American Jessie Vargas outpointed his Mexican rival Antonio DeMarco Sunday to retain his World Boxing Association super lightweight title in a pulsating fight in Macau.
Jessie Vargas (L) and Antonio DeMarco during the official weigh-in ahead of their WBA World Super Lightweight Title bout at the Cotai Arena in Macau on November 22, 2014
The champion from Las Vegas, with legendary fighter Roy Jones Jr making his debut as a trainer in his corner, got the better of his valiant opponent in a fight which exploded into life from the fifth round onwards.
Both men were heavily marked at the end of a toe-to-toe 12-round battle, in which the unbeaten Vargas (26-0) consistently landed the better shots to take a unanimous decision 116-112 on all three judges' scorecards.
DeMarco (31-3-2) had many moments when he seemed to be getting on top, particularly in the ninth when he wobbled Vargas with a fierce straight left which sent him reeling back into DeMarco's own corner.
But Vargas showed enough craft to step it back up when he needed to with combinations of his own, even trying a Jones Jr-style wind-up right "bolo punch" and the verdict was never in doubt.
It was the first big fight on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri clash and Pacman's trainer Freddie Roach was in DeMarco's corner
"DeMarco was just too patient," Roach told reporters after the decision was announced. "Too many times he was just throwing one punch at a time. I begged him to get busy."
- Lomachenko masterclass -
In the second world title fight, Ukraine's double Olympic gold medallist Vasyl Lomachenko handed out a boxing lesson to the experienced Thai Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo.
The man from Odessa easily retained his World Boxing Organization featherweight title, which he won in only his third professional fight earlier this year after one of the greatest amateur careers in history -- one defeat in 397 bouts.
Piriyapinyo had only lost once in his 52 fights before Sunday and was dropped to the canvas for the first time in his career in the fourth round, after a vicious series of half-a-dozen head-snapping punches culminated in a ring-shaking left hand.
But the bell sounded before Lomachenko could finish the job and the tough Thai recovered enough to see out the contest to the full 12-round distance despite being picked off at will by the lightning quick Lomachenko.
So hard were Lomachenko's shots that he suffered a broken left hand in the 10th round. "You can show the left and feint with the left hand -- but don't throw it," his corner were heard to caution.
All three judges gave it to the Ukrainian by an overwhelming margin of 120-107.
Lomachenko declared after that he has designs on becoming the undisputed featherweight champion.
"From this point on, I only want to fight champions, starting with (WBA champion Nicholas) Walters in the summer," he told reporters.
Earlier Hong Kong super flyweight Rex Tso was given a tougher than expected workout over eight rounds against Espinos Sabu of Indonesia but came through on a unanimous points decision.
And KK Ng -- the up and coming "Macau Kid" -- thrilled his home town fans by battling through a six-round super welterweight contest against Australia's Stephen Attard to win on a unanimous decision despite suffering an ugly gash to his forehead.