By Miguel Rivera
Former two division champion Jessie Vargas is feeling the Christmas spirit in high form, because he's a frontrunnner to face WBC, WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman.
Thurman, who has been inactive since unifying his two titles with a close points win over Danny Garcia in March, is looking to return on a date in April - with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as a potential venue.
Vargas (28-2, 10 KO's), who captured world titles at junior welterweight and welterweight, is looking to get more gold after losing his WBO belt in a decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in the fall of 2016.
Vargas snapped his inactivity earlier this month, when he returned to dominate Aaron Herrera over ten rounds.
Now he hopes to get his hands on Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs).
"Of course, (Thurman) is a fight that interests me a lot, more for the reason that I love the titles of the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association very much," said Vargas to ESPN Deportes.
"I think that in this division we are all dangerous, so we are obliged to prepare in the best way to stand out."
After the win over Garcia, Thurman underwent surgery to correct an elbow injury and that kept him out of the ring for the remainder of the year.
Thurman's WBC mandatory challenger is Shawn Porter, who went through two eliminators get secure the shot. The WBA mandatory will be determined next month, when Lucas Matthysse and Tewa Kiram collide in Los Angeles for the vacant WBA "regular" title - a fight that got ordered due to Thurman's inactivity.
Vargas made numerous changes in his career - hiring a new trainer in Hall of Famer Mike McCallum, breaking ties with Top Rank to sign on with Al Haymon, and now fights under the Premier Boxing Champions banner. Thurman is also signed on with Haymon and PBC.
