Bradley vs. Vargas decision is final, no rematch

By Boxing News - 07/05/2015 - Comments

bradley#1By Allan Fox: Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs) is going to have to live with his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) from last month on June 27th, as the World Boxing Organization has made the decision not to have the two fighters face each other again to clear up the controversy surrounding the premature ending of their fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

The referee working the fight Pat Russell mistakenly stopped the fight with four seconds remaining after he thought he heard the final bell. Not only has the WBO ruled against a rematch, the California State Athletic Commission has decided not to change the results of the fight to a no contest, according to the Review Journal.

Bradley won the fight by the scores of 115-112, 116-112 and 117-111. It was a total domination for 12 rounds. The only thing that deviated from the one-sided nature of the fight was when Vargas hurt Bradley with 20 seconds to go in the fight when he hit him hard with a right hand. Bradley stayed on his feet somehow and was doing well at the time Russell stopped the fight with four seconds remaining. Vargas felt that he could have knocked Bradley out if Russell hadn’t stopped it, but the WBO and CSAC still opted not to order a rematch or changes the decision.

With Vargas being with the same promoters at Top Rank, it’s possible that he could someday get rematch against Bradley. I wouldn’t bet on it ever happening again though, because Bradley isn’t going to volunteer to face Vargas again due to it not being a big money fight, and it not being a fight that the fans are interested in seeing.

The only way Vargas gets another crack at Bradley is if Vargas chooses to give up his WBA light welterweight title and campaign instead at welterweight. If Vargas can beat enough fighters to become the WBO No.1 mandatory challenger, and if Bradley is able to hold onto his WBO title long enough, we could one day see the two of them face each other again.

I seriously doubt that’s going to happen though, because Bradley is too vulnerable at 147, and likely won’t hold into the WBO title for more two fights if that. And if Vargas, 26, moves up to welterweight permanently, he’ll struggle unless he’s matched softly like he’s had for much of his career at 140.

I don’t see how Vargas would be useful to Top Rank if they have to avoid putting him in with all the top guys at 147 for fear he’ll get outworked again like he was against Bradley. If Top Rank promoter Bob Arum matches Vargas against some of his own fighters at 140 or 147 like Brandon Rios and Terence Crawford, he’ll likely lose. The one guy I think Vargas can beat in Arum’s stable is Mike Alvarado, but that’s not saying too much.

Arum is talking about matching Bradley against No.1 WBO Sadam Ali for his first defense of his title later this year in Dubai. Arum hasn’t talked yet of matching Bradley against Manny Pacquiao for a third time, but you have to believe that’s what he’ll be doing in the near future.



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