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Oscar De La Hoya comparisons drawn with son of former world title rival
Emiliano Vargas improved to 15 wins at the weekend with a stunning knockout of Alexander Espinoza at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden .
It took ‘El General’ just 42 seconds to send Espinoza to the floor, his Ecuadorian opponent struggling to get back to his feet.
The son of former two-time world champion Fernando Vargas, many are backing Vargas to win a major title of his own sooner rather than later following the 13th stoppage of his young career, but is he the future of US boxing?
Legendary promoter draws Oscar De La Hoya comparisons
TGB Promotions
Vargas made his debut three years ago but has rattled through the fights, with only two opponents managing to take ‘El General’ the distance in 15 fights.
Shortly after making his debut in 2022 Vargas signed with Top Rank, the promotion run by the legendary Bob Arum.
Arum believes the 21-year-old Vargas has charisma on top of ability – a combination that could catapult the super lightweight towards stardom.
In fact, the boxing veteran believes that he shares those traits in common with six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya - a former opponent of Emiliano's father, Fernando Vargas.
So alike in Arum's mind are the pair, that the promoter feels the younger fighter would make a good movie version of De La Hoya.
Arum told The Ring : “They’re making a movie of the Sun Bowl fight with Oscar De La Hoya and [Patrick] Charpentier, where the women all went crazy about Oscar in El Paso.
"And they’re looking for people to star in the movie. I suggested, in what would be a great sort of twist, having Emiliano play Oscar. But when you think of it, he’s a good-looking kid, like Oscar, a bilingual kid and all of that.
“First of all, I like his ability.
“But secondly, the way he carries himself and the way people react to him demonstrates to me that he can be a big star.
“Emiliano has all the skills and he’s out there to entertain. He really reads the room correctly, that to really emerge as a big star you have to sell yourself to the public. And he understands that.
“He’s terrific. The last time I saw him was at a WNBA basketball game in Las Vegas, an Aces game, and people were coming up to him. He charms everybody.”
The Vargas family dynasty
Vargas is one of three brothers that have followed in their father’s footsteps, all becoming professional boxers.
‘El General’ is viewed as the biggest prospect, although oldest brother Fernando Vargas Jr also boasts an unbeaten record with impressive knockout power.
Sharing both his father’s name and ring nickname, ‘El Feroz’ is currently 17-0, with 15 wins via knockout. However, Vargas Jr is not ranked in any of the four major sanctioning bodies’ top 15, with the WBC listing the American 35th in their super welterweight ratings.
Middle brother Amado Vargas is another unbeaten fighter, winning 13 of his bouts by stoppage. Now 25, the lightweight is unranked by any major sanctioning body.
The sons often have their former world champion father in their corners for fight night. Despite the fact that Emiliano has different promoters, all of the brothers are based out of the Fernando Vargas Foundation gym in Las Vegas.
Fernando Vargas Sr reigned at super welterweight twice, holding the IBF strap between 1998 and 2000 before returning to world title status by becoming WBA champion in 2001.
Vargas Sr’s bouts with Oscar De La Hoya , Ricardo Mayorga, and Felix Trinidad grabbed the attention and cemented his position as an entertaining fighter.
Their father's popularity and notoriety saw the family feature on their own reality TV show in 2014. The show was called Welcome to Los Vargas , a play on the family name and their home of Las Vegas, with 13 episodes showing the Vargas’s daily lives, including their early boxing careers.
Vargas already targeting big names
Clearly able to fight inside the ring, Vargas has demonstrated he has another vital skill when it comes to boxing – charm and the willingness to call out opponents.
Shortly after his victory over Alexander Espinoza, ‘El General’ was calling out WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, 23-1 (13 KOs).
That was perhaps surprising considering the friendship shared between the two men, but Vargas is clearly willing to press his claims no matter the personal ties involved.
After his win on Saturday Vargas shared: “Teo’s an amazing fighter, I respect him a lot, but if he’s gonna stay at 140 pounds that’s on him.
“I have a great relationship with him. It’s just business at the end of the day. He’s a great fighter.”
Matchroom Boxing Photos
Vargas walks a fine line between being confident without sounding arrogant – a feat perhaps not always achieved by the notoriously outspoken Lopez.
“I respect Teo 120 percent,” Vargas continued. “I don’t want a clip to come up and you guys turn it around, ‘I’m trashing Teo’.
“I got nothing but love and respect for Teo. And however the deck falls, it falls. But I’m the new era of boxing, and a lotta other fighters are.
"And I believe - and this isn’t anything cocky - every fighter who’s became world champion said the same thing. I believe it wholeheartedly. It’s definitely gonna happen.”
Where is Vargas ranked?
Currently, Vargas is only ranked by the World Boxing Council (WBC) at 36th, some distance from a world title shot.
However, since winning at the weekend, Vargas has claimed that he is in the top 15 in the world at super lightweight. Whilst ratings between different organisations can wildly vary, boxers often value Boxrec’s rankings for each division.
That being said, Boxrec has Vargas at 38th in the world at 140lbs, indicating that Vargas is aware of an incoming jump into title contention.
Considering that he is currently ranked by the organisation, holds the NABF junior belt that is affiliated with the WBC, and the fact that Vargas had a personal phone call with the sanctioning body’s president Mauricio Sulaimán in the aftermath of his victory, it feels likely that ‘El General’ will rise up the WBC ratings.
The WBC last updated their ratings on July 11, indicating that we will have to wait and see until next month before finding out if Vargas’ claims of being a top 15 fighter are true or not.
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