Jessie Vargas (28-2, 10 KOs) and his two division titleholder credentials proved himself a solid entrant into the shark infested waters of Premiere Boxing Champion’s welterweight roster with a relaxed and easy win over trial horse Aaron Herrera (33-8-1, 22 KOs). Vargas didn’t get the finish he was looking for despite a sixth round knockdown and outclassing his opponent start to finish in the fight, but he still looked sharp.
This was a predictable fight at times lacking some intrigue, however. Aaron Herrera is a game guy, but he’s never going to compete evenly for long at this level. Accordingly, this was an important win for Jessie Vargas in terms of working out the rust and just plain getting in the ring before the year’s end, but his real big recent win wasn’t with him in the ring at all. Last year’s pretty good looking stoppage win over Sadam Ali is now a great looking stoppage win over Sadam Ali given how Ali sent Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto into retirement a few weeks ago. Without having gotten in the ring at all, Jessie Vargas has a signature win now thanks to Sadam Ali’s recent performance.
Once beaten prospect now turned contender Jamal James (21-1, 10 KOs) picked up a surprising third round stoppage win over Argentinian contender Diego Chaves (26-3-1, 22 KOs) in the PBC on FS1 co-main event. James had never shown much power at any real level and Chaves has had several pretty good showings against world class fighters, so few could have seen this coming.
The Argentinian put a lot of pressure on in the first round and had some success, but the Minnesota native had done well to establish his range by the end of the frame. In the second, Jamal began backing Diego up with his jab and landed a few real nice right hands on both levels. It was a downstairs shot that ended the fight in the third, or rather a series of them. Chaves was visibly bothered by body work for a few seconds before the end and he went into a quick retreat. A left hook to the midsection ended the affair and left Diego Chaves rolling on the canvas in pain as he was counted out. This is a career trajectory altering win for Jamal James.
All of this was still overshadowed by the card’s second fight by the end of the night though. After a tense opening round in which both fighters were missing big shots that ended with Ivan Redkach (20-4-1, 16 KOs) on the floor from a combination headbutt and push, all hell broke out in the second round. At about the round’s midpoint, John Molina Jr (30-7, 24 KOs) retreated to a corner in what in the moment seemed to be a tactic to let Redkach burn some energy on his guard. Yet, those shots seemed to unexpectedly bother the long time action star. As he retreated away, Molina ate a giant left that had him down and in all sorts of trouble. Molina rose, but spent the rest of the round getting abused as his Ukrainian opponent searched for a finish.
Ivan Redkach didn’t come out and press for a finish in the third, however, and maybe in hindsight that was his undoing. With about a minute to go in the round, John Molina Jr landed an epic right hand that had Redkach down, hurt, and in even worse shape than Molina had been in the second. He got up too though. With his legs all but gone, Redkach leaned on the ropes and fired back with huge shots as Molina worked for the finish. The end of the third was a truly wild exchange.
The finish came in the fourth when Molina found his still barely mobile adversary along the ropes with another big right hand that had Redkach down face first on the mat. The fight was immediately waved off and fairly so. This was a great fight that should only elevate the profile of both men going forward. John Molina in particularly rarely disappoints in terms of entertainment.
Nigerian fringe contender Wale Omotoso (27-3, 21 KOs) won his junior middleweight debut in the show’s opener via unanimous decision over Freddy Hernandez (34-9, 22 KOs). Well traveled Hernandez opened this fight well and was clearly winning at the half way point, but Omotoso rallied down the stretch, including hurting Hernandez in the eighth, to get what should have been a close win. The cards came back for him, but they were also confusingly wide with one even being a ridiculous shut out.
