X<\/a> with Manouk Akopyan from Ring Magazine, the deeply religious Vargas, who will be looking to make the second successful defense of his title against pound-for-pound entrant Rodriguez (and spoil his attempt to seek a world title in a third weight division), says perfect timing and a little help from God will help him \u201cshock the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI’m really excited about this fight. It’s one of the biggest fights in boxing right now and I\u2019ve trained my whole life for this moment,\u201d said Vargas. \u201cI’m basically at the end of camp right now. I’ve done all that I could do, and I look forward to receiving the victory that I believe God has in store for me June 13.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old Vargas, a 2016 United States Olympian, says Rodriguez making him his hand-picked opponent of choice for this potentially historic feat, and trying to use him as a launching pad to a super fight against Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue, has motivated him in training.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually thinking about that yesterday,\u201d said Vargas. \u201cOut of all the other three champions he could have fought, he picked me\u2026 I don’t know if he thinks I’m the easiest one or the hardest one, but whatever the reason is, on June 13, the world’s going to be shocked. I look forward to doing my part and receiving what God has in store for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez, who despite his amateur and professional credentials has flown mostly under the mainstream radar of the boxing world, says this will be a coming out party that will establish him as a top champion in the lower weight divisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely been looking for big fights and big names like Bam Rodriguez. So, when they gave me the call, I was very excited to take the fight. This is what I need to show people who I am. And I know after this victory, it’ll be one of many bigger fights to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being +1000 underdog, Kissimmee, Florida, via Houston\u2019s Vargas says he\u2019s spotted the winning game plan going into the fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery fighter has their weaknesses, their openings and stuff like that,\u201d Vargas continued. \u201cHe’s been dropped before too. I see a couple things, little openings that I could take advantage of during the fight. Once I get in the ring with him, I’ll be able to see more of those openings, little by little, as the fight goes on.<\/p>\n
\u201cLanding the cleaner shots. Catching him on the exchanges\u2026 every fighter has a different rhythm, has a different timing. So, as the rounds go by, it’ll be a little easier to figure out his rhythm (and) his style\u2026 He’s (Rodriguez) definitely a unique fighter. He likes to shift and angle more than any other fighter. That’s the main thing I’ve been training for, the angles and the timing and stuff like that. I think the timing and the punch placement are going to be the key thing in neutralizing him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vargas also says he\u2019ll need to put Rodriguez on the canvas to gain the upset victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe I have to get at least a couple knockdowns to win this fight. Either a knockout or a TKO. I have to drop him. He’s going to have to hit the canvas a couple of times because I do believe if it\u2019s a close fight, they’ll give it to him. So, I’m asking the Lord Christ to help me to win this fight\u2026 whether it be a TKO victory or me dropping him a couple times. It’s definitely going to have to be something like that to solidify the win\u2026 All I can tell you is that June 13, my hand will be raised up in the name of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBA bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas, 23-0 (16 KOs), says he\u2019ll have some help when he wins this Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[305030,64,63,802,1920,6653,351006,13409,85],"class_list":["post-730977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-antonio-vargas","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-jesse-bam-rodriguez","tag-naoya-inoue","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}