Background and career
Jessie Vargas (born May 10, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He held the WBO welterweight title in 2016. He also held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014.
Vargas had an amateur record of 120 wins and 20 losses. He was a two-time Mexican national champion, a two-time United States junior national champion, and was a member of the 2008 Mexican Olympic team.
In September 2008, Vargas won his pro debut against the undefeated Joel Gonzalez by first-round knockout. Vargas got attention when, during a fight against Trenton Titsworth, Vargas was kissed on the neck and he responded by hitting Titsworth during the break. Titsworth was docked two points, Vargas one. In his twelfth fight he knocked out a former IBO light welterweight Champion Daniel Sarmiento of Argentina. The bout was the main event of FSN's Fight Night Club. In his next fight Vargas won an eight-round unanimous decision against Mexican Ramón Montaño on the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana. On February 24, 2011, Vargas fought at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California, against journeyman Cristian Favela (19–31–7, 10 KOs). The fight went the 8 round distance. Favela pressed the action more than expected but ultimately lost on the cards with the three scorecards reading 79–73, 78–74 and 77–75 in favour of Vargas. On March 31, Golden Boy announced that Vargas would fight former WBA light welterweight Champion Vivian Harris (29–5–1, 19 KO's) at the Desert Arena in Primm, Nevada, on April 8. This bout was televised on TeleFutura. Vargas picked up the biggest win of his career to date after Harris quit on his stool after just one round. Vargas didn't allow Harris to put any work in and badly shook Harris on a few occasions, in what some believed would be a competitive bout. With the win, Vargas improved to 15–0 (8 KOs). On June 14, British boxer Ashley Theophane declined the opportunity to fight Vargas on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Victor Ortiz, which was scheduled to take place on September 17. Theophane stated when he was told he could fight on the card, he expected a potential rematch with Danny Garcia or another big name, however Vargas' name was brought up for an 8-round fight. Colombian boxer Walter Estrada (39–14–1, 25 KO's) was later confirmed to be Vargas' next opponent in a scheduled 10 round bout on July 8. After a slow first round, Vargas landed a clean left uppercut in the second round knocking out Estrada. The stoppage came 38 seconds into the round. Vargas was next scheduled to fight on the Mayweather vs. Ortiz undercard against Josesito Lopez (29–3, 17 KOs). In August 2011, British boxer Amir Khan began chasing a big money fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. possibly for 2012. Vargas began calling out Khan for a potential fight. Speaking to Fighthype.com, Mayweather said, "Jessie Vargas wants to know why Amir Khan is ducking and dodging. He's asking for him. Everybody is ducking and dodging him. He's my fighter and he wants [Khan]." Speaking on a radio show, Vargas said, "He keeps saying he wants to fight Floyd. If he really wants to fight Floyd then he has to fight me first." Vargas earned a tough victory via split decision. One judge scored the bout 95–94 for Lopez, whilst the other two scored had it 96–93 and 95–94 for Vargas, giving him the win. In the 10 rounds, Vargas landed 167 of 851 punches thrown (20%) and Lopez landed 122 of his 509 thrown (24%). Vargas fought on May 5, 2012, on the Mayweather vs. Cotto undercard defeating Steve Forbes (35–10, 11 KOs) after 10 rounds. The scorecards read 100–90, 97–93 and 98–92. Forbes was a late replacement for Alfonso Gómez, who withdrew with back spasms. On June 6, 2012, Vargas signed a deal with boxing manager Cameron Dunkin. There was rumors that Vargas would be joining Top Rank. The rumors turned out true. On June 20, Vargas left Mayweather Promotions to sign with Top Rank. On February 2, 2013, Top Rank announced that Vargas would be opening the Timothy Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov card against Wale 'Lucky Boy' Omotoso (23–0, 19 KOs) on March 16 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The fight was shown live on HBO. Vargas was dropped to one knee in round two, but went on to win a hard-fought battle against Omotoso. One judge scored the fight 97–92 and the remaining two scored it 96–93 in favour of Vargas. ESPN scored the fight 95–94 in favor of Omotoso. HBO's Harold Lederman had it a 94–94 draw. Omotoso started off the fight much stronger than Vargas, but the latter took control midway. In round two, during an exchange, Omotoso landed a body shot forcing Vargas' knee to touch the mat, thus ruling a knockdown. With the win, Vargas claimed the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title. Vargas landed 165 punches of 486 total thrown (34%). Omotoso, outlanded in nine rounds, landed 103 of his 429 thrown (24%). In May 2013, Vargas stated he was likely to return on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Tim Bradley HBO pay-per-view, scheduled to take place in the fall at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. HBO set October 12 as the date of the event. Veteran Ghanaian boxer Ray Narh (26–3, 21KOs) was announced as his opponent. It was also revealed the fight would take place on the HBO PPV, but instead UniMás would televise a card from the same venue on the Friday night. In the final seconds of the fight, Vargas dropped Narh. Although Narh beat the count, he lost on the scorecards, which read 97–92 and 98–91 twice. Both boxers fought on the inside majority of the fight, landing power shots, with many clean shots landed.
In October 2013, Vargas considered moving back down to light welterweight, the weight he began his career. For his last six fight, Vargas began fighting at the welterweight limit. Speaking to Boxing Scene, he said, "I know I can still make the weight. I was on weight early for my last fight. I even ate before the weigh in and I didn't have any problems."
On January 30, 2014, it was announced that Vargas would get his first opportunity to fight for a world title on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley II PPV card on HBO on April 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada. He would challenge fellow Top Rank stablemate, 31 year old Khabib Allakhverdiev (19–0, 9 KO) for the WBA 'Regular' and IBO light welterweight titles. Allakhverdiev won the title in 2012, when it was vacant against Joan Guzmán. Vargas worked with well known trainer Ismael Salas for the first time. On fight night, Vargas claimed his first world title defeating Allakhverdiev via unanimous decision. Vargas used head movement, quick jabs and well-placed uppercuts to help get the win on the scorecards. The three judges' scored the fight 117–111, 115–113 and 115–113 in favour of Vargas. ESPN's Dan Rafael scored the fight 115–113 for Allakhverdiev, as did HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman. In the post-fight, Vargas said, "I thought I should have been busier earlier in the fight and I got stronger and I thought I took control midway through the fight. This was my first 12-round fight. I worked hard for three months in the Top Rank gym. This fight, this win will make me an even better fighter." Allakhverdiev claimed he wanted a rematch straight away. For the fight, Allakhverdiev took home $250,000 whilst Vargas had a $90,000 purse.
Vargas vacated the IBO title. In May, Boxing Scene stated Vargas would make his first defence against Russian boxer Anton Novikov (29–0, 10 KOs), although a deal was not finalized. The same source stated the bout would feature on the undercard of Brandon Rios vs. Diego Chaves on August 2, 2014, in either Las Vegas or Fresno. On June 6, the fight was confirmed to take place at The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Vargas was excited the bout would be taking place in his home town. As Part of the negotiations, Vargas agreed to random drug testing by VADA. At the same time, Novikov hadn't yet agreed to the drug testing, although he was offered a sponsorship to cover the costs. Novikov failed a post fight drug test in 2012 after he won the vacant WBC silver welterweight title against Karlo Tabaghua in Russia. Novikov's promoter Steve Bash did not mention the drug testing until a month later. Novikov said in regards to the drug testing, “I don’t mind any type of testing. The people who are winning fights should win them fairly.” In what was said to be another controversial decision, Vargas retained his WBA title after 12 rounds. The three judges' scorecards read 118–111, 118–111 and 117–111. ESPN and BadLeftHook scored the fight closer in favour of Novikov. Vargas started the fight well pressing the action and making Novikov miss. Novikov began to take control after round five, but tired a few rounds later. In the championship rounds, Novikov landed several hard shots to the body and head of Vargas, however it was Vargas that ended the fight the strongest. CompuBox stats showed that Vargas landed 191 of 783 punches thrown (24%), which including 153 power shots landed. Novikov landed 223 of his 812 shots (27%), which included 151 power shots landed. Vargas said of the win, "I can be even better. It was a rough fight. I landed the cleaner punches." ESPN reported that Vargas earned $125,000 and Novikov earned a $105,000 purse. The fight averaged of 728,000 viewers on HBO, peaking at 839,000 viewers.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
