Emiliano Vargas already had the acclaim of his father’s name before he appeared on the Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny in February.
As he moves to Saturday night’s DAZN pay-per-view card casting his Super Bowl co-star and unified 154lbs champion Xander Zayas in the main event versus Jaron “Boots” Ennis at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the 22-year-old Vargas is poised to bask in attention few other boxers this young have ever drawn.
“I’m going to show everyone in New York and the rest of the world that I’m ready for a world title,” Vargas, 17-0 (14 KOs), told BoxingScene of his bout against New York’s own Bryce Mills. “[Mills] is the guy in the way of that, so I’ve got to crush him.”
Vargas, a 140lbs contender ranked No. 2 behind four-division champion Shakur Stevenson by the WBO while being title-fight-eligible in the top 15 among the other three organizations, has set out a plan to move from the sport’s 2025 prospect of the year to world champion in short order.
“Get the victory in amazing fashion Saturday, [fight] a title eliminator, and then fight for the title,” he said.
Participating in Saturday’s high-profile show versus Mills, 22-1 (9 KOs), should only enhance that track given the expected widespread interest the card will generate as Puerto Rico’s unbeaten Zayas, 23, dares to risk his WBO and WBA belts against the favored former unified welterweight champion Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), of Philadelphia.
Vargas, who fought at Madison Square Garden’s Theater last year, has witnessed the spectacles of three-division champion Gervonta Davis’ recent cards at Barclays Center – Madonna attended his 2022 defense versus Rolly Romero – and he understands what seizing the moment means.
“It’s a huge card, a great opportunity to shine like I want… Barclays looked packed and huge [for Davis]. I’m excited to feel the energy, to feel the crowd,” Vargas said.
The son of two-time 154lbs champion Fernando Vargas, Emiliano stepped before the massive Super Bowl crowd in the Bay Area earlier this year to perform a mock sparring session with Zayas during Bad Bunny’s performance.
“The majority of people working there around Bad Bunny’s team were all Puerto Rican… they talk very fast, so Xander got in one or two more words than me, but we felt like family,” Vargas said of Zayas.
“We’ve kept in contact. I’ve known him since the amateurs, but after the Super Bowl, we got real close. I’m blessed to be on a huge card with him as the main event.
“Am I going to try to outshine the main event? Of course. I’ve been doing that every fight. I love the fans showing up to support Xander and everything he’s putting on the line, though. That’s what a champion’s all about. He’s taking the biggest opportunities to show the world who he is and what he’s made of.”
An aggressive fighter with unique power, Vargas knows his own competition is increasing as he nears a title fight, so he’s tended to his boxing skill over recent camps and vows he’s capable of winning the fight in a sharp showing.
His rise also increases the importance of his father’s training. Title-fight circumstances vary extremely from profile-building walkovers, and Emiliano said he’s especially grateful for Fernando’s presence and wisdom as the stakes heighten.
“My father – everywhere I want to go, he’s been,” Emiliano Vargas said. “He told me once that, ‘One day, when we get to the main-event stage and the lights are so bright, I’m going to whisper in your ear, ‘You made it.’ Very few fighters can handle that pressure. But the same blood that runs through him runs through me.
“My father is an amazing trainer, open to working with other trainers and trying new things. He doesn’t think he knows it all. That’s the best asset we have – my father being open to new lessons, still learning.
“There’s valuable information from a corner who’s been down, that’s come back, who’s been cut. I haven’t been cut before, haven’t been down before. These things come with experience. Some trainers say they’re ready for it, but, when it happens, they’re not. We’ve covered all the bases. The corner is a big asset. There’s no better feeling than winning with the people you love.”
The elder Vargas has for years cautioned his fighter sons to avoid the pitfalls of his reckless social and dietary life during a career that featured memorable bouts versus Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad and Ricardo Mayorga.
The detail with Emiliano is now centered on maximizing the effect of his own positive outside-the-ring habits.
“It’s now down to the food I eat after a fight, how I hydrate, how I train. Should I be running on fight week?” Emiliano Vargas said. “All these different things, my father has already gone through. There were times they had to carry him out of the sauna, times when all he ate was pizza, ice cream and pasta after weigh-ins and then he felt like garbage the next day. He still fought to levels where doctors would tell him, ‘This is physically impossible… .’ Things like that have played into my career.”
Increasingly, other 140lbs contenders are calling out Vargas. Asked if his popularity or some type of vulnerability is fueling the interest, he believes it’s the interest in connecting to his star power.
“Every fighter is supposed to think he can beat another fighter. Also, there’s things we’re doing outside of boxing they want to be associated with. They want to say they beat me. Even back to the amateurs, they weren’t fighting me. They were fighting my father. They want to say they beat Fernando Vargas’ son. They wouldn’t even mention me,” Emiliano Vargas said.
“I knew that and I trained with intention because of that. I knew they were coming. I’m a very competitive person. I don’t want to lose in anything. It’s, ‘OK, you’re going to train hard? I’m going to train harder. You’re going to run five miles? I’m going to run 10.’”
Upon winning the prospect of the year award, Vargas learned February opponent Agustin Quintana went for a three-mile fight-week run. Vargas made his training run a 10-miler.
“In my mind, I’m sick. I have that sick, competitive nature that comes from my father, and it’s bettered me,” he said. “If they think they can beat me, I think I can beat any fighter. So it’s all good to me that people want to bring my name up for attention.”
Vargas says he’s continually reviewing his own sparring sessions in order to improve his defense and footwork.
“I’m a perfectionist. I just want to be the best version of myself and I don’t want to be beat so I’ll ask myself the same question every time, ‘How do I beat Emiliano Vargas?’ he said.
“And that’s what we work on. Whatever opportunity presents itself, I’m open to every opportunity.”
