Rey Vargas Ready To Go For World Title In Third Division

On Wednesday afternoon, two division world champ Rey Vargas met with the media in anticipation of his February showdown with O’Shaquie Foster for the vacant WBC 130 lb. title. And for Vargas, he knows that a chance at history is within reach.

Vargas is slated to meet Foster in the Premier Boxing Champions/Showtime main event February 11th in. San Antonio’s Alamodome and he spoke on a virtual media call about the battle,

"We're coming back to a place where I have really good memories and became a champion. I want to make history and win that third division title." @reyvargasbox #VargasOshaquie 2.11 on SHO. pic.twitter.com/LAisr0CQKG

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 18, 2023

“Alamodome is definitely a beautiful venue and a place where I have wonderful memories. This is another step for me toward history and there’s no better place to do it than in San Antonio. I’m looking forward to giving the fans a great show,” Vargas said Wednesday.

We’re coming back to a place where I have really good memories and I’m ready to do it again. I know that it’s a new weight class, but I don’t’ feel uncomfortable at all. I want to make history and do something that I’ll remember for the rest of my career.”

As our Dan Rafael wrote about the matchup late last year,

“Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs), 31, of Mexico, who held the WBC junior featherweight belt from 2017 to 2019 and made five defenses, won the featherweight title from Mark Magsayo via split decision in July in the same venue in San Antonio.

There was talk of a unification fight with WBA titlist Leo Santa Cruz but that is no longer in the works and Vargas will instead seek a title in a third division.

Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), 29, of Houston, scored a 12th-round knockdown and won a lopsided decision over Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov in a WBC title eliminator in his most recent fight in March in Dubai.”

As for the Texan Foster on Wednesday,

“We’re ready. I’ve had to take a lot of ‘0’s’ lately and Vargas is going to be another one on the list.

“Everything happens for a reason I had a couple setbacks and had to get focused and weed out the bad energy in my life. Now I’m ready. I have history at the Alamodome myself. I qualified for the Olympic trials there, so it’s going to be a fun night.

“I’ll be the first world titlist to come out of my city, so I’d be making history for Orange, Texas and raising the bar for the next generation. I’m ready to show the world that I’m one of the top fighters.”

The Showtime broadcast featuring Vargas-Foster is expected to have at least two other yet to be named undercard fights for Saturday night February 11th. Look for those fights to be confirmed in the next week or so.