[8.5] DANIEL ZARAGOZA 66-55(28)-8-3 [Super-Bantamweight & Bantamweight]: The Ring online -
Best I Faced: Daniel Zargoza: Daniel Zaragoza was one of the best road warriors of the late-1980s and much of the ’90s. Never the most talented fighter around, he used his considerable guile and resolve to win world titles, initially at bantamweight, though junior featherweight was where he came into his own.
Zaragoza was born in Mexico City and came from a boxing family. His father Agustin was a good boxer; he had 12 children and taught his five sons how to box. Daniel’s older brother Agustin junior won a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics. Daniel won the Mexican Golden Gloves in 1978 and competed internationally; the pinnacle came when he represented Mexico at the 1980 Olympics, though he lost before the medal round. He left the unpaid ranks with a record of 54-4.
In the fall of 1980 Zaragoza made the transition to the professional ranks. Within two years, he’d won the Mexican National title at bantamweight, then retained his crown 10 times before he met Fred Jackson for the vacant WBC belt in Aruba.
A close fight ensued, when Jackson was disqualified for what was deemed an intentional headbutt that cut Zaragoza’s forehead.
Zaragoza would lose the championship three months later in his first defense against Miguel Lora by unanimous decision.
He elected to step up to junior featherweight, losing his first fight in the new weight class against budding Australian superstar Jeff Fenech.
Just as he would countless times in his career ‘El Raton/The Mouse’ regrouped and, in 1988, he stunned legendary Carlos Zarate, stopping his fellow Mexican in the 10th round to claim the vacant WBC junior featherweight crown.
Interestingly, Zaragoza was trained for the Zarate fight by Nacho Beristain, becoming the Hall of Fame trainer’s first world champion.
When Beristain opened his own gym, a few years later, he combined the surnames of Gilberto Roman – another of his world champions – with Zaragoza and called the gym Romanza. The gym went on to forge many elite champions, including Juan Manuel Marquez, his younger brother Rafael, Humberto ‘Chiquita’ Gonzalez and Ricardo Lopez.
Zaragoza would make five successful defenses, decisioning Paul Banke and Chan Young Park before losing to Banke in a rematch.
While Zaragoza sat on the sidelines, the WBC title changed hands several times, before he regained it, eking out a split decision over Kiyoshi Hatanaka. Zaragoza would win a rubber match against Banke, before again losing the title in France to Thierry Jacob.
A two-fight series with Tracy Patterson followed (D 12 and L TKO 7 due to cuts) and it appeared that the Mexico City native was ready to be put out to pasture.
However, like all top fighters, Zaragoza had one final hurrah left. After drawing with Hector Acero-Sanchez in June of 1995, he beat the skilled Dominican-born fighter five months later to claim the WBC title for a third time.
Looking back, he considers that to be his proudest moment in his career.
‘Conquering my fourth world title,’ Zaragoza proudly told RingTV.com through Victor Silva. ‘Being 37 years old, I think I am the oldest fighter to win the WBC title at junior featherweight.’
He went on to make four defenses, edging, among others, then unbeaten Wayne McCullough (SD 12) and Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (TKO 11, UD 12) in Japan in front of the popular stars home fans.
Months shy of his 40th birthday, Zaragoza would fight for the final time, losing his title, via 11-round KO, against a young up-and-coming Erik Morales. He exited the sport with a very respectable 55-8-3 (28 knockouts) record.
The Mexico City-born fighter engaged in 22 world title fights in his 17-year pro career; incredibly none of them took place in his homeland.
Zaragoza will be remembered as a teak-tough blood-and-guts warrior, who used his southpaw stance and jab to fend off opponents, along with an impressive work rate.
The grizzled veteran enjoyed several highlights during his career.
‘My biggest victories were being inside boxing for 20 years, three years in amateur boxing and 17 professionally, and having fought at the Olympic Games,’ he said. ‘During my professional career, the things that I enjoyed the most were winning my world championships and now I am really proud of being a Hall-of-Famer in Los Angeles and in Canastota (New York).’
Zaragoza was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004.
Today, Zaragoza, 59, remains involved in boxing, he runs his own gym the Zaragoza Boxing Hall, he also manages amateur and professional fighters. He is married and is a proud father and grandfather. The Ring online article Anson Wainwright
[8.5] REY VARGAS 33-33(22)-0: Wikiwand online -
Rey Geovani Vargas Roldan (born November 25, 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the current WBC super bantamweight champion. He is known for his large stature for the weight class and his ability to box sharply on the outside. Vargas is trained by, 2016 Manager of the Year, Oscar Ortiz and coached by legendary Nacho Beristain.
Vargas won 7 national championships in Mexico as an amateur, as well as a gold medal in the 2009 Pan-American 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. On 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).
On 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. On September 2016, Vargas defeated former WBA super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz 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 Centre, 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). Wikiwand online article