Jessie Vargas is determined to knock Liam Smith out and retire him when the two fight on April 30.
The super-welterweight cracker goes down at Madison Square Garden as the chief support to Katie Taylor against Amanda Serrano.
Vargas-Smith has been in the works for a while, but the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted any opportunity for the fight to happen over the last two years. With just over a month to go Vargas is keen to quieten the trash talk that he has heard from his British foe.
“Liam Smith has been talking a lot of smack. I don’t know who he thinks he is,” Vargas told Matchroom Boxing.
“He forgets who he’s facing. I’m definitely going to put a stop to that come April 30th. He doesn’t know what he just did, he awakened the lion. A lot of people might choke but when it comes to trash talking no-one does that to me. When you do you really light up a fire inside of me where I come in as a different person and that’s what I’m going to do.
“He’s a basic fighter and I’m gonna make sure to exploit all of his weaknesses and take him out. My goal is to knock him out.”
Vargas, who is also running for U.S congress, is a former two-weight world champion at 140 and 147lbs, respectively. His official 154lbs debut will come against Smith who won the WBO title at the weight in 2015. The Liverpudlian has said if he can’t beat Vargas he will retire from the sport.
“He says a lot, but he contradicts himself because he did say if he doesn’t beat Jessie Vargas he’s looking to retire. That means he’s already looking to retirement and I’m going to retire him,” said Vargas.