Jessie Vargas' junior middleweight debut is officially set with the formal announcement of his next opponent.
Matchroom Boxing USA announced that Vargas will face Humberto Soto in a 151-pound catchweight on the April 26 card at The Forum in California. The fight will take place on the undercard which will be streamed on DAZN in the United States.
Vargas, a former junior welterweight and welterweight champion, had fought his last two fights to a draw -- one against Adrien Broner in April 2018 and one against Thomas Dulorme last October on a Matchroom card in Chicago. Vargas has a 1-0-2 record since losing his WBO welterweight title to Manny Pacquiao in 2016.
The 29-year-old Vargas decided to make the jump to junior middleweight in the hopes of eventually challenging WBO champion Jaime Munguia. Munguia is penciled in for an April 13 title defense against mandatory challenger Dennis Hogan in Mexico.
Soto previously held world titles at both super featherweight and lightweight as well as an interim WBC featherweight title. The 38-year-old Soto extended his current win streak to four fights with a unanimous decision win over Brandon Rios in Tijuana, Mexico back in February. Soto had only weighed in at 150 pounds and above just once in his 80-fight career.
The April 26 show will be headlined by the long-awaited rematch between Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Francisco Estrada for the WBC super flyweight title. Also on the card is a super bantamweight unification between WBA champion Daniel Roman and IBF champion TJ Doheny.