Fernando Vargas Jr Improves to 13-0 and Irma Garcia Wins a World Title in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, CA.-It took less than two rounds for Fernando Vargas Jr. to settle things but it took 10 vicious rounds for Mexico’s Irma Garcia to defeat Italy’s Stephanie Silva for a world title on Saturday.

The son of a boxing great, Vargas (13-0, 12 KOs) showed sharpness and confidence in winning by knockout over Colombia’s Wilfrido Buelvas (24-18, 18 KOs) at a jammed-packed Thunder Studios. Despite fighting a fellow southpaw, it was not a problem for the super welterweight.

Vargas moved smoothly around the ring slinging jabs as Buelvas moved in aggressively. After a few turns in the boxing ring Buelvas moved in more aggressively and was caught by a quick one-two. He staggered for a second and Vargas quickly fired two more rocket lefts and down went Buelvas. Somehow, he got up.

In the second round Buelvas seemed fired up to turn things around. He had shown spunk after getting knocked down in the first round and was eager to prove he had enough to get some return action. He ran into another blinding one-two and was sprawled on the canvas. He would not beat the count and Vargas was declared the victor by knockout at 52 seconds of round two.

A star-studded crowd including several world champions were in attendance to watch the son of Fernando Vargas. Among those in support were Zab Judah, Abner Mares, and Paul Banke. Broadcasting the event was another world champion Sergio Mora along with Beto Duran.

It had a Las Vegas feel.

World Title Match

In the female IBF super flyweight title match Mexico’s Irma Garcia (23-5-1, 4 KOs) used her accurate left cross to score a knockdown and defeat Italy’s shorter but super aggressive Stephanie Silva (8-1) by unanimous decision in 10 two-minute rounds.

The Italian fighter from Rome refused to sit down on a stool between rounds and kept looking for the homerun bomb against the boxing southpaw Garcia every round. Her favorite blows were overhand rights and she used aggressive tactics to keep the agile Garcia from moving too much.

Silva was willing to exchange punches with Garcia in every round. At times she motioned Garcia to exchange but to no avail. Silva got more aggressive every round.

In the fifth round after some vicious exchanges seemed to turn the tide in Silva’s favor, Garcia began standing her ground. Silva leaped in to engage and was caught by a perfect left cross from Garcia. She staggered and tried to hold Garcia who pivoted quickly and that sent the Italian fighter falling into the ropes. The referee ruled it a knockdown.

It turned the momentum.

Garcia now realized she could catch Silva coming in and did it often. But toward the last two rounds Silva increased the tempo realizing that she was behind. Though a few Garcia lefts connected, Silva walked through them like a hot knife through butter.

Silva never quit and though Garcia seemed to tire she remained in control. All three judges scored it 99-90 for Garcia the new IBF super flyweight world titlist.

Female Bout

A battle between talented minimumweights saw Yadira Bustillos (9-1, 1 KO) win by knockout over former world title challenger Maria Santizo (11-5).

The taller Bustillos who normally uses a more box and move style opened up the fight with a flourish as she fired bombs and Santizo obliged her. They were not the toothless variety as each carried heavy thunder when they connected.

Bustillos was caught several times by Santizo and then toward the end of the first round she began to connect too. Both fighters had red faces after the initial round.

Soon Bustillos began finding the range and feinted and countered the very aggressive Santizo which kept the Guatemalan fighter slightly off tilt.

It must have been very tantalizing for Santizo who is a killer at heart to have the younger fighter stand in front of her and trade blasts. But soon it got harder and harder for her to connect against Bustillos who was moving just lightly out of range. Still, Santizo connected just not as much in the second and third rounds.

Bustillos found success to the body and suddenly moved from the torso to the head with a left hook and down went Santizo. It wasn’t certain that she was hit but she did not argue with the referee. The two fighters commenced to fight again and down went Santizo from another well-placed left hook. She got up but seemed shaky. The two continued again but Bustillos was in full attack and the referee stopped the action.

Bustillos was deemed the winner by knockout at 1:44 of the fourth round.

Other Bouts

In somewhat of a surprise Santa Ana’s Michael Bracamontes (8-1-1) proved more than ready for Jose Luis Castillo Jr. (27-4), the son of the boxing great of Mexico and won by unanimous decision.

Maybe it was the shorter arms of Castillo, but he just couldn’t manage to keep Bracamontes from scoring. Round after round Bracamontes would start and finish the exchanges with three or four blows.

After eight rounds all three judges saw Bracamontes the winner by unanimous decision 80-72 twice and 78-74.

A battle between undefeated welterweights saw Chino’s Jose Vargas (9-0) rally from behind and win by technical knockout over South Central L.A.’s Mylik Birdsong (14-1-1) at 2:51 of the fifth round.

Birdsong seemed ahead on points by out-boxing Vargas who was intent on fighting inside. Both had their moments during the first four rounds. Birdsong seemed to have more and during inside fighting both kept hitting after the referee asked them to stop punching. Neither fighter stopped but Vargas was penalized for the infraction. The fight resumed and suddenly Vargas connected with an overhand right that stunned Birdsong. Vargas attacked and rained blows on the L.A. fighter. The referee stopped the fight to give Vargas the win by knockout.

Brian Gallegos (7-1) and Antoni Armas (13-7) traded knockdowns before a left to the body stopped Armas for the count at 2:12 of the third round of their welterweight fight.

Nathan Rodriguez (13-1) had three-time TSS Trainer of the Year Eddy Reynoso in his corner and it helped as he knocked down gutty Giovanni Gonzalez (11-6-1) twice before winning by unanimous decision after six super featherweight rounds.

Miguel Gaona (4-0) needed less than a round to destroy Paolo Figueroa (3-2) with a counter left uppercut body shot at 1:02 of the first round. Gaona lives in Arizona and trains with Joel Diaz.

Juan Estrada Jr. (1-0) won his pro debut with a right uppercut to the body of Gibran Perez (0-2) that ended the fight at 58 seconds of the first round of their lightweight match.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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