Broner, Vargas fight to a draw
Adrien Broner and Jessie Vargas spent 12 rounds trading punches. A few moments later, they exchanged angry words and opposite views of what transpired.
The one thing the two fighters agreed upon? A rematch should be in the offing.
“We can do it again. I’m ready to fight right now,” Vargas said after he and Broner fought to a 12-round majority draw in a welterweight fight Saturday night at the Barclays Center. “We can run it back.”
Judge Julie Lederman scored the fight 115-113 for Broner, and Eric Marlinski and Kevin Morgan had it 114-114.
According to the scorecards, Lederman and Marlinski had Broner winning 105-104 heading into the 12th round, while Morgan had Vargas ahead, 105-104. Lederman and Morgan scored the 12th for Broner, 10-9, while Marlinski had Vargas winning the round, 10-9.
After the ruling was announced, Broner (33-3-1) and Vargas (28-2-1) exchanged words in the ring in front of Showtime ringside reporter Jim Gray.
“It was a good fight but at the end of the day, I can’t dispute the decision,” Vargas said. “I felt like I won the fight and I was up two rounds. I’m relying on the judges to make the right decision.”
Following the first round in which the fighters appeared to be feeling each other out, Vargas was the aggressor in the early rounds and landed more punches (203-194) and threw more punches (839-507). Still neither fighter knocked the other down, although Broner slipped to the canvas late in the fifth round. Broner did open a cut over Vargas’ left eye.
“The cut,” Vargas said, “bothered me.”
Starting in the sixth, Broner began pressuring Vargas, landing heavy blows.
“I beat him,” Broner said. “Point blank, period.” /