Last Saturday, boxing
fans were treated to a classic when WBC super-featherweight champion, Francisco Vargas took on
Mexican warrior Orlando Salido at the StubHub centre in California. The
majority decision meant that Vargas kept his title however by the sound of the
final bell both fighters’ stock had been raised even higher than it was before
confirming their places as two of boxing’s toughest fighters.
As many predicted, this
fight was expected to be a potential fight of the year candidate and it duly
delivered. Vargas made the quicker of the starts throwing straight one twos
which stifled Salido’s movement and winning the first two rounds in relatively
comfortable fashion. Soon Salido found his range, doing what he does best,
leading with left and right hooks and causing Vargas’ early rhythm to be offset.
Then in round six, the
fight more than caught fire, when both fighters went to war, leading with their
ear hanging off whilst turning the ring into a phone booth. This, in my eyes, was round
of the year with both Vargas and Salido throwing caution to the wind and
fighting the fight that many in the StubHub centre had come to see.
Then in the eighth and
ninth rounds, Vargas began to start boxing, setting up his shots with the jab
which was landing with ease and regularity however Salido was not done and in
the eleventh and twelfth rounds piled the pressure on Vargas who had never gone
the full distance at any point in his career.
Salido won the last two
rounds however for me it was not enough with Vargas taking the fight 115-113
however only one judge agreed with my scorecard and the fight was declared a
majority draw. This was the only just decision as both fighters put their
bodies on the line in order to win the title and for Salido it was not enough.
However the rematch
with Lomachenko is always a possibility, especially if he comes through his
fight against Roman Martinez next weekend. This is Lomachenko’s only defeat in
the professional ranks against a fighter in Salido who did not even make the
effort to make the 126 lb featherweight limit.
Golden Boy Promotions
are delivering not just the big fights but the exciting fights as well and a
word must go to Oscar DeLa Hoya for making this fight happen; however it must
be said that these fights are being made more out of necessity than of choice.
For Vargas, it is
another impressive performance on his ever improving resume. Where does he go from
here? The super-featherweight division is wide open at the moment after Jezreel
Corrales upset no.1 in the division Takashi Uchiyama and after Vargas’ last two
performances I would place him at the top of the pile. His huge win against Takashi
Miura back in November was fight of the year for 2015 and there is no reason
why the fight at the StubHub centre will not have the same outcome for 2016.
Tom Eckett
@boxingguru44
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