"No disrespect to the ref, but how do you mistake the sound of a bell for anything else? We had a good crowd, but it wasn't sold out, so it's not like it was so much ruckus and noise where you could confuse it. I get it, mistakes do happen, but now I'm paying for it. And that's why now I have a lawyer and we have contacted the California State Athletic Commission as well as the WBO to put our case under investigation and to hear us out and hopefully they get to see that I shouldn't pay for a referee's mistake...I think a rematch is fair because it will erase the what ifs that is left hanging around in everyone's eyes," stated jr. welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, who spoke in-depth about his attempt to get the outcome of his fight with Timothy Bradley changed to a no-contest. Check out what else he had to say!
PC: How did you feel the fight was going leading up to the last round?
JV: I knew that I needed to be a little more busier in the fight. For some reason, I couldn't let my hands go like I wanted to like we had planned in camp. But no complaints. Coming into the last couple of rounds, in my mind, thinking of how the scorecards were looking, I knew I had to pressure the fight and dictate a little more of the pace in a more aggressive manner. And that's when I started to put pressure on him and be aggressive. Going into the 12th round, it was hard to say how the scorecards read. I knew they were close, but one thing that Tim was able to do well was score some points when there wasn't too much going on from either side. I knew I had to land a crucial punch that would change things and change the fight and give me an explosive finish, and that's when the big right hand came in. I was a hunter looking for it and hunting down my prey and I found it and I got it. I staggered him, hurt him, and had him in terrible condition. He could barely stand. I went in to attack. I hit him with a few body shots. I missed a hook up top, I remember that, but I continued to be aggressive and continued to look for more shots. In that time frame, I got on the inside trying to get him to engage with me on the inside. He was holding me, but he was too weak and his balance was off, so I was able to easily push him off and connect with a few body shots. As soon as I hit him with the body shot, I took a step back and he was not defending himself at that moment when I took a step back, and at that same moment, that's when the ref came in, hugged me, and waived it off. At that moment, I felt that I was declared the winner. Minutes later, we found out that the referee said that he made a mistake and that he thought he heard the bell ring. In that time frame right after the stoppage, seconds after that, Timothy Bradley congratulated me and told me I was a great champion. So we're all thinking it was a TKO win by referee stoppage and we found out minutes later that he thought he heard the bell and it went to the scorecards and the decision went to Timothy Bradley, which I'm not going to argue that. If the judges saw that, I'm not going to argue that. That's why we are here now talking about it because at the end of the day, I didn't get my full 3 minutes to capitalize on the work that I had done.
PC: What was the emotion like, thinking you scored a TKO win over Timothy Bradley only to find out later that in actuality, you lost a points decision?
JV: Man, it was heart dropping. I couldn't believe it. It was a terrible moment for me. What could have been a great win and a dramatic win ended up like that. I knew the decision could be tough; that's why I came out the way that I did and doing whatever I had to do to get the knockout. So to have that go against me because the ref made a mistake and I had to pay for it on the scorecards was terrible news for me. It was unbelievable, to be honest. Are you serious? How do you confuse the bell with anything else? No disrespect to the ref, but how do you mistake the sound of a bell for anything else? We had a good crowd, but it wasn't sold out, so it's not like it was so much ruckus and noise where you could confuse it. I get it, mistakes do happen, but now I'm paying for it. And that's why now I have a lawyer and we have contacted the California State Athletic Commission as well as the WBO to put our case under investigation and to hear us out and hopefully they get to see that I shouldn't pay for a referee's mistake.
I still want to finish my fight that was never finished. A championship fight in the rule book is 12 round fight, 3 minutes a round with a 1 minute rest. Well, I didn't get my 3 minutes in that last round. Every second counted during that moment, every punch counted at that moment, and as we all know, Percy, one punch can change the outcome of a fight. That's all you need and it takes one second to land a blow and I was cheated out of at least 9 seconds. We have seen it in the past; of course it's rare, but we have seen it, if you look at the Julio Cesar Chavez fight against Meldrick Taylor and George Foreman against Michael Moorer. So it's happened before and in my case, I had a guy in front of me that was in very bad shape. That's why we love boxing so much because we know that at any given moment, a fight can change and that's why we as fighters don't give up because we know that. It feels bad that I didn't get the opportunity to finish what I started. It feels terrible, man. I think that fighters can accept a loss, but when it ends the way it did, having your opponent close to knocked out, you ask yourselff, "What if?"
If you lose a decision, you can say, "Well, we will come back stronger." I try to look at it two different ways. Whatever is easiest for me to make it more comfortable to build on towards the future. But when I look at this fight, I saw myself as the winner. I would have put him on the canvas if given the opportunity. Of course there is a lot of what ifs and there are a lot of opinions, but one punch, one second could have changed the outcome of the fight and it did in my fight and that's what I'm fighting.
PC: I know fighters are in a zone, especially when you hurt a guy and the adrenaline is going and things are moving fast. Did you hear the 10-second clapper go off or were you in a zone and didn't hear anything?
JV: I was in a zone, man. I don't recall. At that moment, I remember going after him and I was so excited and so much on the attack that I wasn't concentrating on anything else. I was landing some crucial blows, so I wasn't paying attention to that. I knew the rules that the referee gave us in the locker room and he was very clear. He did tell us very clearly; he stated how he would stop each round in the fight. He was very clear about it. He said, "Listen, when the round is coming to an end, I'm going to get close to both fighters and as soon as the bell rings, I'm going to stick an arm between you and your opponent signaling that the round is over. And if a punch is landing on my arm or passes my arm and hits your opponent, it's an illegal blow. So as soon as I extend my hand, the round is over and no one throws anymore punches." He stated that's how he would stop each and every round. He also stated the fact that he was there to protect us. He said, "If I see someone hurt and you're not defending yourself, you're not punching back, I will stop the fight because your health comes first." He was very clear because he was very firm about it. If you look back at that video, Timothy Bradley was not punching back. He did not throw not one punch. And I was landing some tough shots on him, especially to the body because I wanted to soften him up. That way it would be easier for him to go down. I was on the verge of finishing him off. I can't even say that I didn't get the opportunity to finish him off because he stopped it. I can tell the ref was paying close attention to Timothy Bradley's condition. He was paying close attention to that and when he stopped the fight, everyone in the arena was celebrating with me. The ref did apologize to me after the fight and I accepted his apology. Of course I'm not happy about it, but he's a human being. It took away from my moment and now we are just trying to get a fair decision.
Jessie's attorney: One thing I want to make clear is, our petition with CSAC does not ask for Jessie to get credited with the victory in the fight. We're asking for a no-decision. We all know that there is a lot about boxing that is subjective, such as judges scores. We're not challenging that. We simply want the ruling of the fight to be changed to a no-contest.
PC: So at the end of the day, you want to decision overturned to a no-contest and you would be open to a rematch with Bradley, is that correct?
JV: Without a doubt. That's what I am hoping for, a rematch. Of course we are trying to get this outcome changed to a no-contest and then after the state of California reviews our case, and also the WBO because they are included, that's what we are shooting for. Timothy Bradley gave me his word on HBO on the televised portion that he would give me a rematch and I hope he's a man of his word and he does give me a rematch. I think a rematch is fair because it will erase the what ifs that is left hanging around in everyone's eyes. You will see a Jessie Vargas that throws a lot more punches. In the last fight, I fought with mostly my left hand. I wasn't able to let my hands go. In a rematch, that is one thing I will do from the get go.
PC: Best of luck to you Jessie moving forward. Hopefully you get what you want. Is there anything else you would like to say before I let you go?
JV: A referee waiving his hands only signals one thing. In every round, you stop the round the same way; even the last round. You never waive a round off and that's what he did. Everyone seen what happened and we are showing why it makes sense to fight it.
Jessie's attorney: If you check the video, every round is exactly the same. There is a 10-second warning, he comes closer to them and when the bell sounds, he puts his hand in between them. That obviously wasn't the case at the end of the 12th round. It was different. he came up, he hugged Jessie and waived his hands high in the air to say it's over. Like I stated, we are not asking to be rewarded a victory. we just want a no-contest because the fight was not completed do to an official's error.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]