BRADLEY BEATS UNBEATEN VARGAS HANDILY BUT REFEREE PAT RUSSEL IN THE CENTER OF A STORM
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley defeated the previously unbeaten WBA super lightweight champion Jesse Vargas handily to win the vacant WBO welterweight Interim title at the StubHub Center on Sunday, Manila Time but referee Pat Russell found himself in the center of a storm when he stopped the bout with seven seconds remaining in the last round and Bradley clearly hurt by a big right hand from Vargas.
In a letter to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum the chairman of the WBO Championship Committee Luis Batista Salas said ?In the present case, we have determined that this Interim Championship is warranted due to WBO Champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s statements that he would relinquish all titles, his expressed desire to fight one non-title 12-rounder bout before retiring to allow for the development of young fighters and his subsequent request under Section 1 (b) (20) of our Regulations (See: June 5, 2015 RESOLUTION OF THE WBO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMMITTEE TO GRANT CHAMPION FLOYD MAYWEATHER AN EXTRAORDINARY EXCEPTION OR VARIATION FROM ITS RULES).
Following the controversial stoppage referee Russell later admitted he thought he heard the bell and waved it off with Vargas jumping onto the ropes thinking that Russell had called a halt and that he had won by a TKO.
Bradley who scored a hugely controversial decision over eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao in a fight in which the judges were pilloried by fight fans as well as the media but was clearly beaten in the rematch, won the Vargas fight comfortably on the scorecards of the three judges by margins of 116-112 (Max De Luca), 117-111 Rodney Young and 115-112.
Bradley established his superiority from the opening bell and carried the fight to Vargas and began connecting with his right from round four and took the fight aggressively to Vargas from then on showing more intensity and throwing more punches after Vargas caught him with a good body shot in round three.
Bradley got careless as he has done in the past in the closing seconds of the last round when Vargas nailed him with a big right hand that put Bradley on queer street before referee Russell?s terrible mistake which deprived Vargas a chance to finish off Bradley.
Interviewed by HBO?s Max Kellerman Russell explained ?It was very loud ? and I thought I heard the bell. I made the call that I made based upon what I heard. That?s all I can say. It was an honest call and an honest mistake.?
Amidst the confusion Bradley said he had no problem doing it one more time saying "We can do a rematch, I don?t have a problem with that. Jessie came out, he fought hard. I felt that I was in better shape than he was. That was why I was able to take over the fight. Towards the second half when he started fading, I started to come on strong, with my jab and landing my combinations.?
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