Argenis Mendez (23-3-1, 2KOs) pulled out the unlikely victory over Miguel Vasquez in a 10 round bout in the lightweight division. The fight was the co-feature on “PBC” on Fox Sports 1.
Vasquez came out trying to establish his typical but effective style. He did not use his jab as much as he probably should’ve in the early going, but that was due to Mendez ability to disrupt the rhythm. Mendez looked comfortable to start the fight and he was able to sit back and allow things to open up. Still, it was Vasquez that was establishing the temp early.
The fight started to get more and more physical, benefiting Vasquez as the sloppiness of the fight played right into his hands. There were a number of headbutts in the early going. Mendez was picking his shots, but Vasquez was keeping the fight within his comfort zone.
Mendez was waiting too long to get off and he was trying to counter at the worst moments. Miguel was throwing wide shots and being as disruptive with his footwork as ever.
In the 7th round, Mendez, presumably out of frustration, started to settle down and land cleaner shots, but he was too slow to pull back before leaving himself open to Vasquez’s own offense. Mendez chose to box more and he was successful in spots.
Before the 7th ended, the referee took a point from Vasquez, who he had warned a couple times in the previous rounds, for excessive holding.
Vasquez was able to rebound from the point deduction and turned in a very well rounded 8th round. He was sharp with the jab and actually pressed the action a bit more when he found success.
Mendez was not making any adjustments in the last two rounds and he was allowing himself to sit and wait for Vasquez. The problem for Mendez was anytime his opponent came forward he made it nearly impossible to get anything off.
The fight ended up going the distance and it was a difficult fight to score as the action was sometimes nullified by the clumsy style and tempo the fight was fought in.
The judges turned in the scores of 99-90, 97-92 and 95-94 for Mendez. It was a controversial decision because Mendez did virtually nothing in the final few rounds and still managed to win all but 1 round on a judge’s scorecard. The crowd reacted with boos when the decision was announced, but it was difficult to argue that Vasquez went out there and took over the fight in his own right.
