A REMATCH with dethroned World Boxing Council featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr. will have to wait after the WBC ordered late Wednesday that newly-crowned WBC featherweight king Mark Magsayo face top-ranked Mexican contender Rey Vargas, the DAZN boxing promotion website reported.
“The governing body said the mandatory (title) fight had been ordered before Gary Russell Jr. was scheduled to face Magsayo,” DAZN writer Erika Montoya reported.
A 1-4 underdog, Magsayo outboxed an injured Rusell, who practically fought with one arm, to wrest the WBC featherweight belt from the American with a majority decision win last Sunday at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
“I am very happy that the WBC reiterated my position as a title challenger. I feel very happy,” Vargas, a former WBC super bantamweight champ, was quoted as saying in the story.
The report said Magsayo assumed the contractual obligations of Russell, who had been tipped to beat the Filipino challenger and had signed a previous deal to face Vargas as his next opponent.
The mandatory title fight promises to be an interesting encounter between two undefeated boxers who both pack a wallop.
With his latest triumph, the Filipino “Magnifico,” raised his record to 24 wins, 16 by knockout, while Vargas, a native of Otumba, Mexico, is also unbeaten in 35 matches, 22 of them won by the short route.
Magsayo, 26, is five years younger than Vargas, 31, is four inches shorter at 5-foot-6 to the Mexican, who stands 5-foot-10 and has a three-inch reach edge over the Filipino.
Vargas last fought on Nov. 6, winning by unanimous decision over compatriot Leonardo Baez in a 10-round non-title bout at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
