Thirteen months ago Jessie Vargas had the biggest fight of his career, but it did not turn out the way he hoped it would.
Vargas, a former junior welterweight titlist, was defending his welterweight world title for the first time against the great Manny Pacquiao, and he was dominated.
Pacquiao knocked him down in the second round and won a lopsided unanimous decision to claim the belt.
"It was a learning experience, that's for sure," Vargas told ESPN this week. "It will make me a better fighter because it made me realize what I need to work on and I've been doing that. I need to make a statement in this fight."
"This fight" is Vargas' return to the ring to face Aaron Herrera in a 10-round fight that will headline a Premier Boxing Champions card on Friday (Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes, 10 p.m. ET) at the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California.
Vargas didn't intend to be out of the ring for so long following the loss. He had hoped to be back in action in July, but when the prospect of a rematch with Tim Bradley evaporated and he could not come to terms with longtime promoter Top Rank on a contract extension, he became a free agent.
He's put his time off to good use. Besides training, Vargas has been taking courses at the College of Southern Nevada, a junior college in Las Vegas, and eventually signed with advisers Guadalupe Valencia and Al Haymon, who controls most of the top welterweights.
Vargas, who has run through numerous trainers during his nine-year career, also parted ways with trainer Dewey Cooper; now he's working with Hall of Fame former junior middleweight world champion Mike McCallum.
"I was hoping to fight in July but things didn't go as planned," Vargas said. "But it was good to take some time off and I eventually came back with a new adviser and a new team. I thank [Top Rank] for the opportunities, but [Haymon] has all the welterweights, so I have options. We spoke about many of the fighters PBC has. They have a good plan for me. I am happy with what they have planned. I expect to be in the biggest fight next year and I'm looking forward to becoming world champion once again."
First Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs), 28, of Las Vegas, plans to shake off the rust of his layoff and return to the win column against Herrera (33-7-1, 22 KOs), 28, of Mexico, a brawler who suffered a seventh-round knockout to former world titlist Brandon Rios in June and then bounced back for a low-level win.
"They informed me that I can wait for a bigger fight next year or I can fight again this year in this kind of fight," Vargas said. "I wanted to fight this year and then hopefully first quarter of next year I can fight for a world championship."
Vargas declined to get into specifics about whom he might face in that promised title fight, but it's not hard to figure out. It won't be the Top Rank-promoted Jeff Horn, who is slated to defend his belt against Terence Crawford in the spring.
That leaves two PBC fighters as possibilities. Errol Spence Jr. defends his belt against Lamont Peterson on Jan. 20, but it would be surprising to see the winner fight twice in the early part of the year. So that leaves unified titleholder Keith Thurman, who is due to return from elbow surgery in the first quarter of 2018.
Vargas was coy, but said, "Thurman is a fight that can be made and it's a fight I'd like. Definitely. I'd love that fight. There are a lot of fights the fans want to see and I am available to be in all those big fights. But I need to come out with a victory against Herrera and, second, I need to look good. Third, a knockout would look good on my record. It's about winning and giving the fans excitement. The knockout [is] in the back of my mind and I'm going to try to give them that.
"Before, my mentality was about boxing my opponent. But fans want to see knockouts and I want to give it to them. I've never felt as strong as I have in the last camp. I've been focusing on strengthening my body and improving my technique, and I've done that."
Vargas' dream fight, he said, would be a rematch with Pacquiao.
"That would be my priority, but I know that fight cannot be made," he said. "Every fighter would like to avenge their loss."
With little public interest in a rematch, Pacquiao's future up in the air and Vargas now with Haymon, it won't happen.
"But I would also like to [fight for] the WBC and WBA titles and they are held by Keith Thurman, so that's a fight -- a fight, as I said, I am very interested in. [Former titlist] Danny Garcia is also a fight some people have asked for. We were champions in the same division at the same time and that's another good fight that could be made."
Vargas said he has known McCallum since he was 15 and he was has enjoyed working with the man who was known as "The Body Snatcher" in his fighting days.
"There were a few things Dewey and I didn't agree on but we're still good friends," Vargas said. "Mike has always been cool with me and my dad and I came up with this. Mike's a good guy. I can trust him. He's doing a good job, making sure I'm not overdoing it."
Vargas will head into the fight with Herrera with a vital cog in his camp and life missing. His godfather, legendary cutman Rafael Garcia, died last month at age 88.
"It's not easy, but we have to get used to it," Vargas said. "I feel he's still here with us. Even though not he's not here physically I know he is here in spirit. He was there with me ever since I was 14 years old. Even out of the gym we'd hang out. We were really close but I know he'll be there with me when I am in the ring."
There will also be three other scheduled 10-round bouts on the telecast:
Junior middleweight Diego Chaves (26-2-1, 22 KOs), 31, of Argentina, whose only losses are to Keith Thurman and Brandon Rios, will face Jamal James (21-1, 9 KOs), 29, of Minneapolis, in the co-feature.
Former two-time world title challenger John Molina Jr. (29-7, 23 KOs), 34, of Covina, California, who is coming off a bad eight-round beat down by Terence Crawford in a junior welterweight world title fight last December, will face Ukrainian southpaw Ivan Redkach (20-3-1, 16 KOs), 31, who fights out of Los Angeles and is coming off an upset loss by split decision to former junior lightweight titlist Argenis Mendez.
In the opener, Nigerian welterweight Wale Omotoso (26-3, 21 KOs), 32, who fights out of Oxnard, California, will face former world title challenger Freddy Hernandez (34-8, 22 KOs), 38, of Mexico.