Rey Vargas

Rey Geovani Vargas Roldán (born November 25, 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer.

He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC featherweight title since 2022 and the WBC super bantamweight title from 2017 to 2020.

Vargas won 7 national championships in Mexico as an amateur, as well as a gold medal in the 2009 Panamerican Championships.

He competed in the 2009 World Championships but was defeated by Luke Campbell in the first round.

Vargas debuted as a professional in May 2010.

He won the IBF Youth title in his 11th fight.

Vargas won 15 of his first 16 fights by way of knockout.

The first fighter to go the distance with him since his second fight was Yuki Murai.

In March 2014, Vargas was knocked down for the first time against Sylvester Lopez.

Vargas went down in round 2 but won the bout after Lopez suffered an injury and was unable to continue.

The two rematched on November of that same year, Vargas won the second fight with a round 8 TKO.

Vargas went down once again in round 2 of an eight-round fight against Lucian González, after an overhand right.

Vargas was able to survive and get the unanimous decision (78-73, 78–74, 77-75).

In June 2016, Vargas won a shut-out unanimous decision (120-108, 120–108, 120-108) over Alexis Kabore.

With the win, Vargas became the mandatory challenger to the WBC's super bantamweight titlist, Hugo Ruiz.

In September 2016, Vargas defeated former WBA super flyweight champion Alexander Muñoz with a 5th-round TKO.

Muñoz went down four times until the referee finally stopped the contest.

On 25 February 2017, he faced Gavin McDonnell for the vacant WBC super bantamweight title.

The title fight took place in Hull, England.

Vargas established control of the fight early on, using his length and head movement to keep the hometown fighter at bay, while landing short combinations.

McDonnell attempted to rally back during the later rounds, but he was ultimately unable to turn the scorecards around.

Vargas won a majority decision (117-111, 116–112, 114-114) to become a world champion.

Vargas' first defense would come on the Cotto-Kamegai undercard at the StubHub Center, against Ronny Rios.

Vargas was also able to out-box Rios, controlling the bout by fighting at range.

Vargas won via unanimous decision (118-110, 118–110, 115-113).

Vargas made a second defense against Oscar Negrete in another Miguel Cotto undercard, in this case his farewell bout against Sadam Ali.

The match was in December 2017 at Madison Square Garden, and was televised on HBO.

Vargas was cut twice by headbutts but used his length effectively to cruise to a wide unanimous decision (119-109, 119–109, 120-108).

Vargas made his second title defense against the WBC–NABF bantamweight champion Oscar Negrete, who moved up a weight class in order to challenge Vargas.

The bout was scheduled as to co-main event to the Miguel Cotto and Sadam Ali WBO super welterweight title fight.

It took place at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on 2 December 2017 and was broadcast by Showtime.

On 24 November, Vargas' head trainer Ignacio Beristáin revealed it would be their last fight together, as they agreed to part ways afterwards.

Vargas won the fight by a wide unanimous decision.

Two of the judges scored the fight 119–109 for him, while the third judge scored it 120–108 in his favor.

Vargas was cut above each eye, with one cut happening due to an accidental headbutt in the seventh round, while the second cut came about for the same reason in the eight round.

Vargas made his third title defense against the twice-defeated Azat Hovhannisyan on 12 May 2018, at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

Hovhannisyan was ranked #9 by the WBC at super bantamweight.

The fight was booked as the co-main event of a WBO super welterweight title fight, same as his previous defense, between Sadam Ali and Jaime Munguia.

He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–112, 118–110 and 117–111.

Vargas was once again cut by headbutts, once in the eight and once in the twelfth round.