Las Vegan Jessie Vargas lands fight against Adrien Broner

Jessie Vargas joined Premier Boxing Champions last year because of the many notable welterweight names in the Las Vegas-based company’s stable.

After striking out on landing a fight against Keith Thurman, Vargas finally has his first major bout since losing to Manny Pacquiao in 2016 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Vargas, a Las Vegas native, will face former four-division champion Adrien Broner on April 21 in a Showtime-televised main event from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight will be at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

“This is a fight that should garner a lot of attention from boxing fans, and they deserve a fight like this,” said Vargas, a former WBO welterweight champion. “We are two entertaining fighters who come in and give it their all. This is a fight that will have a lot of fireworks.

“I respect Broner and his skills, but he’s very beatable. The fight was presented to me, and I didn’t think twice about taking it.”

Broner was initially scheduled to fight Omar Figueroa at 140 pounds, but Figueroa suffered a shoulder injury in training and withdrew.

In his two major fights, Vargas (28-2, 10 knockouts) has lost to Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley Jr. He will get a third opportunity against the flashy Broner, who has had many run-ins with the law in the past year.

Showtime will host a tripleheader April 21. In the co-main event, Jermall Charlo will meet Hugo Centeno in a middleweight bout. Gervonta Davis and Jesus Cuellar open the card in a junior lightweight match.

Vargas, who left Top Rank, won his first match with PBC, a unanimous decision over Aaron Herrera in December.

Fights to see Saturday

WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez defends his title against Scott Quigg in an ESPN-televised main event from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The ESPN card airs at 7:30 p.m.

Showtime will have a dueling card with Mikey Garcia gunning for a fourth division title against junior welterweight titlist Sergey Lipinets. The Showtime card begins at 7:15 p.m.

“At the end of my career, this is the fight that will have opened the door for even bigger fights,” Garcia said. “I plan on moving up and fighting even bigger names. This is the kind of fight that really motivates me, and it’s going to be the first of many big fights.”

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Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GManzano24 on Twitter.