ORLANDO, Florida – In a return to the glory days of the bantamweight division, Antonio Vargas proved the most persistent of two inspired fighters, scoring a 10th-round technical knockout of Winston Guerrero on Friday.
Vargas, 19-1 (11 KOs), picked himself up from a second-round knockdown after knocking down Guerrero in the first, and he regained control with a constant attack that weathered Guerrero’s own rallies.
“When I first got dropped, I cried … for strength,” Vargas said.
By winning the WBA interim bantamweight belt, he becomes mandatory challenger to WBA titleholder Seiya Tsutsumi, 12-0-2, of Japan.
“They can’t run no longer,” Vargas said. “My dream is to become an undisputed champion. All the champions [Junto Nakatani, Ryosuke Nishida, Yoshiki Takei] are in Japan.
“My goal is to go there and bring all the belts back.”
Who was to question his ambition after Friday’s display?
Vargas quickly dropped Guerrero in the first round and devoted attention to the body while relishing his hand-speed advantage.
Guerrero immediately responded with his own knockdown, unleashing an onslaught of second-round punches closed by a vicious right hand to the head, giving fans a flashback to the 1960s and 1970s, when the bantamweights produced a stream of the sport’s best fights.
The likes of Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor would have applauded Friday night’s showing as the rapid hands, persistent energy and forward fighting that has defined the division shined in the Florida ballroom.
The pair engaged in entertaining exchanges through the subsequent post-knockdown rounds, with Vargas rocking Guerrero with a flurry to close the fifth.
Vargas employed effective hooks to the head and body in the sixth and landed the better right hands to retain control.
In the decisive 10th, Vargas backed Guerrero to the ropes and continued punching, sending the Nicaraguan to his first loss in 23 fights by battering him on another set of ropes. When Guerrero finally didn’t answer back, looking non-responsive, the fight was stopped.
In the co-main event, Javon “Wanna” Walton, who starred on HBO’s “Euphoria,” flashed southpaw speed in breaking down lightweight Erik Hanley by majority decision scores of 38-38, 40-36, 40-36.
Walton, 18, landed left hands throughout the first round, adding an effective combination that provided a vivid surge of confidence that left him smiling to fans and roaring to ringside-seated promoter Jake Paul at the close of rounds.
Recklessly letting his hands down in the fourth, Walton kept his distance, then stepped forward to land more left hands and close the bout, improving to 2-0-1.
“Hard work just isn’t enough in this game. … Everyone’s working their ass off,” Walton said.
In a far more destructive showing, Cuban heavyweight Dainier Pero asserted himself as one of the year’s top prospects, capping his fifth fight of 2024 by producing his sixth consecutive technical knockout with a first-round stoppage of Detroit’s Walter Burns.
Pero, 10-0 (8 KOs), immediately dropped Burns with his first power punch, a vicious left on the button that forced Burns to the canvas and left him reeling with right eye pain.
A delay to recover was only a brief respite as Pero pounced again with a hard combination that sent a wobbly-legged Burns flailing toward the ropes, bouncing off and falling down before the referee called it over with 4 seconds remaining in the first round.
“Five fights, five knockouts,” Pero said in the ring afterward. “I want to reach the peak of the mountain. That takes dedication and hard work, and that’s why I’m here.”
The card also featured the pro debut of two-time Olympian Tammara Thibeault, who produced an impressive showing, relying on her length and superb fundamentals to overwhelm Canadian countrywoman Natasha Spence by unanimous decision, 40-36 three times, in a middleweight bout.
Pressuring from her left-handed stance, recent MVP signee Thibeault kept her foe in a defensive posture and moved impressively to find power punches in a bout of three-minute rounds.
“I’m so proud of her making history – handling nerves against an experienced opponent,” Paul said in the ring afterward. “She’s the future.”
Thibeault performed fine with the extra time, walking away from her convincing performance to flex both biceps for the crowd.
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