Emiliano Vargas faces Omar Juarez in a 10-round super lightweight bout on the undercard of David Benavidez vs Michal Cieslak. The event takes place at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday, December 5.
- Vargas (18-0, 15 KOs) of Oxnard, California, makes his third ring appearance of the year. In his previous outing in Brooklyn in June, the Las Vegas-based 22-year-old stopped Bryce Mills in the fourth round.
- Juarez (21-2, 8 KOs) of Brownsville, Texas, was last in action in September in Veracruz, Mexico. The 27-year-old defeated Emanuel Lopez by third-round TKO, earning his seventh win in a row.
The contest was announced during the launch press conference at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
What they’re saying
“I’m looking to close the year strong and move on to a big main event, but I can’t do any of that without getting past Omar Juarez,” Vargas said. “He’s a tough fighter who’s gonna bring the resilience out of me. It’s gonna be a great night for the fans.”
“In order to make my dreams a reality, I have to crush Juarez. That’s what this sport is about. My dream has always been to become a world champion, and I’m knocking at the doorstep.”
“Juarez has great experience and he’s never been stopped before. I believe I’m the guy to do that.”
Juarez said, “I’m extremely excited to be back on the big stage. I can’t wait to deliver a spectacular fight. Expect nothing but fireworks.”
“I want to become a world champion, so I know that I need to fight the big names. Emiliano is one of the biggest names in the division. I’m a competitor and I want to test myself in there.”
“Vargas is a good fighter. I won’t take anything away from him. I’m looking forward to getting competitive in there on fight night. It’s gonna be fan-friendly. We’re both coming to prove something.”
Other announced bouts
Also announced at the press conference were opponents for Marco Romero and Nikita Tszyu.
- Marco Romero (16-0, 14 KOs) of Overland Park, Kansas, takes on Cruse Stewart (10-4, 7 KOs) of Rock Island, Illinois, in an eight-round middleweight bout.
- Australia’s Nikita Tszyu (12-0-1, 10 KOs) meets Mexico’s Roberto Valenzuela Jr. (32-6, 30 KOs) in an eight-round super welterweight matchup.
The main event is a 12-round cruiserweight championship unification bout with three belts on the line. The contest pits unified WBA and WBO champion David Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona, against WBC titleholder Michal Cieslak (28-2, 22 KOs) of Poland.
The 12-round co-feature is a middleweight bout between interim WBC super welterweight titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs) of Dallas, Texas, and former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman (31-2, 23 KOs) of Clearwater, Florida.