War without a winner: Francisco Vargas, Orlando Salido fight to thrilling majority draw
Coming in, it was thought to be a can't-miss fight of the year candidate between two Mexicans who don't know how to quit. In addition, it was taking place under the stars at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., where great fights seem to be commonplace.
And to top it off, it was coming on the heels of the biggest boxing story in years, the death of The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, 24 hours earlier.
Much to the delight of the StubHub crowd and an HBO television audience, as well as a pumped-up twitterverse, it was all that and more.
Super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas, coming off the 2015 fight of the year, facing a true blood and guts warrior in Orlando Salido, both fighters going toe-to-toe for a back and forth, pulsating, all-action 12 rounds. If Ali and Joe Frazier were looking down on this one, they had to be proud of what they witnessed.
In the end, it was judged to be a majority draw, and that outcome was hard to argue. Nobody deserved to lose this one. One judge scored it 115-113 for Vargas. The other two had it 114-114. Paste BN Sports/Boxing Junkie scored it 115-114 for Vargas.
The fighters combined to throw more than 2,000 punches, with Vargas connecting on 386 (32%) to 328 (34%) for Salido. According to CompuBox statistics, 615 of the 714 punches landed overall were power shots.
So Vargas (23-0-2, 17 KOs), who looked worse for the wear with gashes over both eyes, courtesy of Salido head butts, keeps his WBC 130-pound title. Salido is left with nothing but a possible fight of the year on his resume and a bruised and battered body. The 35-year-old fighter said he thought he won.
"It was a close margin but I felt I won," Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs) said. "It was a tough fight. We fought like Mexicans in the ring, but I thought I won."
Asked about a possible rematch with Vasyl Lomachenko, the WBO super featherweight champion who fights Roman Martinez next weekend, and whose only career loss came against Salido more than two years ago, Salido said, "He doesn't want me because I'm not a world champion. But here I am for him. Whatever he wants. I'm ready for him."
Vargas, meanwhile, looking a bit better than he did after his title-winning, 2015 fight of the year bout in November over Takashi Miura at the Mandalay Bay, said he was happy to put on a performance worthy of fight of the year consideration, and just needs a little vacation.
"I think it was a great fight that the fans liked," he said. "Unfortunately the cuts are always on the head.
"I'm very happy. This one I won and we're looking for more challenges."
Lopez wins controversial decision: In what seemed to be an upset on the scorecards, Abraham Lopez (21-0-1, 15 KOs) handed Julian Ramirez his first loss in a 10-round featherweight bout on the undercard of the Francisco Vargas-Orlando Salido main event. The three judges scored it 97-93 twice and 98-92, all for Lopez. Ramirez, who had to fight through a nasty gash over his right eye much of the fight due to what referee Jack Reiss called an accidental headbutt, landed 50% of his power punches, 216 of 433, while Lopez connected on 38% (181 of 471).
(Photo of Vargas, right, and Salido by Chris Farina, Team Salido)