Jose Zepeda defends his WBC 'silver' super-lightweight title against Josue Vargas in New York this weekend, live on Sky Sports, with the winner taking a step closer to challenging undisputed champion Josh Taylor
Friday 29 October 2021 16:48, UK
Josh Taylor's undisputed world titles will be targeted by the winner of Jose Zepeda's fiery clash with rival contender Josue Vargas this weekend, live on Sky Sports.
Zepeda defends his WBC 'silver' title against Vargas in New York, with live coverage from 1am on Sunday, and the winner will take a step closer to challenging Taylor.
Scotland's undisputed champion has rescheduled his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO title defence against Jack Catterall to February 26 after suffering a knee injury in training.
Taylor unified all the belts after a dominant points win over Jose Ramirez, who was previously given a scare in a majority decision win over Zepeda.
The Californian traded heated words with Vargas as he promised to display his superior class at Madison Square Garden Theatre.
"I have a lot of experience with number one and two rated fighters in the world," said Zepeda at the final press conference.
"Wherever he takes it, I'm going to take it. I already proved I could go as hard as it gets.
"He's a young fighter. He still needs a lot of experience. He doesn't know it. His team probably doesn't know it yet, but Saturday he will get to see that boxing is not a game."
But Vargas, who has only one disqualification defeat on his record, is supremely confident that he will stake his claim for a WBC title shot.
"I give respect to Zepeda for taking the fight, because he didn't have to," said Vargas.
"He's ranked [No. 1] by the WBC, so I give props to him because fighting me is a whole different ball game.
"The only fighter he's [fought] with kind of a good style is [Jose] Pedraza. That was it.
"He's never faced anyone like me who's young. I'm 23-years-old who has the energy, but not only that, has great footwork."
Watch Jose Zepeda vs Josue Vargas, live on Sky Sports from 1am on Sunday.