{"id":128448,"date":"2020-02-28T14:04:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T22:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=128448"},"modified":"2020-02-28T14:45:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T22:45:51","slug":"mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing: Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez in Super Flyweight Title Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boxing fans are salivating over a loaded card in Frisco, Texas on Saturday night, as Mikey Garcia takes on Jessie Vargas and Kal Yafai faces off against Roman \u201cChocolatito\u201d Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

\"Mikey
Mikey Garcia (left) takes on Jessie Vargas (right) in the main event of a stacked boxing card in Frisco, Texas on Saturday. (Image: Ed Mulholland\/Matchroom Boxing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

William Hill sees the former four-division champion Garcia as a -500 pick over Vargas (+375).<\/p>\n

Garcia Seeks Title in Fifth Weight Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) last fought in March 2019, when he moved up to welterweight for the first time to take on undefeated champion Errol Spence Jr. for the IBF title. Spence proved to be the better fighter in each of the 12 rounds, handing Garcia his first career loss via unanimous decision.<\/p>\n

Despite that one-sided result, Garcia still believes he can win a title in a fifth weight class. His hope is that a win over Vargas will quickly springboard him back into title contention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I would love an opportunity to fight Manny [Pacquiao]<\/a>,\u201d Garcia told Yahoo Sports. \u201cIt\u2019s been talked about for many years and the moment it comes available, I\u2019d jump on it. I don\u2019t know if it is going to happen or not, but I\u2019m down. But I need to win this fight first and then we can think of what is after it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vargas (29-2-2, 11 KOs) has lost some of his luster over the past five years, but he remains a legitimate world-class competitor at welterweight. He also holds a size edge over the smaller Garcia, and believes he can make a statement with an impressive win on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI plan on giving a fantastic performance so you acknowledge that I\u2019m the best in the division,\u201d Vargas told BoxingScene.com. \u201cThis isn\u2019t an easy fight, but either way, I\u2019m coming to win. I\u2019ve done my homework. Mikey is a good fighter and I\u2019ve looked into some of his past fights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yafai Seeks Respect vs. Legendary Chocolatito <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the co-main event features two of the most successful fighters of boxing\u2019s lower weight classes in recent memory. Yafai (26-0, 15 KOs) comes in as the WBA super flyweight champion, while Gonzalez (48-2, 40 KOs) is a former pound-for-pound king who has held titles at the four lowest weight classes in boxing: minimumweight, light flyweight, flyweight, and super flyweight.<\/p>\n

Despite a dominant career, Yafai hasn\u2019t gained the recognition that Gonzalez enjoyed at the height of his success. The undefeated champion hopes that a win over Chocolatito could finally earn him respect from the boxing world.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictory will give me the recognition I deserve, recognition I don\u2019t believe I have had since becoming a world champion,\u201d Yafai told The Telegraph.<\/em> \u201cThis is my moment for me to make a statement, as Birmingham\u2019s first world champion, as Britain\u2019s first world super-flyweight champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Yafai enters the fight as a -125 favorite over Gonzalez (+105). But the former champion says he is ready to once again put a belt around his waist, nearly three years after losing twice to Wisaksil Wangek.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMy weight is perfect, and my condition is awesome, and we\u2019re almost ready,\u201d Gonzalez told Fino Boxing. \u201cSo you\u2019re going to see the old Chocolatito, and it will be explosive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boxing fans are salivating over a loaded card in Frisco, Texas on Saturday night, as Mikey Garcia takes on Jessie Vargas and Kal Yafai faces off against Roman \u201cChocolatito\u201d Gonzalez. William Hill sees the former four-division champion Garcia as a -500 pick over Vargas (+375). Garcia Seeks Title in Fifth Weight Class Garcia (39-1, 30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":128449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-28T22:04:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-28T22:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/\",\"name\":\"Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-28T22:04:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-28T22:45:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Mikey Garcia (left) takes on Jessie Vargas (right) in the main event of a stacked boxing card in Frisco, Texas on Saturday. (Image: Ed Mulholland\/Matchroom Boxing)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Boxing: Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez in Super Flyweight Title Fight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez","description":"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez","og_description":"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-02-28T22:04:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-28T22:45:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/","name":"Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg","datePublished":"2020-02-28T22:04:44+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-28T22:45:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"Mikey Garcia enters his fight against Jessie Vargas as a strong favorite, while Kal Yafai is evenly matched against Roman Gonzalez.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Mikey-Garcia-Jessie-Vargas.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Mikey Garcia (left) takes on Jessie Vargas (right) in the main event of a stacked boxing card in Frisco, Texas on Saturday. (Image: Ed Mulholland\/Matchroom Boxing)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mikey-garcia-favored-over-jessie-vargas-yafai-battles-gonzalez\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Boxing: Mikey Garcia Favored Over Jessie Vargas, Yafai Battles Gonzalez in Super Flyweight Title Fight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}