Rios wins by DQ, Vargas retains title
Brandon Rios (32-2, 23 KOs) gained a win over Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) by a 9th round disqualification on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Although it was a messy fight, that was filled by fouling which saw both fighters deducted points, it was also intriguing throughout with both fighting at close quarters and landing power shots. The fight was in the balance when referee Vic Drakulich disqualified Chaves in round 9 thus handing Rios the win and ending his two-fight losing streak.
Drakulich had a terrible time controlling the contest, and seemed to fall for a lot of complaints from the pair of them. The fight was halted when Rios said he was pocked in the eye by Chaves following a head lock.
Buenos Aires fighter Chaves was deducted a point in the third round for holding his opponent. Rios was deducted a point in the fifth for wrestling Chaves to the ground. The controversy continued in the 8th when Chaves was penalised again for pushing his glove into Rios' face.
By Round 9, Drakulich had seen enough and disqualified Chaves for this.
Also on the card, WBA light welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (25-0, 9 KOs) won a hard fought 12 round unanimous decision over Russian challenger Anton Novikov (29-1, 10 KOs).
Vargas started well and staggered Novikov with a left hand in round 5. However, Vargas faded late on and Novikov punished him with shots in the last three rounds. But in the end, the judges scored it by generous scores of 118-111, 118-111 and 117-111 in favour of the hometown fighter.
Other results on the card:
Jessie Magdaleno W Carlos Rodriguez TKO 7
Jose Carlos Ramirez W Alfred Romero UD 8
Erick De Leon W Pedro Toledo TKO 5
Saul Rodriguez W Orlando Vazquez TKO 2
Shane Mosley Jr W Jerome Jones TKO 1