Vargas Ready: I Feel That I Can Beat Ruslan Provodnikov

By Ryan Burton

On October 11th junior welterweight prospect Jessie Vargas improve to 23-0 when he defeated Ray Narh via unanimous decision at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.  In a recent conversation with BoxingScene.com, Vargas said that he is looking to move back to the junior welterweight divsion where he began his career.

The 24-year-old Vargas said that he was impressed with Ruslan Provodnikov's performance this past Saturday night when the Russian stopped Mike Alvarado in Denver, Colo. in an HBO televised fight.  He feels that only would a fight between him and Provodnikov be exciting, but that he would leave the ring victorious.

"I knew that it would be a tough fight for Alvarado because Ruslan always comes to fight and is very strong.  From what I hear, Mike got a little tired and Ruslan got stronger as the fight went on. It was a great fight. Speaking of them, I would love to fight Ruslan.  I think he would make for a great match up with me.  I am undefeated. I am 23-0 and and I am thinking of going back down to 140.

"I personally feel that I can beat him.  I know that I can beat him and more importantly it would be a great match up.  It wouldn't be nothing easy.  It wouldn't be easy for him and it wouldn't be easy for me but I think it would make for a very entertaining fight and that is something that I am definitely looking into.  I hope it is possible and I think that the fans would definitely support this fight," Vargas explained.

Vargas has fought his last six fights close to the welterweight weight limit but says that he feels stronger at 140 pounds.  Instead of being a small welterweight, he prefers to move down in weight to where he will have the size advantage.  He said that he could have came in close to the 140 pound limit in his last fight without even trying.

"I am more interested in going to 140 (instead of having Provodnikov move back up to 147 where he has fought before) because he has the belt there and I know I can make 140.  For my last camp we took my weight down in advance and I had to eat to weigh the weight that we had negotiated which was 148.  I could have came in at 144.5 if we had wanted to do but I didn't want to give up that weight advantage. I am a real 140 pounder and I am looking forward to coming back to 140 and my last knockout was at 140 so I can tell I am very strong there.  I am sure that a fight between me and him would be great for the fans," Vargas told BoxingScene.com.

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