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This Friday May 15th, 2004 Olympic team captain, Devin Vargas, (17-0, 7KO) will be in the fight of his life when he takes on Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (21-0-1, 8KO) in the main event on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, NJ.
Johnson, who many believe is the top American heavyweight contender, is ranked as the WBA #5, WBC #10, IBF #13 rated heavyweight in the world and will surely be Vargas’s toughest opponent to date.
Both Vargas and Johnson are promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing. Originally Vargas was supposed to square off against former WBA heavyweight champion of the world Bruce Seldon on the undercard, but when Johnson’s opponent dropped out, Vargas jumped at the opportunity to take on Johnson.
For Vargas this will be the first time he has fought as the main event on Friday Night Fights. He fought once before as the co- feature and he made the most of his opportunity, brutally stopping the usually tough and durable Dave Brunelli at just one minute and thirty seconds of the very first round. Coincidently the fight also took place in Atlantic City.
“Last time I fought in Atlantic City it was on ESPN2 and I came out and destroyed my opponent. I don’t plan on anything different happening this time around,” stated a focused Vargas.
Some might question why an unbeaten Olympian at such an early stage in his career would take such a risky fight, but to Vargas he doesn’t look as much at the risk but more at the reward. The winner of this fight clearly establishes themselves as THE top American heavyweight and puts themselves one step closer to a world title opportunity something that Vargas is well aware of.
“This is a great opportunity for me and my career,” stated an excited Vargas. “People say that he is the top American heavyweight, so when I beat him, I will take that position.”
Regarding coming in as the underdog for the first time in his professional career Vargas does not seem to be too worried about the task at hand.
“I know Kevin is very confident and thinks this is an easy fight for him but he is going to be in for a rude awaking come this Friday. He is a big talker, he likes to run his mouth and say this and that, but I let my fists do the talking in the ring.
“Kevin has skills and more professional fights then me, but I have way more amateur experience then him. I fought the best in the world as an amateur and I beat the best in the world. I have been waiting for this type of opportunity my entire life, and I plan on making the best out of it come May 15th.”
Not only is Vargas confident that he will beat Johnson, he feels he has the ability to stop him. “I am ready to go the full ten rounds if I have to, but I would love it to be a short night. I definitely have the advantage in power over him.
“Some people take a look at my record and say I don’t have knockout power because I have only stopped seven of my seventeen opponents, but even the guys I went the distance with I hurt at some point and then they went into survival mode. It would be great to be the first person to beat Kevin, but it would be even better to knock him out.”
“I want to thank my promoter Star Boxing for giving me this opportunity and I want to thank all my fans that have supported me throughout my career. I hope everyone tunes in this Friday because they are going to see a very exciting fight.”
The card is promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, in association with Harrah’s Resort. Tickets are priced at $90 and $60 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1(800) 745-3000 or going online to ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available at the box office at Harrah’s.
