Rey Vargas from Otumba, Mexico, hopes to win his third WBC belt when he faces hometown favourite O’Shaquie Foster for the vacant WBC junior lightweight belt on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The 32-year-old Vargas (36-0; 22) won the vacant WBC junior featherweight belt on 25 May 2017 when he beat Gavin McDonnell on a majority points decision in Hull, England, and made successful defences against Ronny Rios, Oscar Nerete, Azat Hovhannisyan, Franklin Manzanilla, and Tomoki Kameda, before suffering a broken leg that kept him out of action for two years.
He returned to action in November 2021 to score a points decision over Leanardo Baez and, in his most recent fight in July last year, he came back from a knockdown in the ninth round to win on a unanimous points decision against Mark Magsayo to win the WBC featherweight belt.
Foster (19-2; 11) is listed at No 1 by the WBC and has held the WBC Silver title since 2018 when he outscored Jon Fernandez. In his last defence in March last year he outpointed Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov in Dubai, with wide margins.
The odds favour Vargas who should win over the long route.
On the undercard former WBA junior welterweight champion Mario Barrios (26-2; 17) meets Jovanie Santiago (14-2-1; 10) over ten rounds.