On this day in history, “Bandido” Vargas and Miura starred one of the most dramatic fights of the last years

November 21st, 2015

Mexican Francisco “Bandido” Vargas got up off the canvas and went on to conquerer the World Boxing Council super featherweight championship, defeating Japan’s Takashi Miura by TKO in the ninth at the Mandalay Bay Hotel of Las Vegas, Nevada…and what a war it was!

 It could have all eneded in the first round as Vargas wobbled Miura with a mighty right hand.

Staggered, groggy and badly hurt, Miura showed his class by toughing it out to survive, yet he was lucky the powerdriver struck not that long before the sweet timbre of the bell clanged.

That brutal first stanza had also left its lunar landscape mark on Vargas, with a cut just below his right cheekbone, which widened to a crescent shaped divot, that  would have shocked officials at the Royal and Ancient,  St Andrews!

Miura tore into Vargas dropping him hard with a huge left hook in the fourth. Vargas, who also collected a cut above his right eyebrow and that eye was starting to close, was under the cosh!

Vargas survived a torried eighth.  He was upright, uptight and coiled, trying to box, while Miura was crablike and going to the body with success.

Battered Vargas, who’s known for his grit and resolve, needed a miracle, and he pounced at the start of the ninth to créate one.

A wicked combination starting with a huge left uppercut, concluding with a straight right, dropped Miura like a sack of coal.

Miura somehow clambered up, but his legs were gone.  All the hugging and clinching in the world were not enough to shake off the effects of the punishment, and when a massive straight right exploded on his jaw, Referee Tony Weeks, instantly moved in to save him at one minute and thirty one seconds.

No complaints from Miura, who was under shellfire. An absolutely outstanding, outlasting lion hearted victory by Vargas, who’s gone “Won” better than five Mexicans before him.

Miura who was relatively unmarked in defeat, apart from rosy cheeks, is already hankering after a rematch.

With this result “Bandido” stole the night’s  limelight to become the new WBC world champion improving  his undefeated record to

 23-0-1, with 17KO´s, while Miura is  29-3-2, with 22 KO´s. A classic of controlled ferocity!