the card would still go ahead and they would find a new opponent for Broner. The next day, Showtime confirmed that Broner would now fight former two-weight world champion Jessie Vargas (28-2, 10 KOs) in a 144-pound catchweight bout, headlining a card also featuring the re-booked Jermall Charlo-Hugo Centeno Jr. fight and Gervonta Davis-Jesús Cuellar. The attendance for the event was 13,964. With the arena only set up for 10,000, they opened additional sections in the upper tiers. Broner and Vargas fought to a 12-round majority draw. One judge scored the fight 115–113 for Broner and the remaining two judges overruled with identical scores of 114–114. ESPN's Dan Rafael and Showtimes unofficial scorer Steve Farhood both scored the bout 114–114. The fight was of two halves. The first half of the fight saw Vargas take up a nice lead, controlling the bout and then looked to fade a little, allowing Broner to take control for the remainder of the bout. Vargas out landed Broner 124–82 in the opening 6 rounds and Broner out landed Vargas 112–79 in the remaining 6 rounds. After the fight, Broner said, "I beat him 7-5 [in rounds]. As you can see, I was letting my hands go more. I ain't got a scratch on me. I want to thank Jessie Vargas. He's a two-time world champion for a reason. He came to fight, but at the end of the day, you all know I beat him.I was connecting with right hands. I got warmed up in the early portion of the fight before taking over. My trainer was a big help tonight. I want to thank Coach Cunningham as well as my original coach, Mike Stafford, for realizing I needed to do something different." According to CompuBox stats, Broner landed 194 of 507 punches thrown (38%) and Vargas landed 203 of his 839 thrown (24%). Vargas worked on the body more, landing 54 punches to 38 landing by Broner. For the fight Broner earned a $1 million purse and Vargas earned a $500,000 purse. The fight averaged 782,000 viewers and peaked at 869,000 during the bout. Peak viewership increased to 891,000 just before the scorecards were read. Third return to welterweight Broner vs. Pacquiao After eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao signed with Al Haymon in October 2018, reports circulated that Broner was the front-runner to face him in January 2019. On October 18, 2018, Pacquiao