'Wild Will' set for Texas shoot-out
Will Tomlinson has vowed to come out all guns blazing in San Antonio when he takes on one of the hottest properties in the super-featherweight division.
The 28-year-old Victorian goes in against unbeaten Mexican Franciso Vargas (21-0-1) a week on Thursday (Friday WA time).
‘El Bandido’ is ranked No.1 by the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organisation and victory for the Golden Boy-promoted 30-year-old should secure him a shot at a world title.
But Tomlinson (23-1-1) has high ambitions of his own and 12 months after suffering his only professional loss he is confident of completing a remarkable turnaround deep in the heart of Texas.
“He’s rated No.1 by the WBC and WBO and so it’s natural that he wants to be boxing for a world title. But so do I, and I know a win over Vargas is going to put me in a direct position to do so,” Tomlinson told thewest.com.au.
“Right now I’m just focusing on the task ahead of me and that’s beating Vargas and pinching his rating and his position and the rest will look after itself.”
‘Wild Will’ acknowledged it would be a massive achievement to knock off Vargas a year after slumping to defeat on his US debut to Jerry Belmontes, even if Belmontes then went on to challenge for the WBC lightweight world title.
“I don’t even worry about that loss. If anything it was just a mental glitch on the night that cost me the win,” Tomlinson said of the 10-round points loss in Las Vegas.
“I’ve put that behind me and since then I’ve had two solid victories since that fight, including a stoppage win last time. I’ll be taking the momentum from those fights into this fight on March 12 and getting the third win over here.”
Los Angeles-based Tomlinson has teamed up with a new trainer for this fight, Nicholas ‘Nico’ Robledo, with whom he says he has “a brilliant chemistry”.
“We’ve been working on the type of moves that we think will work against Vargas. He’ll be there right in front of me and that suits me. I want him to throw punches because he is going to get hit as well. I’ll assert my strength and power.”
The 10-round fight, for the WBO International super featherweight title and North American Boxing Federation belt, will be shown live on HBO Latino Boxing in the US and Tomlinson is waiting to confirm when Fox Sports will show it in Australia.
But with all the hard training nearly complete and his big night just around the corner, Tomlinson is hungry for glory ... and a lot more beside.
“After the fight I’m going to take a few days off and go and stuff my face full of ribs and burgers and Texas barbecue food,” he said.
“Then I’ll fly back to Australia and hang out at home for a bit and see what happens. Hopefully I’ll be waiting to hear on a world title shot.”
- Exciting Perth middleweight Wes Capper, who splits his time between WA and the United States, fights in Las Vegas on March 14.
Unbeaten Capper (9-0) takes on solid Californian Tony Hirsch (17-6-2) for the WBC US title at Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall.
Capper blew away late substitute Aswin Cabuy in two rounds at the WA Italian Club last month.
