Francisco Vargas Says Right Eye Injury Was 'Stubborn'

By Steve Kim

As you see Francisco Vargas now - who is scheduled to face Orlando Salido on June 4th at the StubHub Center as the main event on HBO - there are no signs of the grotesquely swollen right eye he suffered on the night of November 21st when he paid a heavy price in winning the WBC junior lightweight belt from Takashi Miura. 

Before knocking him out in dramatic fashion in the ninth round of their memorable battle, he had been hit with numerous left-hands from the Japanese southpaw.

Vargas admitted through his manager, Ralph Heredia,"It was a very stubborn injury, it took a long time to heal but I'm glad and fortunate we got the right products and it healed properly and now what I have to do is work a little bit on my defense so I don't get hit as much on the eye."

The injury took several months to heal properly.

"At one time it was getting infected. So we took the precaution to get him on antibiotics and we really didn't care how long it was going to take to heal, whether they had to open it back up or heal on it's own and we were fortunate that just with the antibiotics and drawing out the pus that  it healed properly. But it was a very stubborn injury,'' explained Heredia.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.