GLENDALE, Arizona – The lightbulb went off for promoter Eddie Hearn as soon as he saw the light attracted to the fighter who looks so poised to be boxing’s next big name.
As Hearn glanced up at Thursday’s news-conference stage featuring Emiliano Vargas in gold-rimmed sunglasses and a sharp suit, Hearn remarked, “This kid’s a big deal. He’s the co-main.”
And just like that, former welterweight title contender Abel Ramos’ match was demoted so that the 21-year-old son of former champion Fernando Vargas could have a position of greater prominence on the DAZN card at Desert Diamond Arena.
Fresh off his cameo appearance with Puerto Rico’s unified 154lbs titleholder Xander Zayas on the Super Bowl 60 halftime show starring Bad Bunny, Vargas on Saturday let loose his encouraging power and defeated Argentina’s Agustin Quintana by TKO after nine rounds.
Referee Raul Caiz Jnr stopped the fight after Quintana, 22-3-1 (13 KOs), absorbed heaps of damage from multiple head punches in the ninth and began to bleed near both eyes.
Quintana objected vehemently, slamming his right glove atop the top rope near his corner, but it was to no avail.
“From Prospect of the Year to Super Bowl to 17-0 … I just want to keep on learning,” Vargas said in recording his 14th knockout.
Vargas was fighting on Hearn’s card Saturday, but he’s under contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank, which is operating without a television/streaming deal after parting ways with ESPN in July.
Vargas’ effort increased sharply in the third round as he rocked Quintana with a right, a power jab, a combination of body blows and a hurtful left hand.
Vargas powered back to the body in the fourth and slammed a left to the head to further assert himself.
To his credit – given the step up in talent to the 2025 Prospect of the Year – Quintana didn’t cave. He pounded Vargas’ body early in the fifth and struck Vargas with a low blow during the attack. Vargas answered to the body but would likely agree the round wasn’t his.
That’s what’s needed now: a test of grit to complement the grit, rugged moments to prove the name is Vargas and that he hails from battle-tested Oxnard.
“I wanted to go for the knockout. That’s what experience is for,” Vargas said. “He’s a hell of a fighter.”
Sitting on the stool, listening to his trainer-father before the seventh, Vargas nodded affirmatively at the directions and returned to pounding the body and further reddening Quintana’s eyes.
Hard rights to the head paced Vargas in the eighth, and Quintana endured an onslaught of abuse, urging Vargas on, but surely not meaning it as blood began to flow near both eyes.
The elder Vargas begged for more before the ninth, and the son obliged, satisfying his growing fan base by rocking Quintana to the ropes with power punches.
“I’m coming for all the dogs. I’m just 21. I want to be world champion [and] continue to get better at my craft,” said Vargas, who said he would like to fight a former world champion in his next bout.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
