Vargas dumps Jones for Morales as trainer for title fight

The biggest fight of Jessie Vargas’ career is less than a month away, and the Las Vegan has changed trainers.

Vargas, the unbeaten World Boxing Association junior welterweight champion, will have Erik Morales in his corner instead of Roy Jones Jr. when he faces Timothy Bradley on June 27 at Carson, Calif., for the vacant World Boxing Organization welterweight belt.

The fight at the StubHub Center will be televised by HBO.

“This is the fight of a lifetime, and I need a trainer every day,” Vargas said. “I went to the gym and Roy wasn’t even there. He wasn’t even in the state. He was in Pensacola (Fla.).

“I was like, ‘What’s the deal?’ Roy said he really didn’t have the time to work with me. I told Roy I had to have someone there every day, and he wasn’t in a position to do that for this fight with all the other things he’s got going on.”

Vargas’ manager, Cameron Dunkin, said he supports the decision.

“I believe that Jessie will be in great shape and he knows what to do,” Dunkin said. “Erik Morales knows all about boxing and I’m sure he’ll bring some things to the table that are different.”

Vargas (26-0, nine knockouts) said he had been thinking about working with Morales and reached out to the former world champion.

“I thought, ‘Who could bring me in for this fight?’ and Erik Morales’ name kept coming up,” Vargas said. “He knows how to win at a championship level, and I have no doubt I will be ready to win June 27.”

Morales said he’s not going to make sweeping changes. “It’s a little different, but Jessie is very advanced,” he said. “He’s strong and healthy, and he’s a quick learner. We’re going to give him more tools, more weapons.”

Vargas will move his training camp to Mount Charleston on Monday and train for three weeks at the Spring Mountain Youth Camp gym he helped build.

“It’s perfect timing,” Vargas said. “I can really focus on the fight now that we have everything in place.”

■ CHANGE OF PLANS — Diego Magdaleno had been set to fight on the Vargas-Bradley undercard. Instead, the Las Vegas lightweight will fight the previous night in Hidalgo, Texas.

According to Magdaleno, HBO didn’t want to televise his bout, so he’ll fight June 26 on a truTV-televised card.

Magdaleno (27-1, 11 KOs), who last fought Nov. 8, will face Jose “Chelo” Gonzalez (24-1, 19 KOs) in a 12-round WBO lightweight title eliminator bout.

The fact Magdaleno is in position to compete for a world title is nice, but it comes with a price. He had expected fans from Las Vegas to make the trip to California to watch him fight.

Worse yet, his trainer, Joel Diaz, probably won’t be in his corner. Diaz also trains Bradley, and it’s highly unlikely he will fly back and forth to Texas to guide Magdaleno. Diaz’s brother Antonio and Jose Rodriguez probably will work Magdaleno’s corner.

“It’s not the best situation,” Magdaleno said. “Everything was good. Coach (Diaz) was preparing me for StubHub along with Tim, and I was so excited to be on that card. Now I’ve got to go to Texas. I don’t have any choice.”

■ JUNE 21 CARD — At the MGM Grand Garden, the ring usually is taken down as soon as the final bell sounds after the last fight of the night.

But not June 20. The ring will stay put after the Shawn Porter-Adrien Broner fight concludes the Premier Boxing Champions card on NBC so junior welterweights Rances Barthelemy and Antonio DeMarco can meet the following day in the main event of a PBC card on CBS.

Barthelemy (22-0, 13 KOs) lives in Las Vegas but last fought in Southern Nevada in 2012 at Texas Station. DeMarco (31-4-1, 23 KOs) lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Vargas on Nov. 23 in Macau in a fight for Vargas’ 140-pound belt.

■ PASCAL ADDED FOR JULY 25 — Former world light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will face unbeaten Yunieski Gonzalez on the undercard of the July 25 light heavyweight title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Nadib Mohammedi at Mandalay Bay.

HBO will televise the 10-round bout.

Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) was stopped by Kovalev in the eighth round March 14 in Montreal. The fight will be Pascal’s first in Las Vegas. Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KOs) has fought once in Las Vegas, in May 2012 at Texas Station.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.