By Ryan Burton
Last June, Tim Bradley handed Jessie Vargas his only career defeat when he picked up an unanimous decision victory at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. Bradley had a big lead in the fight when Vargas badly hurt him late in the final round. The fight was inadvertently stopped early when the referee mistook the 10 second warning for the final bell.
The newly crowned WBO welterweight champion has chased a rematched ever since but Bradley opted to face Brandon Rios before being awarded a third fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Vargas believes that Bradley has a good chance to win the fight and is pulling for him so that a potential rematch will become a bigger fight.
"It is a very interesting fight and if Bradley has any chance of beating him in the three fights, it is in this fight right here. Pacquiao hasn't seemed to be the same so it is a 50-50 fight."
"I definitely wish him nothing but the best even though we have unfinished business and some, I guess you can say some aggression towards each other, but much respect. That would make sense if he wins that it would make the fight between him and I bigger so I hope he pulls it off," said Vargas.
Vargas captured his title last month when he stopped the previously unbeaten Sadam Ali in Washington, DC. The fight was his first under the guidance of Dewey Cooper and the two-division winner feels that his new trainer would make a big difference in a rematch against Bradley.
"Without a doubt it would be totally different and I believe he knows that too. That is why it is taking so long for him to give me a rematch. First of all on HBO in front of all of our fans that were tuning in he said he would give me a rematch. Then a few months later he said fight Sadam Ali first and I have done both and he still hasn't given me the rematch but hey I am sure it will happen sooner or later," Vargas told BoxingScene.com.
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