Bradley had been dominating the fight, but with about 15 seconds left in the final round Vargas landed a vicious overhand right. Bradley stumbled awkwardly. He was hurt badly, but didn’t hit the canvas. He had his hands up and could defend himself, and even started clinching Vargas. “I got hit by a hard shot,” Bradley said later. “I knew where I was at all times.”
Then something really strange happened. Pat Russell, the referee, walked in between the two fighters and waved his arms as if to signal that Vargas had won on a TKO. “I didn’t know what was going on,” said Bradley. The crowd of 4,311 at the StubHub Center screamed with confusion. Vargas raised his hands in victory.
No one, except one man, seemed to know what was happening. It had all been a big mistake. Russell was actually signaling the end of the round. “I thought I heard the bell,” said the veteran ref.
But there was actually seven seconds left to go in the title fight, which had ended prematurely. The “what if?” questions started immediately.
“All I needed was one more shot,” said Vargas. “Those seven seconds cost me the fight.”
After much confusion in the ring, the powers that be made the correct decision. Instead of a victory for Vargas, the fight went to the scorecards and Bradley won in unanimous decision (115-112; 116-112; 117-111). With the victory, Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) earned his fifth world title and the interim WBO welterweight belt.
His fights always seems to attract controversy. He scored a draw in his previous fight, a bout that he appeared to easily win. And in 2012, in his first matchup against Manny Pacquiao, he won controversially, as most observers scored the fight for Pacquiao.
Bradley had started the fight by throwing huge punches. Bradley of Palm Springs seemed to want to knock out Vargas of Las Vegas at any cost. He threw 143 power punches to 109 from Vargas.
Vargas (26-1) had a perfect record coming into the fight, and is still the WBA super-lightweight world champion. With only nine knockouts, Vargas doesn’t carry much knock out power, and he was stepping up in class from 140 to 147. Vargas had a four-inch height advantage over the 5-foot-6 Bradley, and tried to dictate the fight with his jab.
But Bradley was too clever. He was the more complete fighter, dipping his head under the jabs, and then delivering solid combinations as he won round after round. Vargas rarely backed away in the earlier rounds, using his longer reach to try and control the distance, but he couldn’t follow up with enough combinations to really hurt the veteran. As the rounds went into the later rounds, Vargas started backing up more and more and Bradley stalked him, landing solid rights.
By the last few rounds, Vargas wearily walked to his corner to get instruction from his trainer, Erik Morales. He was wearing down and decided to put everything into the last round.
As odd as the fight ended, with the win, Bradley nudged his way back into the boxing conversation. Up until last year he was considered a pound-for-pound great, but then he lost to Pacquiao in their second bout. And in his most recent fight he recorded a draw against the unheralded Diego Gabriel Chaves. Given his last two performances, the enigmatic Bradley appeared on career descent. On Saturday he needed a signature win.
But Saturday’s fight was a strange one, and that is saying something in boxing. While Bradley dictated the fight, everyone will probably remember the last 15 seconds, the referee’s poor hearing, Vargas’ faux victory, and, finally, Bradley winning the decision.
Bradley was excited about his victory, but in the days to come he will have a decision to make. He promised Vargas a rematch. But that’s probably not the most compelling fight. Bradley dominated Vargas until the last 15 seconds.
While the 147-pound class has had a decade of fan favorites, it is going through a transition. Up-and-comers Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, and Kell Brook are creating a stir while the division’s stalwarts are winding down their reign: Floyd Mayweather Jr. plans to fight in September and then hang up his gloves; Pacquiao is recuperating from shoulder surgery; Juan Manuel Marquez is contemplating retirement because of a bum knee.
Bradley could go after Porter, Thurman or Brook, but before the fight he seemed intent on moving up to the middleweights to fight Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, or Miguel Cotto. And that’s where the money is right now.
Bradley, at five-foot-six-inches, might find it difficult to rise into a bigger weight class and face the heavy hands of naturally larger fighters. On Saturday he couldn’t knock out Vargas, a light welterweight, who was able to knock him silly. Bradley survived, and won.
