HBO Boxing After Dark

■ When: Saturday, doors open at 3 p.m. ■ Where: Mandalay Bay Events Center ■ Main event: Orlando Salido vs. Mickey Roman

■ Undercard: Tevin Farmer vs. Kenichi Ogawa; Francisco Vargas vs. Stephen Smith

■ TV: 7:20 p.m., HBO

■ Tickets: Axs.com

fighter known as “Siri” is ready to cash in, and he has many opportunities for major fights.

Another option for Salido could be a second match with Vargas, who opens the Hbo-televised card against Stephen Smith.

Salido also could reschedule his fight with WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt, who was originally in the main event but pulled out because of injury.

“Fighting forward has got me to this point today,” Salido said. “I’ve thought about changing my style because of my age, but it’s too late. This is who I am. I don’t know any other way to fight.”

Vargas returns to Mandalay Bay

Vargas walked around the arena Wednesday where he first became a world champion, and the memories of his 2015 Fight of the Year came rushing back.

The Mexican fighter hit the canvas multiple times and had his eyebrows gushing with blood before staging a memorable comeback to knock out Takashi Miura in the ninth round during the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-miguel Cotto undercard at the Mandalay Bay Events Center two years ago.

Vargas, 32, returns to Las Vegas for the first time since then, but he won’t have the belt with him. He lost it in January in a knockout loss to Berchelt.

The fighter known as “El Bandido” said he was mentally and physically drained for the Berchelt fight after back-to-back brawls against Miura and Salido.

“I overtrained, and I wasn’t mentally there,” Vargas said. “I needed a break, and I’m ready now. I want to avenge my loss with Berchelt first, then settle my tie with Salido.”

Vargas decided to take a tuneup fight first because he didn’t know how his eyebrows would hold up after needing surgery to close the wounds.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gmanzano24 on Twitter.