Junior welterweight contender Jose ‘Chon’ Zepeda 35-2 (27) made short work of Josue ‘The Prodigy’ Vargas 19-2 (9) stopping him in little more than half a round at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York of Saturday night.
The 32-year-old Californian southpaw nailed Vargas with a left cross that pitched the 23-year-old Puerto Rican upstart face first to the canvas. The lefty beat the count but was pummelled into submission in the blue corner with a left cross, right hook combination.
Referee David Field wisely stopped the fight at the 1:45 mark of the opening frame when Vargas went down again.
With the victory Zepeda is expected to be installed at the WBC number one contender to undisputed 140-pound champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) of Scotland, another southpaw.
“I was ready. I was 100 percent ready, and I told him in the press conference there’s levels to this,” said Zepeda, who was without his brother and trainer Rene Zepada in the corner following a scuffle at the weigh-in.
“He was the one who wanted to fight me. I just accepted the fight and it showed today that boxing is not a game in there. There’s levels to this.
“I told him and he probably knew [that] I hit hard. I don’t think he recovered after that shot.
“After the way he went down, I didn’t think [he’d recover]. He probably was going to head up, but he was going to be wobbly on his feet and that’s what happened and I was able to finish him.
“I’m 32 years old, and I’m in my prime. I want the WBC world title and all the belts, to be honest. I’m ready for it. I showed today I’m ready for the WBC world title.”
Zepeda engaged in the Ring Magazine’s Fight of the year in 2020 when he overcame four knockdowns to defeat former IBF junior welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyck 20-3 (13) in October last year. Baranchyck was on the canvas four times himself.
Vargas surprisingly entered the fight as the favourite but it was Zepeda who showed the superior skillset and used his big fight experience to put the relative novice to the sword.
Vargas hinted that his inexperience was the reason he lost.
“He caught me with a good left hand and I tried to recover, but I think I got up too fast,” he said.
“That’s what happened. Overall, I’m okay. I’m good. I’m healthy. We’re not stopping from here. It’s on to the next.
“I learned from my disqualification loss and now I learned from my second loss. It’s part of the sport. The greatest athletes in boxing have losses. I’m not ashamed of myself. I’ll be back stronger, for sure.”
Zepeda’s previous losses came to then-WBC champion Jose Carlos Ramirez by majority decision and a second-round loss to Terry Flanagan after dislocating his shoulder.
The only previous blemish on Vargas’ record was a third-round disqualification loss to journeyman Samuel Santana five years ago.
