By Jim Dower: #9 WBA, #14 WBC welterweight contender Jessie Vargas (20-0, 9 KO’s) stayed unbeaten with a 10 round unanimous decision on a special Thurday edition of Friday Night Fights on ESPN against Aron Martinez (18-2-1, 4 KO’s) Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 96-94, all for the 23-year-old Vargas.
Fighting for the first time for Top Rank Promotions, Vargas fought fairly conservatively by using his jab to spear Martinez while moving around the ring in slow circles. Martinez took the fight to Vargas and seemed to give him a lot of problems with his pressure and willingness to mix it up. Vargas didn’t throw a lot of punches but when he did throw he showed good power.
Vargas and Martinez went toe-to-toe at times in the 3rd and 4th rounds, as Vargas seemed to be eager to try and end matters early. Vargas had the clear power advantage and got the better off the action during most of these exchanges.
Vargas pulled away from Martinez in rounds five through eight, landing some sharp combinations and keeping his jab busy with thudding shots to the head. Martinez fought well in the 9th, but didn’t have much left in the 10th and final round as Vargas continued to expertly land accurate shots to the head.
Vargas looks good but he’s going to have to improve a great deal to beat the better fighters in the welterweight division. He’s young enough to where he could up his game a level like Josesito Lopez, but he’s going to have to start showing something soon because he still looks very beatable.
***
In other action, unbeaten super featherweight Jose Felix Jr. (21-0-1, 17 KO’s) defeated Luis Cruz (19-2, 15 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The final judges scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 97-92.
***
Other results:
Andy Ruiz Jr. KO 1 Maurenzo Smith
Terrence Crawford TKO 4 Hardy Paredes
Comments are closed.