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Vargas Adds To Mexican Parade Of Champions

Image Credit: PBC

New York- Canelo Alvarez has company as Ray Vargas became a two-division champion from Mexico after dethroning WBC Featherweight World champion Mark Magsayo Saturday evening by 12-round split decision at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The Premier Boxing Champions fight was televised on Showtime Championship Boxing.

Vargas was dropped with a knockdown and was able to go on and become the latest champion from Mexico. Magsayo, of the Philippines and attempting to follow in the footsteps of eight- time division champion Manny Pacquiao, lost in his first defense of the title.

Mexico, a country with an illustrious boxing history of champions, and with various fighters ranked in all divisions of the sport, continues to dominate. Vargas proudly thanked his supporters and looked forward to his first title defense.

First, though, was returning home and proudly celebrating his championship with loyal fans and family.

“I’m at a loss of words,” said Vargas in the post fight press conference. “I worked hard for this. I want to thank God, my family, my trainer Nacho Beristain. The first title I won, I enjoyed it greatly, but this one is special. This win is for me.”

The battle of unbeatens was a fast-paced affair throughout, with both men holding momentum at different moments but never giving in to their determined opponent. Despite his height and reach advantage, Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs) was prepared to go toe-to-toe with the hard-charging Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) and was able to use his superior activity to edge the decision on the judges’ cards with two scores of 115-112 against a 114-113 score for Magsayo.

The only world champion from the Philippines heading into this fight, Magsayo was able to land numerous flush power shots on Vargas, who took them well and made sure to return fire with a versatile attack of his own. This success showed up on the punch stats, as Vargas out landed Magsayo 196 to 132 according to CompuBox.

“I just kept moving forward and shrugging him off no matter what was happening,” said Vargas. “All that mattered for me was coming out with the victory in the end.”

The two undefeated fighters were action packed with both having momentum and looking to take advantage. Vargas (36-0, 22 K0s) had the height and reach advantage and prepared to stay close with Magsayo (24-1, 16 K0s) but the judges saw his constant use of the jab and connecting with punches that earned a decision. Vargas out-landed Magsayo 196 to 132 according to CompuBox. My scorecard had it 115-112 for Vargas.

Vargas was able to overcome a quick right in the ninth round that sent him down. Similar, though, to other great champions from Mexico, he was able to overcome the adversity and continue to score points that would earn a close and tight decision.

“It wasn’t a power punch that got me,” said Vargas. “It was more of something that happened because of how I was moving. We were able to recover and come back strong.When I had him down, the punch was straight, he did his job in the ring, running,” said Magsayo. “I applied the pressure and did what we trained for in the gym, but he was taller and he’s the man today.”

Vargas showed his veteran mettle rising to his feet and surviving a shaky 10th round to come back and sweep rounds 11 and 12 on all three judges’ cards to clinch the victory.

“It was a good, enjoyable fight,” said Vargas. “We felt comfortable throughout. I was sound technically. We were just going round-by-round and we got the result we expected.”

“I will rest and watch the fight and I’m going to train to fight again and will correct my mistakes for the next time,” said Magsayo. “Thanks to all my fans in the Philippines. I did my best and will come back stronger.”

Vargas said his next target is a unification against four-division world champion and current WBA Featherweight World Champion Leo Santa Cruz, a potentially huge Mexico vs. Mexico clash.

“Now I want the unification bout,” said Vargas. “I want to fight Leo Santa Cruz. We’ve already talked about it with my team and I’m ready.”

In the Showtime Boxing co main event, former world champion Brandon Figueroa (23-1, 1, 19 K0s) got back on the winning track with a sixth round TKO of Carlos Castro (27-2, 12 K0s) in a WBC Featherweight title eliminator.

Competing in his first fight at featherweight, and first action since dropping a narrow decision in a 2021 Fight of the Year against Stephen Fulton Jr., Figueroa showed off his power at 126 pounds by dropping Castro midway through round three. Figueroa landed a looping overhand left that hurt Castro and eventually sent him to the mat on his follow-up.

“I know Carlos Castro is a crafty fighter,” said Figueroa. “I had to be patient. I knew how to put the pressure on him, after the barrage of punches, I got tired and had to step back. I knew he was hurt. and I had him, and I had to put more pressure on him. I caught him clean with a good looping left hand and I had him, I just put punches together and I dropped him.”

A veteran who was also debuting at featherweight, Castro was able to weather the early storm from Figueroa. His short hooks on the inside and hard uppercuts kept Figueroa from overwhelming him in the third round and helped carry him through the early rounds.

Despite taking that return fire, Figueroa was undeterred and continued to stick to his game plan and bring the fight to Castro. In round six, Figueroa broke through again with a series of shots, including a violent, short right hook that stunned Castro.

“Carlos Castro has a lot of heart, he’s a proven fighter in the ring and I knew it would be hard to get him out of there,” said Figueroa. “I hurt him, I was waiting for that shot to the body, once I caught him clean, I knew he was hurt. I put my punches together again.”

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer with Latinosports.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com Watch “Sports with Rich” live on Tuesday Nights at 10pm EST on The SLG Network/Youtube with Robert Rizzo Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify under The SLG Network.

2 Comments

2 Comments

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    • Julio Pabón

      July 18, 2022 at 1:01 pm

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