I like Mabuza, maybe he was put in a bit too soon with Rafael or maybe he just isn't as good, but he's a good fighter and he was doing pretty decently in the two rounds before they stopped the fight cause of the cuts. This is a good comeback win for him, Chapo's not a walkover, he beat Jhonny Gonzalez twice, gave a pretty good performance against Rafael, and beaten a lot of pretty good guys.
www.fightnews.com
In a crossroads bantamweight fight in New York City, Silence Mabuza (19-1, 15 KO's) earned another crack at bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez when he broke down Ricardo Vargas (39-12-3, 13 KO's) over 12 rounds in the main event of Lou DiBella’s “Broadway Boxing” on Thursday night at the Manhattan Center.
All three judges scored it lopsidedly for Mabuza, by tallies of 120-107 and 117-110 (twice). Neither man ever really took the initiative or hurt the other in a fight that was marked by frequent punch exchanges. It was one of those competitive, but not so close, fights that Mabuza dominated, punctuated by a ninth-round knockdown that deposited Vargas on the seat of his pants.
Vargas was a little more effective in an opening round in which both boxers let their hands go with ease. Mabuza did better cutting the ring off in the second and starting finding success with an improved jab and a follow-up right in the third round. Mabuza continued to dominate the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds as Vargas' breathing pattern became so heavy you could hear him from ringside.
Vargas came back well in the eighth, though, with rights that had his opponent back pedaling. His success was short-lived, however, and he was knocked down after taking a Mabuza right in the ninth round. Vargas temporarily hurt Mabuza with a low blow in the tenth, but the South African only took a brief respite from the action. The pace continued in the eleventh and rose in the final round, as both men exchanged flush punches.
The fight was sanctioned by the International Boxing Federation as an official eliminator to fight their champion – Rafael Marquez. Ironically, Marquez has already beaten both men – Mabuza on cuts in November of 2005 and Vargas by a unanimous decision last May.
