Jose Zepeda teaches Josue Vargas a lesson

On Saturday night, at the Hulu Theatre in Madison Square Garden, Josue Vargas got a lesson in levels, served up fast and hot, with a side dish of humble pie, from Jose Zepeda.

Zepeda and Vargas had reverse ages with the veteran Zepeda coming in at age 32, while the prospect Vargas was 23. In the pre-fight presser a few days before the bout, Vargas seemed more bewildered than angry that his opponent Zepeda didn’t realize that this fight was so obviously the changing of the guard. Out with the (old) in former world title challenger Zepeda, and in with the (new) younger, fresher up-start contender in Vargas.

But, there are many cases of fighters talking the talk at pressers and weigh-ins; walking the walk, under the bright lights, is another story.

Long Beach, California’s Zepeda, caught Vargas with a flush counter left, after touching him with his jab from the south paw stance, that floored him and set the table for the main course finish shortly thereafter. After dropping him just over a minute into the fight, Zepeda backed Vargas into a corner and proceeded to unload both barrels until the referee stepped into stop it. KO 1.

While Vargas sounded confident throughout fight week, perhaps buoyed by a virtually undefeated record, (save for a DQ loss 5 years ago), he clearly hadn’t done his homework. Zepeda was coming in at 34-2, with 26 KO’s and with a wealth of experience.

After turning pro in 2009, Zepeda went undefeated in his first 6 years before having to bow out in 2 rounds with a shoulder injury in his first world title shot in England in 2015. After a NC (due to a cut) in his next fight, he went 7-0 over the next couple of years before losing a very close decision to champion Jose Ramirez for the WBC super lightweight title. He then went 4-0 before the Vargas fight, including wins over former world champion Jose Pedraza, word title challenger Hank Lundy and a fight of the year war with Ivan Baranchyk.

Coming into this bout, if Vargas thought he had a shop-worn veteran on his hands, who was on the downside, he was sadly mistaken. Timing is often everything in boxing and as Zepeda said after the bout, “I’m in my prime”.

After the fight, Zepeda, who is now looking to challenge for a world title, was adamant that the cocky, young Puerto Rico-born, Brooklyn, New York-residing Vargas got a lesson in levels.

“I told him I hit hard,” Zepeda told ESPN’s Mark Kriegel in the ring following the win. “I hit him and didn’t think he’d recover from that. He was wobbly on his feet and that’s how I finished. I was ready. I was 100% ready,” said Zepeda, who improves to 35-2 (27 KO’s). “I told him in the press conference there’s levels to this. He wanted the fight. I showed him tonight that there’s levels to this.”

Vargas, who fell to19-2, (9 KO’s), indeed got a lesson in levels.