LOS ANGELES, CA - The match wasn’t even close as some suggested.
"Ferocious" Fernando Vargas thoroughly dominated the shaky and apprehensive Fitz Vanderpool Saturday evening at the historic Olympic auditorium in Los Angeles, California.
In front of a sold out crowd of close to 7,000, Vargas of nearby Oxnard stopped Kitchener, Ontario's Vanderpool at 2:36 of the sixth round of their scheduled ten-round junior middleweight bout.
Vanderpool who is known as the whip was more thread than leather.
From the opening bell, Vanderpool would hold on for dear life as Vargas charged forward. It seemed Vanderpool never settled down as his corner pleaded with him "to just relax."
Vargas was the clear winner of every round, but did look rusty coming off a ten month layoff after he was suspended and fined for testing positive for steroids following his championship fight with current WBC junior middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya.
Surprisingly there were no knockdowns; despite the fact Vanderpool was on terribly shaky legs since the third round. He did however slip to the canvas four times after moisture developed over the beer advertisements, which lay dangerously over the canvas.
The torture was eventually stopped when referee Marty Denken stopped the fight after he had saw Vargas corner Vanderpool and apply the lumber on his defenseless foe.
Vargas improves to 23-2 (21 KOs), while Vanderpool drops to 24-5-4 (13 KOs).
Infinite Boxing had Vargas leading 50-45 at the time of stoppage.
Astonishingly, both Vanderpool and his trainer, Jimmy Montoya, thought the bout was stopped too soon.
"I thought I was wearing him down, closing the gap," Vanderpool said. "But I'm not going to give any excuses."
Vargas also didn't offer any excuses after he was asked how he ranked his performance out of ten.
"I'm rusty, I'm not where I'm supposed to be, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give myself a 3," Vargas said. "I'm my own worst critic - I'll go home and look at the tape. There was a little rust."
And questions abut his future?
"I’m 25, what's the rush? I need to be a better fighter, I need to be a hungrier fighter. I have a little to learn still with Buddy."
Ironically, he sounds a lot like Oscar De La Hoya as of late.
Must be that California water.
Pac Man eats another foe
The co-feature of the night saw Filipino standout Manny Pacquiao easily retain his IBF junior featherweight championship by stopping Emanuel Lucero of New York at 48 seconds of the third round.
Pacquiao landed a devastating left cross that left Lucero staggering with birdies flying around his head, out on his feet. Referee Jose Cobain quickly stepped in and eliminated the chance for any more punishment as Pacquiao quicky came in for the kill.
Pacquiao improved his record to 37-3-1 (29 KOs) and Lucero drops to 21-1-1 (12 KOs).
After the bout, Pacquiao expressed interest in fighting all the top featherweights including the likes of Paulie Ayala and Marco Antonio Barrera.
The Undercard
Undefeated heavyweight Malik Scott improved to 17-0 (9 KOs) by out-pointing Carlton Johnson over eight pedestrian rounds. Scott dropped Johnson, who fell to 14-9-2 (10 KOs), in the first round, and stunned the rolly polly journeyman in the following rounds, but the Philadelphia product failed to close the show much to the disapproval of the Olympic crowd.
Heavyweight prospect B.J. Flores stopped Carlton Carbajal in one round.
Middleweight prospect Sergio Mora scored a six-round unanimous decision over Damone Wright.
Junior lightweight Felipe Campa scored a tough four-round unanimous decision over the game Adam Gonzalez.
Late-sub Rogelio Ramirez stopped local featherweight Robert "Scrappy" Ortiz in three rounds.
