By Miguel Rivera

Although he thought his opponent would be the countryman Hugo Ruiz, who eventually lost the super bantamweight title of the World Boxing Council last Friday in Osaka, Japan, the sanctioning body has officially set down Rey 'King' Vargas (28-0, 22KOs) as the mandatory challenger to the the new world champion Hozumi Hasegawa (36-5, 16KOs). Vargas wants the fight in the coming months.

Vargas, ranked number one in the division and official challenger of the green and gold belt at 122 pounds, did not hide his surprise at the result of last week's fight where Ruiz was stopped by Hasegawa in the ninth assault.