By Miguel Rivera
WBC super featherweight world champion Francisco 'Bandido' Vargas (23-0-2, 17KOs) is still not certain if he will be capable of fighting again before the year is up.
Vargas had back to back Fight of The Year wars, winning by knockout over Takashi Miura last November and then going to a twelve round majority draw with Orlando Salido in June.
During the draw with Salido, he suffered severe cuts which are going to require months of careful healing.
The mandatory challenger, under the World Boxing Council, is dangerous puncher Miguel 'Micky' Roman. If the fight will be ordered, then Vargas will take it, but he would rather have a fight that is more attractive to the television networks and the fans. Roman, while very dangerous, is unknown to most fans in the United States.
"If I have to fight him (Miguel Roman) then I will fight ... but if there are other options that would be better [then I will take them]. I say this because I don't think there would be a lot of money [in fighting Roman]. I do not know if that fight is attractive to the television networks. I would like to do a fight that would be more popular with the people. There are many options, some of them are world champions where I can unify - either this year if I can fight or next," Vargas told ESPN Deportes.
The other champions of the division are Jezreel Corrales, Jason Sosa, Vasyl Lomachenko, José Miguel Pedraza and Miguel Berchelt.
"The doctors told me that my cuts are healing well, but they have not told me anything on whether I can fight this year. I would like to fight in December, but I'm not going to press the issue."
Promoter Osvaldo Küchle of Promociones del Pueblo, who promote Roman, is planning to push for his boxer's mandatory shot - once the champion receives the green light from his doctor to fight again.
