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Rey Vargas Captures WBC Featherweight Title With
Split Decision Win Over Mark Magsayo
Mexico’s Rey Vargas became a two-division world champion
Saturday night as he rose from a knockdown and boxed and
banged his way to the WBC Featherweight World Championship
against Mark Magsayo by split-decision in a dramatic
showdown that headlined live on SHOWTIME from the Alamodome
in San Antonio in a Premier Boxing Champions event.
“I’m at a loss of words,” said an emotional Vargas
post-fight. “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.”
“It’s his today, no matter what, I’ll come back stronger,
I’m disappointed but I did my best,” said Magsayo.
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.”
Now a two-division world champion, Vargas showed that he
could rebound from adversity, as Magsayo nearly turned the
tide of the fight by landing a sneaky right hand late in
round nine that put Vargas down (watch highlight HERE).
"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.”
After the fight, Vargas set his sights on a potential
unification fight 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 co-main event, hard-hitting former world champion
Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KOs)
returned to the win column with a dominant sixth round TKO
of Carlos Castro (27-2, 12 KOs) in their 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. Using his customary bruising come-forward style,
Figueroa landed a looping overhand left that hurt Castro and
eventually sent him to the mat on his follow-up (watch
highlight HERE).
“I know Carlos Casto 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 use his ring IQ 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.”
Figueroa took advantage of the moment and unleashed a
relentless attack on the ropes that went unanswered and
forced referee Mark Nelson to jump in and end the bout 2:11
into the frame (watch highlight HERE).
“I’m pretty proud of myself,” said Figueroa. “I know there’s
a lot of work ahead of me, especially if I fight the winner
of the main event. I have to study my fight and get back to
the gym.”
In the telecast opener, unbeaten rising star Frank Martin
(16-0, 12 KOs) showed the full complement of skills that has
made him one of the most talked about up-and-comers in the
135-pound division, as he delivered a methodical destruction
on his way to stopping Jackson Mariñez (19-3, 7 KOs) in the
10th and final round.
After a tentative first two rounds, the Derrick
James-trained Martin began to use his superior footspeed to
put himself into position to land his lethal left hand to
the head and body.
“I was ready to go the distance whether I got the knockout
or not,” said Martin, who’s stablemate and promoter, unified
welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr. watched his
victory ringside and later told Jim Gray of SHOWTIME that he
expects to face WBO titleholder Terence Crawford in a
blockbuster welterweight undisputed championship fight later
this year. “Me and Derrick James worked hard in the gym. It
was just a matter of me being patient and not being
anxious.”
Mariñez was able to use his size advantage over the early
rounds to keep Martin honest, having success landing counter
rights over the top of Martin’s guard.
“I felt great,” said Mariñez. “I was very comfortable inside
the ring. It would absolutely have been a different result
had I had more than eight days to prepare.”
Mariñez, who stepped in as a late replacement to face
Martin, was unable to put together effective combinations
and too often relied on single-punch counters. Martin was
able to slowly break Mariñez down with a consistent body
attack, landing 53 shots there throughout the action. He
also held advantages in both punches thrown (505-411) and
punches landed (160-106).
“I’m just an accurate puncher,” said Martin. “We had to
really stay on the outside of the hook, I was doubling the
two and trying to come inside with the hook.”
After a close first half of the fight, Martin began to pull
away in the later rounds and finally broke through and hurt
Mariñez late in round nine. He connected on a series of
vicious left hands that staggered Mariñez, before a follow
up attack left Mariñez on the mat in the neutral corner.
“The knockdown in the ninth changed the tone of the fight,”
said Mariñez. “Maybe I could have been more careful. These
things happen in boxing, and you just gotta be ready to roll
with the punches. He had power, and so did I.”
Mariñez was able to get to his feet and survive the round,
but Martin wasted little time restarting his offense in
round 10. He pushed the pace from the outset and rained
blows onto Mariñez, who was pinned against the ropes, until
Mariñez hit the canvas again and referee Rafael Ramos jumped
in to end the fight 30 seconds into the round (watch
highlight HERE).
“I was on him once I had him hurt, I was hungry, he was in
deep waters so I had to get him out of there,” said Martin.
“I’m right there with those top guys at lightweight, sit me
at the table with them, whenever, I’m ready. I’m going to
sit down with my team and hopefully get something big. At
the end of the day we’ve won them all.”
Prior to the telecast, bouts streaming live on the SHOWTIME
SPORTS® YouTube channel featured unbeaten contender and
rising star Rashidi Ellis (24-0, 15 KOs) score two
knockdowns on his way to a first round stoppage of late
replacement Jose Marrufo (13-11-2, 1 KO). Ellis dropped
Marrufo twice in the first two minutes of the frame before a
follow-up attack forced referee Ellis Johnson to halt the
action 2:17 into the round.
Additional streaming saw San Antonio-native Ramon Cardenas
(21-1, 10 KOs) edging a unanimous decision over Venezuela’s
Michell Banquez (20-2, 14 KOs) after 10 rounds of
bantamweight action. In a close fight contested largely on
the inside, Cardenas was given the nod by the scores of
97-93 twice and 96-94.
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