Lightweight Emiliano “El General” Vargas (1-0, 1 KO), the youngest fighting son of former junior middleweight world champion “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas, has inked a multi-year promotional contract with Top Rank. Trained by his father, Vargas is a seven-time national amateur champion who turned 18 in April. The Las Vegas native will make his Top Rank debut in a four-rounder Saturday, November 12, at Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Janibek Alimkhanuly/Seniesa Estrada world title doubleheader.

“I can’t wait to fight. Like my dad says, ‘El legado Vargas continúa.’ The legacy is everything, but at the same time, I am here to write my own story and make my family proud. This is my legacy as much as my dad’s. This is something that is so deeply embedded in my family and as a Mexican. I want to be a Fernando Vargas, a Julio Cesar Chavez. There is something so beautiful about a whole country having your back. I’m proud of my roots. I can’t wait to perform and have the fans embrace me just like they embraced my dad.

“It’s about how I perform, but Top Rank will help me get to that next level.”

Vargas had a 110-10 record in the unpaid ranks before turning pro in May to great fanfare. He knocked out Mark Salgado in the opening round at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, a short drive from his father’s Oxnard hometown. He is part of a second-generation fighting family that includes his older brothers, Fernando Jr. and Amado, who are also undefeated professionals.

The youngest Vargas has experiences well beyond his years, as he’s sparred former world champions Jorge Linares and Jamel Herring, in addition to current pound-for-pound great Shakur Stevenson.