By Miguel Rivera
Mexico's Rey Vargas is planning to make a defense of World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight championship in the month of December, according to the announcement made by his promoter Oswaldo Küchle on Saturday night, at the Plaza de Armas of Mexico City.
Two dates are being considered for his return, with one of them falling down on HBO, who are planning to drop boxing from their network at the end of the year.
"Rey fights on December 1 or 15. If he fights on December 1, it would be an added date that HBO would put together with Jaime Munguia and Rey Vargas, "Kuchle said to ESPN Deportes. "And if it's not the 1st, then he could fight on December 15 on the Canelo card and we're looking at Franklin Manzanilla as the opponent. He is the one who defeated Julio Ceja."
Vargas, from Otumba, and holding a record of 32-0 and 22 knockouts, has not fought since May 12, when he defeated the Armenian Azat Hovhannisyan at the Turning Stone Casino in New York, the same night Jaime Munguia dethroned Saddam Ali to capture the super welterweight championship of the World Boxing Organization.
Kuchle indicated that both he and Rey would prefer to fight in the undercard to Canelo's challenge of WBA "regular" super middleweight world champion Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden, but that they will be open to any option that co-promoter Golden Boy Promotions puts on the table.
"With either of the two options, we are happy that Rey will close the year with another defense," said the promoter, who expects to hear from Oscar de la Hoya's company next week.
In the first quarter of next year, Vargas will likely have to make a mandatory defense against the winner of the upcoming bout between Tomoki Kameda and Abigail Medina, who fight on November 12 in Tokyo for the interim-WBC super bantamweight belt.
