Digital Social Hour - The Shocking Truth About My World Title Win at 24 I Jessie Vargas DSH #469

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Ever wondered what it takes to win a world title at 24? In this episode of the Digital Social Hour podcast, professional boxer Jesse Vargas comes to the show to talk about his incredible journey to becoming a world champion. Jesse dives deep into the challenges he faced, the fulfillment of achieving his dreams, and the intense training that got him there. He also discusses the crucial role his family played, especially his father’s support, and the sacrifices he made along the way. From switching sports to finding his passion in boxing, Jesse shares his riveting story, including the fierce battles in two different weight classes and the tough opponents he faced. Plus, hear his thoughts on the modern wave of influencer boxing, the complexities of family dynamics for pro athletes, and the mental fortitude required to stay at the top. Join host Sean Kelly for an engaging and candid conversation with Jesse Vargas, packed with insights into the life of a professional athlete and what it takes to rise to the pinnacle of the sport. Don’t miss out on Jesse’s personal stories, his advice on navigating professional and personal challenges, and his future aspirations.  APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://forms.gle/D2cLkWfJx46pDK1MA Tags: podcast, Sean Kelly, Digital Social Hour, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Instagram, sponsors, business inquiries. #BoxingCareer #Boxing #BoxingAchievements #ProfessionalBoxer #BoxingSacrifices CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - Jesse Vargas on His Boxing Career 3:18 - Becoming a 2-Division World Champion 6:06 - Being Undefeated for 25 Fights 7:20 - Controversial Loss to Bradley 13:12 - How to Avoid Baby Mama Drama 18:14 - How Money Changes People 20:40 - What Did You Learn in the Past 4 Years 25:13 - What's Your Take on Influencer Boxing 31:40 - Where to Find Jesse Vargas 33:37 - Opportunities Present Themselves Daily BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Which one was tougher? I think they're all tough in their own way. The level of fulfillment after the first world title was very special to me. It felt like a dream. It felt like weight lifted from my shoulders after you're being recognized as the world champion, right? I told myself when I was young, I said, I got to be champion by the time I'm 21, 24 at the latest. And yeah, I did do that 24.

Wherever you guys are watching this show, I would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe. It helps a lot with the algorithm. It helps us get bigger and better guests and it helps us grow the team. Truly means a lot. Thank you guys for supporting and here's the episode.

All right, Jesse Vargas here today. Professional boxer, man. Now you're turning a new chapter in your life, right? Yeah, that's right. Well, first of all, thank you for having me what's up sean absolutely dude great to see you dude yeah same here man what can i say it's a pleasure to be here um you know i've had a good life thankfully and still very young so we still got a bright future ahead yeah quite the career man and it sounds like you're still mentally sharp which is great because with certain fighters you see them

kind of lose that you know what i mean once they once they retire. Yeah, that's what they say, man. They say that. I'm just glad that I'm in a position where, you know, I have numerous opportunities in front of me or I can jump onto new opportunities in the future. Whatever it is that I want to pursue, I guess it has become complicated for other athletes. And, you know, I'm just grateful.

I think overall it's – i blame it all on my family right as giving them all the the uh the feedback for me as a child as a child but as their child right because no matter how old you are you always be your your parents child back in their day it was it was i mean i i thank them for everything that they've done because that's they made me into the man i am now yeah talk to me about that family dynamic especially growing up early did you have their support in boxing from day one i did um i mean my father understood that i had to be um occupied after school and he told me you know what jesse you gotta pick an after-school activity i started with soccer i enjoyed it but i wasn't a big fan of running pretty often once i noticed that in soccer it's not you're

not only running when you're playing soccer but you're also running in the training sessions but man this is a lot i don't want to do this yeah but i finished it i did well had fun but it was too much work went into taekwondo we didn't fight enough i mean i advanced like orange belt but we we wouldn't spar much we wouldn't fight much i thought you know what this is boring because i want to be like buying them right at that time it was john claude bad damn he was in blood sport i was like yo that's cool i want to be like him um but there wasn't enough action for it in me so in my dad i asked him hey dad i don't want this i want to do something else he took me to boxing and after that my father my father um he bought a documentary once he saw that i was intrigued with the sport right uh

documentary on julius chavez and it showed everything that he had accomplished um you know how he was able to purchase a home for his mother through boxing made it into business right i thought wow you can do this and you could i mean i love it so it's great but you can make money off of it you can take care of your family you can make sure they don't ever have to worry about working a day in their life as well that's what i want i want to be a world champion i want to be famous and yeah thankfully i accomplished it uh two division world champion now um and you know i've had numerous opportunities in front of me thankfully yeah two divisions man that's crazy so that's two different weight classes yeah two different weight classes i was champion at 140 pounds and then again at 147 pounds wow so thankfully it went well for me which one was tougher you said

good question i think they're all tough and in their own way um but i'd say the level of fulfillment after the first world title was very special to me it was hard to make the weight um it was a good fight and it just it felt like a dream it felt like weight lifted from my shoulders after you you're being recognized as the world champion right yeah you worked your whole life yeah the whole life man did it at 24 and honestly it just was very special and i told myself when i was young i said i gotta be champion By the time I'm 21 24 at the latest At the very latest

And yeah I did it at 24 Wow That's incredible man It was amazing man And was that fight The full What is it 12 rounds

It went the full 12 rounds Yeah I was fighting An undefeated Russian His name was Is Khabib Alekhberdiev He was a tough fighter He had just beat John Guzman

For two different titles The IBO world title And the WBA world title And yeah like bernie he was a tough fighter he had just beat juan guzman for two different titles the ibo world title and the wba world title and um yeah i just had those two straps on on my shoulders and i remember just looking up and wow like it's done that's amazing yeah my father's been there every step of the way he's always supported me as we talked about earlier um and he's the reason why i'd say that you know i was able to be successful uh through a lot of the input that i've gotten from him i mean early on i was gonna stop boxing at the age of 15 16 15 and a half almost 16 i wanted to work i wanted to make my own money i was always very

proud proud over like what i had right and um and somebody that dad i think i'm gonna quit because i i want to start working i want to start making money i want to take my girlfriend to the movies and my father says jesse but you love doing this that's something i want to make money i don't want to keep asking you for money right to take it to the movies jesse listen you have two opportunities here okay you could be you could follow your dream and make money off of it all right because you're really good like i'm looking at the other athletes the other fighters not as good as you everything comes easy to you you should you should think about it and he tells me this jesse just think about it like this all right do you want to work the rest of your life right and having to follow

orders from somebody else because that's what you're gonna have to do you have to work by somebody else you're gonna have to follow their orders whatever they want you're gonna have a bad day a good day doesn't matter or you want to follow your dream you want to make tons of money retire early and then never have to work a day in your life and that made me think i don't know what like what brought him to that idea to explain that to me but it was so perfect and exactly what i needed to hear and ever since then i mean i just kept going i never stopped i love that man yeah that commitment how long were you undefeated for uh man i was undefeated all the way until 20 i'm not happy with that fight but 25 yeah so i became world champion i defended it then i jumped up a division to welterweight yeah and um

i remember that fight very well very vividly i was umweight yeah and um i remember that fight very well very vividly i was um i wasn't winning i remember that fight i just couldn't get off man it was strange felt off yeah dude that was like one of me and my no yeah one of my fights one of my only fights where i would say that that fight i was just off like like my timing was off like i was trying to let my punches go but i couldn't it was strange man everything was delayed do you think you over trained and your body was kind of given out a bit that could have been it tell you what this is my first time fight uh training in elevation high elevation i trained in mount charleston and some people would tell me leave two weeks before right that way you can acclimatize to the weather down here but i said no i feel great i feel good and i did i feel

fantastic so i stayed there all the way to like just one week before the fight when i took off to la and um it was that could have been him i think it's i could have been over trained wow yeah i can't prove it because i never went back to get that same feeling right i just said i'm never going back to elevation again um it was just frustrating but um i was losing the fight and i knew it so coming into the 12th round I thought alright Well I'm losing this fight I just got to get him

With one big punch Yeah I come in And I'm like I get hit a couple times And I found it Somehow I found that big shot Landed right on his chin

Got him out He was dancing all over the place And I'm going on the attack And then he grabs me And when he grabs me I'm still punching the referee comes in and he waves it off i'm like yeah i'm out there you know just screaming oh my god it was an exciting moment yeah i was up on the ropes and then like three minutes later i see a

lot of commotion in the ring and i'm thinking what's going on apparently the referee later on he says well i thought i heard the 10 second clicker 10 second clickers They do this Like right after the When the round is going to finish 10 seconds remaining They do the clickers And then the bell

Well he stopped it in 10 seconds And he said It's because I thought I heard The bell ring And he stole that from me What? Yeah that was a tough one Yeah so I was

At that time I was 25 Damn It was frustrating man So how did you overcome mentally you must have been that must have really messed you up right you know what i try not to it was frustrating but um i try not to let it get to me and everything negative i try to turn it into a positive so i thought okay i'm gonna i'm gonna become world champion again i actually fought the case i paid lawyers to get on that case and to fight it for me with the California State Athletic Commission to change the decision.

Damn. Because we never finished the fight. They never let me continue. They stopped the fight with eight seconds remaining. And he was hurt. He was done. And then we never finished the eight seconds. Right.

So I was very frustrated. Actually, I don't even talk about that fight because it's frustrating. Damn. But, yeah, i want to show that here um yeah that happened unfortunately they couldn't change the decision my lawyers you know weren't successful in that area and i just said you know i'll just keep moving forward and the wbo which was the title that we were fighting for in that fight they saw the issues at hand at that time so when they said tell you what jesse we're going to give you another

opportunity to fight for the world title Against Saddam Ali Saddam Ali was a guy That no one wanted to fight with At that time And How come? He was tough He was a tough fighter

He was an Olympian A US Olympian Very athletic Talented athlete Fast Quick Explosive Elusive

He was great And I knew what I was in front of So I thought yeah This guy's good So I got to take this serious And I prepared man I think that was the best Preparation I've ever had And that's been the best Performance I've ever had Wow i was in front of so i thought yeah this guy's good so i gotta take this serious and i prepared man i think that was the best preparation i've ever had and that's been the best performance i've ever had wow uh because mentally and physically like i was determined focused like

nothing was there was no way i was gonna lose that fight right i was so angry what had happened in the previous fight the first loss so it does not happen again and it's been my best performance to date i mean i visualized it i we practiced it over and over again and it worked out just as i thought i mean a couple you know a couple little mistakes that maybe i didn't see yeah in mind beforehand but everything turned out well i did i won by knockout damn yeah i won by knock i mean it was it was sensational honestly and it was yeah it was fantastic incredible and then from there you fought manny shortly after that right yeah we fought for that belt yeah so i won the wbo world title in that fight against adam ali and then he came back

he beat miguel cotto after i beat him so i mean he's a good fighter great fighter because miguel cotto is one of the greatest uh puerto rican fighters there's ever been and then you have um me fighting manny pacquiao and we went for a 12 round decision he was fast man experience i remember that very well um the power was there or just the speed mainly to be honest with you was the speed that i think became difficult for me to really counter him right to you know figure him out to put him down in one position and you know and get him with the counter or set him up somehow you know it was just he was hard to figure out but um i think it was his speed that that really surprised me yeah but um i mean i wasn't very prepared for that fight as well i just didn't have the experience he had and uh yeah but i mean

it was a great experience it was uh you know it was a great learning experience right that's legendary i still remember watching him in floyd fight when i was in high school that was like a big deal i think it broke ppv records you did and i wanted him to win but floyd won i think both times yeah well i mean floyd's he's i mean they call him the best ever right i think he's defensively the best ever and he knows how to pick his moments right he fights in spurts and he makes sure that when um whenever you're trying to set him up he's using that against you right and he can identify that pretty quickly yeah he's great he's my first promoter actually oh yeah yeah he's my first promoter he's great man he's a great guy yeah he takes care of his fighters well he He took care of me well. Nice. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a second contract going after that.

A lot of things were in the middle of it. He was going through a few other circumstances at that time, which led us to delay the next signing. And, yeah, so I just got impatient. I feel that. Somebody else, yeah. He's on the older side now right he's almost 50 yeah do you think you could take him one-on-one too as a fighter we think that we could take on everybody but um floyd is very intelligent i mean he's 50 now so you gotta

keep that in mind you know i'm a lot younger but um he's gonna fight manny pacquiao again in an exhibition i saw that do you got winning that one? I think Floyd takes it. Yeah. I mean, it'd be a good one. Again, I mean, they're both a little older. Manny hasn't been in the ring in a while. I think he's going to do an exhibition soon in Thailand or something, right?

Yeah, we'll see how he looks in that. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see. But who would I pick over that? I'd say Floyd has more in him, in my opinion. I'm going to go with Floyd. I mean, 50-0, dude. It's hard to bet against that. Exactly.

Yeah. All right. I want to dive into the issue with baby mamas. You got an interesting take on this in regards to baby mamas with professional athletes. And you probably even witnessed this, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, me being a professional athlete and successful at that one i um i've been able to learn from others from others mistakes i it's uh it's never easy when you're once you're in that situation

um you know you got to pick the right one i mean having kids out of wedlock is very very difficult not only for athletes everyone in general and for the child most importantly i think the who's more difficult for is for the child in the long run right um because if they don't have good co-parenting skills you know good communication the child is is later on going to have you know some type of resentment again against either or the other, whether it be because of the truth or because of the lies. It's tough. But overall, in athletes, that I can talk about, and I'd say we definitely got – we jump the gun sometimes, having kids too early.

We don't take care of each other as much in that area. I would suggest for all athletes to make sure, to be patient and make sure that you pick the right one. When you have a child, it's because you're ready to settle down, because you're ready to, you've found a woman who you want to spend the rest of your life with. I know it sounds cheesy, it sounds, right, not like it's coming from a professional athlete,

but in reality, that's the truth. I've learned it, right, from personal experience, experience from my friends experiences um there's nothing better than waiting for the right one and having kids at the right time again the kids you know they're the ones losing at the end if i mean they're the ones that are mainly going through trouble um as they grow up because you weren't ready or she wasn't ready or because the baby mama is trying to take advantage of uh the pockets that the other guy has or vice versa. If the woman is the moneymaker and the guy is trying to get the money, either way it goes, I'd say that you've got to understand

that when you date somebody that – when an athlete is dating – how can I put it in a nice way? Yeah. Tell you what you gotta it's just hard it's a hard subject to touch but i'll give you an example there was a friend of mine who um very close friend of mine and we're speaking and he's telling me his issues he's like man my baby mama um she uh called me crying and telling me not to take the child away from her right i'm never gonna do that you know i told her since i was a kid that's what he says

uh told her that you know i want her to spend time with you and with me you know with both and then the only deal here is for you never to take my child away from me right they never had nothing in papers a child i don't know she must be five six years old just a verbal agreement yeah yeah and um so they go to court uh later on after they had that conversation again this woman called him crying right i can't you know please don't take my child away because the child was with him from monday through friday and every now and then on saturday and sunday she'd be with her mom right for some reason uh all the way to when she was six months to like five five and a half um she was with the dad basically um 85 percent of the time and um so the the dad my friend at that time he uh he says of course I'm not gonna take my daughter away from you don't worry about

that you know and it went to court he gave her everything he gave her um he thought he was doing um like uh was it a co-parenting you know but you know he gave her all the rights he gave her full control wow yeah just like that it's fine i mean you just let me see my daughter and that's it and shortly after like six eight months after like no you're not seeing your daughter today wow yeah and then it started like that and then he would tell me and i'd feel bad for him i said man just be patient you know and talk to her and and then um yeah later on she's asking for more money and more money and then always trying to go for him for more money it's like it's all she does because i mean she wasn't well off right, right? She had a hard job.

Are you interested in coming on the Digital Social Hour podcast as a guest? Well, click the application link below in the description of this video. We are always looking for cool stories, cool entrepreneurs to talk to you about business and life. Click the application link below, and here's the episode, guys. She grew up in poverty. She was already left with another baby daddy and the baby daddy left just left left her to take care of that that child so basically she wasn't doing well financially so at the end of the day everything she does from that point on once she got that

money maker like everything she learned she researched how can i take advantage of him i gotta get more money this is a person that was calling crying. Please don't do it. Of course not. The guy says, no, it's fine. It's fine. Money changes people, man. Boom. Yeah. It may sound like a boring story, but it just shows you how people can change so quickly

and easily for money. Yeah. Right. And I think athletes, we athletes have to make sure that when we do commit to having a child, it's because we're ready to settle down. We're ready to have a relationship with this woman. And she knows exactly where we're coming from. She knows that, all right, we're going to settle down we're ready to have a relationship with this woman and she knows exactly where we're coming from she knows that all right we're gonna be busy making the money but we need you at home or whatever the case whatever the case you have with

her yeah right if you work all right who's gonna babysit my child everything has to be planned out to perfection because i mean i think in my point of view as a professional athlete and as a man in life the most the biggest fulfillment in life is to be able to have a family and then have your children in my point of view have your children want to come back when they're 20 25 28 like calling your dad um would you like to go grab coffee why don't we hang out whatever the case is right i mean to me that's the biggest fulfillment in life is that's when you know you did a good job with your family that's a good sign and that's so true because some people after college they didn't never come home you know what i mean yeah they never come home and uh you know that's

thankfully that's not my case right but um again i've seen numerous situations where you know things don't go as perfectly as they thought yeah it's tough man especially for pro athletes because they got hundreds thousands of girls hitting them up on social media and it's tempting right because they all look good but like you said you got to pick the right one you got to pick the right one man and after a while i'm sure a lot of athletes seen this already but you know you see a beautiful girl here there i mean after a while it's just like all right well they're all beautiful but what's different like uh let's understand them for who they are as a person let's enjoy their company right that's the most important thing in my point of view but that's again that's probably me i seen it now because you know i'm a

little older wiser um but when i was young i just want to have fun hang out here hang out there yeah and uh well fun and and focus on my career so i'd focus on my career, but on my off time, you know, I hung out with friends and of course I dated. Yeah. You know, I mean, I have my own beautiful child as well.

So I kind of, I've been living and now I understand, right, you know what, these are my errors here. All right. How can I better them?

How can I make sure not to make that same mistake? You know, that's in the position that I'm in now. I mean, I lived life very quickly, right?

I've learned a lot in the process. I had a lot of quickly right I've learned a lot in the process I had a lot of success I've made a lot of mistakes also right I don't want to say downfalls but I'd say I've had a lot of you know um you know a situation where I just learned from and make sure to make me a better man yeah you said you've learned more in the past four years than your whole life right I'd love to dive into that yeah man i mean going back to what we were saying that i i focused on the gym becoming world champion every now and then hang out my friends become world champion again fighting for another world title getting the biggest fights possible what's the biggest money with biggest purse in the next fight you know it's all business business business

all right let's have some fun all right business business business all right let's have some fun all right and but through that business matter it was only my father myself of course um my mother so almost family and that's it and every now and then you know i'd hang out with some friends that's the occasion having fun so then once i'm not fighting as often i'm not focused and fighting anymore that's like 2020 all right i'm having some fun i'm meeting a lot of people i'm going out a lot a lot more than i used to so um at that time i start meeting new people and just getting new friends you know it's cool oh it's cool it's my friend yeah so man we started seeing each other very often but man in that process i've learned so much because some people are gonna rip you off not rip you i don't use

that word some people will use you to make money some people will trick you uh to make money off of you some people will lie to you some people say something that they're not um and and so many things kind of for me just made me open my eyes like oh this is the real world real world this is the real world i mean if you're not on top of it you're gonna be left with nothing yeah right and that's when i realized okay this is what my dad's been talking about this is what my dad is so private this is what my dad you know is he's somewhat he's somewhat exclusive you know it's all right he's wise so why don't i use that experience and then take it up i step it up a notch yeah again i mean i hope i don't make any more mistakes but that's

that's not a part of life right yeah exactly mistakes are necessary man yeah that's exactly what i was gonna say next actually yeah because i've learned the most through my mistakes right so once you commit the actual mistake yourself yourself you're thinking all right well you know what let me make sure not to do that again then you go from there and i'd say man it's it's been a tough four years but it made me grow up quick man again i mean as an athlete you'll focus on you know your sport then my boys know, my friends know. He's having fun. I mean, football players, fighters. There's some rare occasions like Son of God, which is Andre Ward.

He's very, very disciplined at all times. But he retired undefeated. He made lucrative paychecks. I mean, that's the reason why he's where he is. I mean, again, I've had ups and downs, but, you know, that explains to me why, right? Because he, and going back to him, he retired undefeated, and that explains why. He was very focused, determined, never let his foot off the gas. I had ups and downs, I'd say, because there was times where I wasn't as focused when I should have been, right?

And my dad always told me, Jesse, you got to make sure you stay focused. Come on, man. And he's always on my case. And as you grow up, you get to understand, okay, that's and my dad always told me jesse you gotta make sure you stay focused come on man and he's always on my case and as you grow up you get to understand okay that's what my dad was talking about that's what or not just your dad it could be somebody that just you know wants to influence you in the right way and then you'll understand later in life through the experiences that you commit absolutely i think to get to the top of any space whether it's boxing business you know entertainment how much are you willing to sacrifice you know what i mean that's the question if you're willing to sacrifice almost everything you'll have a good

chance of getting to the top 100 yeah that's well said well said i mean once you commit to it and you put everything else aside you can accomplish it but then again you got to see how you got to ask yourself how important is it for me to accomplish this? Because everything else is going to have to wait in the meantime. Yeah. It's very hard to divide time between one career and another. That's another thing that I've learned. Also, I was trying to fight and do other things at the same time. And unfortunately, I wasn't successful at either.

It's a full time job. Yeah, it is. It is a full-time job yeah it is it is a full-time job and once you start dividing both uh careers or you know juggle both things it's very difficult yeah and you see people that you know go after so many different business opportunities at the same time and they just follow the money but follow the money but it usually doesn't pan out because they're not focused yeah well said well said unfortunately for some but mean, again, I mean, I'm focusing a little more time just to kind of help others, right? And hopefully, you know, my experiences others can learn from and, you know, just kind of keep an eye out for it.

Yeah. Yeah. What's your take on this influencer boxing wave? Because you're a pro boxer, so I'm curious how you feel about it. Tell you what, man. With certain influencers, I enjoy it myself. I'll watch it and check them out. But we just got to understand two things is um there's a difference between the the fight the fighters that are

influencers are coming into boxing and then actual world champion fighters or actual fighters that have been doing it all their life it's two different categories right because um it's two different levels to it these are novice athletes novice fighters that are just getting into it right you put them into it into the ring against you know a guy that's five and oh or even five and five five wins five losses but has a extensive amateur career who beat up the influencer yeah it's just two different right two different levels but they're bringing in a large fan base right and bringing a large fan base i'm sure i mean once they bring they sell out like ksi i think he sold out a couple stadiums i'm sure out of those people that attended that that fight maybe 20 actually

will start watching uh real boxing oh it's pretty high yeah it's high right i was higher than i thought it was yeah yeah well i mean this is I mean, this is just assumption. This is no facts. I'm just assuming, say, 20% maybe. Or they'd entertain the idea of watching a professional fight. Right, right. Like, oh, we saw Logan Paul. Let's watch this one. Let's watch Manny Pacquiao.

Let's watch KSI. Let's watch this one. So maybe it brings in more fans. That's what I think. I think that it grows the sport. So in a way, it's good. But then again, there's fighters like Jake Paul. He's a fighter that actually I respect because he's really good.

I mean, for him, just to start like a few years down the line, I think he must have started in 2019, 2020. For him to pick it up and do it so quickly and do it so well at this moment, I'm impressed. I applaud him for what he's doing. You can show that he's dedicated. And it goes back to what you're saying right you dedicate your time to one thing you could advance pretty quickly and that's what he's doing i mean yeah he went the full what eight rounds with tommy that was impressive that was i thought tommy was gonna

beat him easy but it wasn't that easy for tommy man yeah he got caught a couple times right yeah and this is a guy's been doing this since he was a kid yeah you know what i mean and he's not a bad fighter i mean he's not great but he's not bad right he's good his dad is the goat though right yeah his dad is something else uh and his brother of course he's i think he may he has the chance of going down as the best heavyweight fighter maybe not ever but because you got Muhammad Ali. But, oh, man, he's a great fighter. He's so big. He must be close to 280 or something.

I think if he wins a couple more, he's probably there, honestly. I think so. I mean, he's elusive. He's so big and heavy. He looks a little chubby, but this guy can hit. This guy's fast. You know, he can move lightly on his feet. I think he's one of my favorite heavyweight fighters,

although his last fight wasn't as entertaining as I expected it to be. He fought against Ngannou, and Ngannou put him down. He did. People thought Ngannou won that fight. Yeah, a lot of people thought so. I thought it was competitive. Yeah, very competitive. But, I mean, that's the thing.

I mean, even he said it himself. That's what he says, man. You don't go up against uh wilder which is another fighter who he went against three times you don't go up against wilder and come out the same fighter same guy like basically insinuating like after receiving some of that punishment you can't expect to be the same guy like you get older you know you get punched a couple times and the chin isn't the same yeah you get some permanent damage from those knockdowns for sure yeah i would assume so yeah right um i would assume you just you're not as durable as you once were i'm curious what a brain scan would look like on some of these guys man

yeah man it'd be interesting well i mean i know they've done something on football players yeah because they're just as bad even worse some of them yeah because i mean this is you got two two guys that weigh 250 300 pounds and they collide head to head head to head isn't as common it's illegal right but i'm sure it happens from time to time in practice or in some of the games when they collide a face-to-face or head-to-head man i could just imagine the neurons that are being shaken up in that area that's a lot of way that's a big impact i mean a lot of concussions oh for sure in that sport i mean boxing as well um did you get any um thankfully not wow yeah yeah i've been you know my dad always incentivized me to have a good uh defense in my sport yeah and he he was adamant

about it and you know i guess it worked out that's probably why you can articulate so well still because most boxers get tons of concussions you know yeah thank you man i mean again i mean i um you know i i push over my dad and say man i give him the credit right i mean uh because i just like to fight i remember as a young kid um not even young kid i mean when i was a teenager when i was early pros i was savage man i remember that i just come up and say i'm gonna hurt this guy literally i come up and i hit him hard every time i hit him i feel in my fist i'm like yeah damn you were a psychopath out there yeah and i'd look at him and i kind of like even when i got him with a good punch i kind of nodded my face like you felt that you're playing mind games too

yeah i did that at times as well wow so you had a lot of anger as a kid that's a good question actually you know what i didn't oh yeah no but then again maybe it was boxing what got it out of me okay right so always i was um i recall just being quiet firm whatever i say goes um or no not like it's not that bad but you know just i was firm i was quiet right and um how can i were you like stubborn because i went to the gym every every day monday through friday and sometimes on saturdays but saturday and sunday for the most part i'd work with my father he had a little store and i and i'd work with him as i learned how to make my money and um so i was always very busy so it's not like i had time to be into trouble i just didn't like nobody messing with me this is the way i was i was quiet i was firm i said

nobody messed with me i don't mess with anybody people respected you you were like that quiet kid that no one messed with yeah cool you know that was me yeah yeah and i was cool with everybody so man keep going right yeah cool with the girls So, man, just keep going, right? Yeah. Cool with the girls. It was nice. And then in the sport, I was just focused and determined. That was, like, my way to be out.

Like, talk to my friends before the workout and, like, get into it hard. But once I got in, I didn't like anybody talking to me. Absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah, that was me, man, growing up. I love that. Jesse, it's been fun, dude. Where can people find you?

Yeah, man. Well, jessevargas underscore. You Jesse. It's been fun, dude. Where can people find you? Yeah, man. Well, jessevargas underscore. Thank you for all your support. And just be ready for what's next. Yeah, that's me. You're commentating now, right? Yeah, I'm commentating. I'm doing this fight, actually.

There's going to be a fight this week and on Saturday, which is going to be a good one. They're going to have me as a commentator. It's going to be entertaining. So, I mean, I started commentating when i was i was actually funny story you have time for it yeah yeah so when i was 24 i was world champion at that time i was in macau i was defending my world title against antonio de marco good mexican fighter and i remember it was so difficult for me to make weight for that fight, and I'm there.

The main event is going to be Manny Pacquiao against Chris Algieri. ESPN, no, Univision Deportes comes to me, and they say, hey, Jesse, would you be able to interview Manny Pacquiao? Would that interest you? I've never done this before, but at that time, I'm thinking, how much are you paying? First thing, first question, how much are're paying first thing first how much you're paying all right all right cool yeah i can do that um yeah sure why not at that time i thought

it's gonna keep me busy i'm not gonna think about uh eating that's all i was thinking about that week and i'm gonna have to look over the script it's perfect i'll do it and not only did i have to interview them i had to translate it and then i it really well, so much to the point that being sports hired me shortly after as a commentator. HBO hired me as a commentator. I did Zone. I worked with ESPN. So thankfully, I mean, a lot of opportunities have came. And I'm just thankful that I was able to challenge myself.

Because I think that through challenging myself, new opportunities have come. I mean, it wasn't easy right it it might come too easy but you gotta do research you gotta do your homework right and everything anything we do we gotta do our homework what it takes to be in that position and then um yeah you execute yeah and thankfully it's worked out for me you know i'm not i don't shy away from a challenge yeah i love that man because there's opportunities that present themselves daily and most people would have turned that one down and look to where it's leading now and there's commentators like skip bayless making tens of millions dude so i can't wait to see where you take that big money thank you man right now i'm doing as a freelancer i work here from time to time i was just in

nicaragua working there but um i mean as you said i mean it's something that i can pick up you know pick up well and make you know a substantial amount of money but overall to be honest with you this may sound bad but i love my sport but it comes so easy to me that i choose to do something a little different a little more challenging because i know that's when i will feel like a different level of success most when you do something yeah exactly more fulfillment it's like something new something that was completely strange to you right it was It was foreign. And then you just became, you know, very familiar with it. And at my age, it'd be fantastic. So hopefully, you know, that's the wish.

Absolutely. We'll redo the outro, man. So where can people find you? Tell me. Hey, follow me on Jesse Vargas underscore. And thank you for your support. And I'm sure I'll see you around at some point. Awesome.

Thanks for coming on, brother. Thanks for watching, guys. And I'll see you tomorrow.