Samuel Vargas plans to expose the wear and tear on Amir Khan

As Samuel Vargas (29-3-2, 14 KOs) prepares for his upcoming fight against Amir Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) on September 8th the Colombian fighter says he knows this fight is make or break for him — especially as a gatekeeper-type of opponent.

And because Vargas doesn’t really hold any advantages over Khan on paper, Vargas’ trainer Chris Johnson is trying to keep things as simple as possible: test Khan’s vulnerable chin and see if his body can still hold up after suffering several knockouts.

From RingTV:

“We’ve got to punch him right in the fucking mouth,” said Johnson. “We have to go out, and in the first two, three rounds, we have to hit him as hard as we can. When we hit him as hard as we can, we’ll know right then and there what Khan has.

As for Vargas himself, he knows Khan will present a dimension of speed that he hasn’t encountered before, but he takes some solace in knowing that Khan won’t be the biggest puncher he’s ever faced before, having already been in the ring with Errol Spence and Danny Garcia.

So Vargas says he’ll be going into the ring understanding that it’ll only take one good punch from him to put Khan back on ice.

“Genetically we’re not supposed to receive that much punishment and get back up. Your body can only take so much. Maybe this is the fight for him. He’s older, he’s received a lot of punishment and mileage on him. I just have to go out there and expose him,” said Vargas.

Khan enters this fight following a 39 second stoppage of Phil Lo Greco in April while Vargas just had a majority decision draw against Mauro Godoy in early June.