Cotto vs Ali results: Rey Vargas beats Oscar Negrete, retains WBC belt

Rey Vargas retained the WBC super bantamweight title tonight with a 12-round decision victory over Oscar Negrete at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Scores for the fight were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108, all for Vargas. BLH had it 119-109 and 120-108 for Vargas, as well.

Vargas (31-0, 22 KO) fought through bad cuts over both eyes, each caused by a clash of heads, but the taller, longer defending champion was able to outgun Negrete (17-1, 7 KO) in pretty much every round.

That’s not to say that Negrete, 30, didn’t fight hard, because he did, at least until very late in the fight, which may have been more due to injury than anything. Between the 11th and 12th rounds, Negrete complained to his corner of his shoulder hurting, and his corner, through a translator, told him to ignore it and keep going.

It’s a solid win to close the year for the 27-year-old Vargas, who is in prime position to claim being the top fighter in the 122-pound division, with Guillermo Rigondeaux moving up for next week’s fight with Vasyl Lomachenko, and his future uncertain after that.

Statistically, as in reality, the fight was all Vargas. Vargas landed 254 of 790 (32%) of his total punches, and 205 of 547 (37%) of his power shots, compared to a grand total of 109 of 604 (18%) for Negrete, who landed 100 of 502 (20%) of his power punches.