Jessie Vargas could have valid case in No-Contest

Last night at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA Timothy Bradley defeated Jessie Vargas via unanimous decision to claim the WBO intermin title. The fight didn't fall short of controversy. Jessie Vargas stunned Bradley with an overhand right with twenty seconds left in the fight. Vargas had Bradley hurt chasing him down for the final kill. With about ten seconds left in the fight Bradley held Vargas, as referee Pat Russell went to break them up, the ten second warning sounded. The sound confused Russell, who stopped the fight thinking that the fight was over. Vargas thought he had won the fight by TKO and celebrated his victory. After further clarification Russell explained he thought the final bell had sounded and that was why he broke them off, waving the fight done. Bradley went on to win a unanimous decision on the scorecard. Vargas claims Russell robbed him of a victory and is expected to file to have the result change to a no-contest.

Almost 99% of the people watching the fight would state that there is no way Vargas would have ended up knocking Bradley out despite having him hurt before the final seconds. While Bradley seemed out on his feet he was conscious enough to see punches coming from Vargas and he held him pretty tightly at the ten second warning. There was almost no chance of Vargas landing a shot big enough that would have knocked out Bradley. Even if he had landed another punch to knock him down, the scorecards would have reflected a Bradley win even giving Vargas a 10-7 round.

The problem, is that word "almost" is used. When filing a no-contest the Commission will look at the "possibility" of referee Pat Russell's stoppage preventing Vargas from winning the fight. Despite the small chances that most people believe there was a "chance" that Vargas could have landed another big shot that would have stopped Bradley or knocked him out. The Commission may very well rule in favor of changing the fight to a No-Contest due to the fact that Russell's early stoppage may have prevented a knockout regardless of how small the chance of it happening was.