Boxing Round By Round: Cuauhtemoc Vargas – Tomas Villa

The headlining bout on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo card from the Michael Marr Gymnasium in Las Vegas, New Mexico this past Friday was between super bantams Cuauhtemoc Vargas and Tomas Villa. At stake on the Fresquez Promotions bill was the twenty one year old Vargas’ WBC Continental America’s bout. Vargas came into the bout with the better record but Villa is the current NABA titlist and had thus far in his career toppled such accomplished foes as Mike Trejo, Edel Ruiz and David Martinez.

Round one: the opening session begins with Villa charging to the center of the ring throwing his jab. For the first minute of the fight, Villa is the aggressor, consistently beating Vargas to the punch and throwing a lot of punches. Vargas has his back to the ropes and is being hit with a barrage of Villa’s punches, mainly hooks to the body. Vargas isn’t throwing many punches this first round, instead choosing to try to avoid Villa’s punches and stay out of too much trouble. Villa threw a lot of punches that round, and threw the majority of the punches, Villa’s round.

Round: Villa 10-9

Round two: the second starts with the two meeting in the center of the ring and Villa popping his jab out there. Villa is using his jab to get Vargas on the ropes and tee off on the inside with hooks. Even though he has the longer arms and jab, Villa is taking the fight to the inside and dominating, and with forty seconds left, Villa catches Vargas with a left hook as Vargas tries to circle off the ropes. Villa steps back and looks for an opening but Vargas catches him with a nice jab, straight combination as the round closes. Villa’s round again, and once again, he had a very high work rate, lets see if he has the stamina to finish the fight like this.

Round: Villa 10-9
Fight: Villa 20-18

Round three: the fighters meet in the center of the ring exchanging hooks, with both fighters missing. The beginning of this round is much more intense, with Vargas throwing a lot more punches, and for the first time in the fight, he is using his jab. This has been an exciting round so far, when the fight takes place at a distance, Vargas is getting the better of their exchanges by using his jab and straight efficiently, but when inside, Villa is dominating with his hooks. Ten seconds left in the round and Villa gets caught with a beautiful straight right with Vargas’ back to the ropes. Villa counters with a straight right of his own that lands on Villa’s jaw as the round comes to a close. That was a very exciting round, with Vargas getting the better of it.

Round: Vargas 10-9
Fight: Villa 29-28

Round four: much like during the opening seconds of the third, the fighters come to the center of the ring and exchange flurries, but with only a Vargas hook landing to Villa’s body. Villa has a lot more body movement, and that is allowing him to throw his straight right hand from a variety of different angles. With minute and a half left in the round, Villa lands a straight right from a crouched position that backs Vargas up. Vargas, who is known as more of an inside fighter, is really struggling this fight on the inside, and is being taken apart by Villa’s ability to move his body and fight at more of an angle as opposed to Vargas. At round’s closing, Vargas lands to left hooks to the body of Villa followed by a right hook to the jaw.

Round: Villa 10-9
Fight: Villa 39-37

Round five: Villa comes out of his corner and throws a left hook that lands low on Vargas, and Villa is docked a point. Vargas is still making an effort to bring the fight to the inside, and so far is beating Villa on the inside. Vargas, at the minute and a half mark, lands a jab to the crouched Villa, followed by a huge straight right hand that roars the crowd, Villa tries to counter with a hook but swings wide and is hit with another jab straight combination. Villa clinches Vargas after stumbling around the ring and clinches a couple more times before the time runs out on the round.

Round: Vargas 10-8
Fight: Even 47-47

Round six: as in the first four rounds, Villa is doing a good job in the first minute of the round of deterring every effort of Vargas to get inside with his left hook. Vargas has tried to get inside three times so far, and every time has been hit with a left hook that rocks sends him backwards. Villa is a lot more selective with his punches this round, throwing only on the inside with his nasty hooks. With a minute to go, the fighters meet at the center of the ring and once again start exchanging hooks, with both landing. Villa lands a left hook that sends Vargas backwards and the referee steps in to take a point away from Vargas for holding and punching. The round closes with another exchange of hooks, and Villa clearly getting the better of the exchange.

Round: Villa 10-8
Fight: Villa 57-55

Round seven: the round begins with Vargas putting Villa on the ropes and throwing his lead left hook to the body. Villa looks tired this round; leaning on Vargas every chance he gets and letting his hands hang lower then the previous rounds. The low guard is allowing Vargas to land the jab and set up hooks to the body and straight right hands. At round’s closing, Villa serves up his best offering of the round, catching Vargas with a left, right hook combination the jaw at the bell, but that wasn’t enough to steal the round.

Round: Vargas 10-9
Fight: 66-65

Round eight: at the beginning of the round, Vargas bolts out of his corner, and throws a lead left hook that connects to Villa’s body. Villa still looks tired while Vargas looks refreshed. However, at the closing of the first minute, Villa charges inside with Vargas on the ropes and lands an uppercut that staggers Vargas. Villa steps back and hits Vargas with a jab followed up with a straight right. Vargas clinches to get off the ropes and both fighters go back to jabbing. Both look tired now, as that uppercut seemed to have taken something out of Vargas. With about thirty seconds left, both fighters lean on each other and once again exchange hooks. Vargas lands a hook to Villa’s head, and Villa counters with a left hook to the body. Vargas goes down with what looked like a delayed reaction to a liver shot. The referee counts to ten and the fight is over.

This was a very exciting fight, with both fighters looking impressive. Vargas started a little slow and wasn’t able to impose his will on the inside as was expected going into the fight, but he was able to work nicely in the later rounds, and his hooks early in the fight seemed to take their toll as Villa looked exhausted from the seventh round on. Meanwhile, Villa looked like he overworked himself a bit to much in the first four rounds, but he dominated on the inside, and fought from different angles the whole fight which gave Vargas trouble throughout the bout. This contest was very much like the first Diego Corrales – Jose Luis Castillo fight, a battle of hooks on the inside. I definitely anticipate a rematch.

A seasoned veteran at just twenty two years of age, Tomas Villa of Midland, Texas wins the WBC Continental Americas Super Bantamweight crown and improves 13-5-3 (7). Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc Vargas 14-1-1 (9).