Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas

Felix Trinidad stopped Fernando Vargas in the 12th round at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, 2 December 2000, retaining his WBA world super welterweight title and taking the IBF championship from Vargas. Both men entered unbeaten and weighed 154 pounds. Trinidad, 27, recorded his 39th victory. Vargas, 22, suffered his first defeat in 21 professional contests. The announced attendance was 10,067.

Vargas went straight at Trinidad and was on the floor inside half a minute. He missed with a jab and took a left hook to the jaw, the first punch to put him down in his professional career. He rose, but another left hook sent him down before the opening minute was over. Vargas got up again and lasted the round, though he was sufficiently shaken to walk to the wrong corner at the bell. He boxed more cautiously in the second and began to put his punches together in the third. Late in that round, Trinidad struck below the belt. Referee Jay Nady gave Vargas time to recover and let Trinidad off with a warning.

Early in the fourth, Vargas landed a left hook squarely on the chin and put Trinidad down. He continued to find Trinidad with left hands after the count, with the Puerto Rican’s right eye beginning to swell. Another blow below the belt stopped the action, and this time Nady deducted a point from Trinidad. Vargas carried his recovery into the fifth, finishing the round strongly with an uppercut and a combination to the head. After being down twice in the first, he had now taken two successive rounds on all three official cards.

Trinidad began to get his jab working again in the middle rounds. He shook Vargas with a left hook and a right hand early in the seventh, but lost a second point for hitting low. By the eighth, he was putting his punches together more readily, and a left hook shook Vargas again near the bell. They traded freely in the ninth. Vargas was still getting his punches off, but Trinidad was landing the heavier blows, among them a straight right that made Vargas’s knees dip.

By the tenth, Vargas was spending more time on his heels, and Trinidad was finding him with the lead right. Nady deducted a point from Vargas for a low blow and had to separate the men when they continued punching after the bell. Vargas rallied in the eleventh, getting his jab through and landing left hands to the head late in the round. All three judges gave him the round, although Trinidad remained ahead on each card. Trinidad’s right eye was badly swollen by then, and Vargas was marked about both eyes.

Vargas reached with his jab early in the 12th, and Trinidad caught him with a left hook that put him down for the third time. Vargas rose and was felled again by another hook. He regained his feet once more, but a right hand to the head dropped him for the 5th time in the contest. Nady stopped it at 1 minute 33 seconds of the final round. Vargas was taken to the hospital for examination.

I’d seen Vargas stand his ground with Ike Quartey, so I understood why his crowd fancied him. Trinidad had the De La Hoya win, however much people argued about the decision, and that left hook was worth the price of admission. Vargas found out twice in the first round what happens when you reach with your jab and leave your chin there.

I thought Vargas had him in real trouble after dropping him in the fourth. The low blow that followed broke his rhythm, and I’ve no doubt it mattered. But Trinidad got back behind his jab and started landing the right as Vargas tired. By the twelfth, Vargas was reaching again. Nady was right to stop it.