Fernando Vargas Jr. wants to stay active as much as possible. Even fighting twice in less than a month.
The unbeaten junior middleweight prospect returns to action tonight, squaring off against Andre Byrd at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. The six-round bout will headline a five-bout Westside Promotions card.
Vargas (10-0, 10 knockouts), who resides in North Las Vegas, Nevada, last fought on June 2, winning by knockout after the second round after opponent, former unbeaten prospect Heber Rondon, was unable to continue after suffering an apparent shoulder injury early in the fight.
The win over Rondon took place less than three months after the southpaw Vargas stopped David Bustamante in the second round.
Tonight’s fight against Byrd marks Vargas’ fourth fight of 2023. The 26-year-old is the oldest of former junior middleweight world champion Fernando Vargas’ three sons.
Vargas and younger brother, Amado Vargas, are promoted by Marv Rodriguez. Youngest sibling Emiliano Vargas is promoted by Top Rank.
Byrd (10-13-2, 1 KO), who resides in Jacksonville, Florida, has won his last two fights, both by decision against former fringe contender Darryl Cunningham, the last occurring on December 30.
The 38-year-old has had notable fights as of late. Byrd lost by decision to Mykquan Williams in February 2019, and to Malik Hawkins less than two months later. About two months after the loss to Hawkins, Byrd did defeat Gerome Quigley, Jr., who entered the fight unbeaten, by split decision.
In the co-feature, junior lightweight Andy Vences (23-4-2, 12 KOs) of nearby San Jose will face Venezuela’s Leonardo Alcala in an eight-round bout.
Vences last stepped into the ring on February 19, fighting to a technical draw in the opening round. Towards the end of the round, as Vences threw an overhand right, opponent Cristian Mino ducked down, forcing the punch to graze the back of the head. Mino dramatically dropped to the canvas, and when referee Dan Stell tended to Mino and touched his head, Mino writhed in pain, yelling he was not able to continue. Vences was originally disqualified, but the outcome was later changed to a technical draw due to the fight stopping on an ‘accidental illegal punch.’
The 32-year-old has lost to current IBF world featherweight titleholder Luis Alberto Lopez, unbeaten junior lightweights Albert Bell and Henry Lebron, and to former world title challenger Jono Carroll. Vences does have decision wins over Casey Ramos and Mark Bernaldez.
Alcala (21-5, 15 KOs) was stopped by unbeaten Mirco Cuello in the second round of his last fight on June 23 of last year. He has lost two of his last three fights.
Welterweight Evan Holyfield (10-1, 7 KOs), the son of former undisputed cruiserweight and undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, will also fight on the card. The 25-year-old from Atlanta will square off against Juan Meza Moreno (4-2, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles in a six-round bout.
In another welterweight bout, Jacob Macalolooy (5-0, 4 KOs) of San Diego will square off against Puerto Rico’s Yainiel Alvarez Telemaco (3-2-2, 1 KO) in a six-round bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing