Shane Mosley Stops Fernando Vargas In Round 10
Shane Mosley v Fernando Vargas
Mosley and Vargas have each had impressive reigns as champions – Mosley three times – and had fought a handful of common opponents, only to miss each other in the ring.
In what Mosley called his last fight at 154 pounds before a return to the welterweight class, where he once was champion, the 34-year-old opened in aggressive fashion but was in a virtual standstill until the swelling over one of Vargas’ eyes became an issue.
The swelling first appeared in the second before becoming visible from a distance by the sixth. Vargas bled from his mouth in the eighth and was visited by the ringside doctor after the ninth, a round in which Mosley scored three successive shots to the body and continued to sneak right hands on Vargas’ face.
While Vargas never backed off from the action he forced through the middle rounds, he was prone to more damage as the fight wore on and the swelling increased. After taking another glancing shot to the face he never saw, referee Joe Cortez called an end to the fight one minute 22seconds into the 10th.
Vargas, who is noted for dramatic weight fluctuations in between fights, may have missed an opportunity to take on the winner of May’s match between Oscar de la Hoya and Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC light middleweight crown.
