A controversial final half-minute marred Timothy Bradley?s otherwise convincing welterweight victory Saturday over previously unbeaten Jessie Vargas in Carson, Calif., on HBO.
Bradley won by unanimous decision and probably won all of the rounds from the fourth through 10th with effective aggression and his uncanny ability to dictate the direction of a fight. Vargas landed numerous counter lefts, but Bradley landed the more convincing power shots and fought with impressive vigor.
Then Vargas landed a huge right cross with 21 seconds to go. Bradley staggered, but he was effectively holding and staving off Vargas when referee Pat Russell, breaking up a clinch with seven seconds to go, stopped the bout prematurely, clearly (to us but not to Vargas and many fans at ringside) signaling he thought he?d heard the final bell.
Bradley (32-1-1) accurately summed up what happened and what would have happened. ?It was a good shot, but I would have finished,? Bradley said after winning the decision by scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 115-112.
Still, Vargas (26-1), a junior welterweight champion, was deprived of his best shot at winning the fight. ?He was still wobbly,? Vargas said. ?All I needed was one shot.
?It was an honest mistake,? Vargas said of the premature end of the bout, but ?those 10 seconds cost me the fight.?
They also deprived Bradley of the acclaim he deserved, as usual, for increasingly dominating the bout after Vargas seemed every bit his equal in the second and third rounds.
?I felt like I was in better shape than he was,? Bradley said, adding that he was amenable to a rematch.
Vargas, regretting his lack of aggression despite the pleas of Erik Morales in his corner, was begging for the rematch, at which time, he said, ?We start over where we left off.?
