012 U.S. Olympian and now a bona fide contender, in April 2015. Vargas has won five fights in a row since against low-level opposition.

In one of the other televised bouts, former junior lightweight titlist Javier Fortuna (30-1-1, 22 KOs), 27, of the Dominican Republic, will face Omar Douglas (17-0, 12 KOs), 25, of Wilmington, Delaware, in a scheduled 10-rounder. According to Sampson Lewkowicz, Fortuna’s promoter, the fight is contracted at 133 pounds. Junior middleweight prospect Jarrett Hurd (18-0, 12 KOs) will also be on the card.

Besides the fight, PBC said Garcia will also discuss details of a charity partnership at the news conference “as he looks to give back to his hometown throughout the promotion.”

Garcia has not fought in Philadelphia since 2010 and will be fighting in his hometown for only the fourth time in his career, which began in 2007. He has fought once previously at the Liacouras Center, scoring a second-round knockout of Enrique Colon in 2009 on the undercard of Philadelphia legend Bernard Hopkins’ lopsided 12-round decision against Enrique Ornelas.