Trinidad Gets Last Licks

Fernando Vargas survived the left hook that put him down 23 seconds into the fight.

He survived the roundhouse left that put him down a few seconds later.

He survived three low blows that left him gasping for air.

He survived the stinging jab and deadly right hand that left his face swollen, his eyes puffy, his legs unsteady and his lungs ferociously straining for air.

But even the courage and determination and eternal optimism of a 22-year-old can only carry a battered body so far against the cold, hard fighting machine that is Felix Trinidad.

Finally, in the 12th round, in front of a Mandalay Bay Events Center sellout crowd of 10,067 on its feet much of the night, reality and the deadly fists of Trinidad caught up to Vargas.

Twice more Vargas went down from left hands. Then, an overhand right mercifully finished the job with 1:27 left in the round.

Vargas leaned backward, then tumbled forward on all fours, crumpling into a heap.

Referee Jay Nady didn’t bother to count.

Trinidad, who was down himself from a Vargas left hook in the fourth round and suffered from an injured right eye from the third round on, added Vargas’ International Boxing Federation 154-pound title to his own World Boxing Assn. crown in a fight that, for once, left boxing enthusiasts with something to brag about.

“This is what boxing is all about,” said Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

What this fight was about was Vargas’ heart and skill against Trinidad’s even greater skill and confidence and professionalism.

Vargas, who had never before been off his feet, was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure after going down five times.

“This was my toughest fight,” conceded Trinidad, who had predicted before the match that this would be his easiest fight. “I want to say that Fernando Vargas is a great champion. But I knew I was ahead and didn’t need the knockout in the 12th round.”

He was right about that. Trinidad was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards. Duane Ford had it 103-100, Stanley Christodoulou 104-100, Glen Hamada 104-99.

All three Times scorecards--those of Steve Springer, Bill Plaschke and Paul Gutierrez--had it 104-99 for Trinidad, who his cemented his claim to the mythical best pound-for-pound title Saturday while improving to 39-0 with 32 knockouts.

The feeling going into the match was that Vargas (20-1, 18 knockouts), hampered by a lack of championship experience in comparison to Trinidad, had to strike early if he hoped to win.

Trinidad had a history of starting slowly. He had been knocked down seven times before Saturday night, most often in the second round.

Vargas’ strategy was gone, however, in the first round the first time Trinidad unleashed that left hand.

As Vargas stumbled backward, he grabbed the right side of his head, a look of agony and disbelief on his face.

Now he knew what others had also learned so painfully, that Trinidad’s easygoing nature and ever-present smile mask a killer in the ring with the devastating power to blast away anyone who dares stand in front of him.

By the third round, however, not only was Vargas still standing, he was also back in the fight thanks to a blow to Trinidad’s right eye, a blow that may have resulted in a thumb going into that eye.

It left the Puerto Rican champion blinking and on the defensive for the first time.

“I was hurt by his thumb,” Trinidad said. “It is difficult to fight with one eye, but I am a great champion and I knew I would make it.”

In the fourth round, Vargas landed a perfectly delivered left hook that put Trinidad down and brought the Vargas supporters to their feet.

“I was hurt,” Trinidad admitted.

But to longtime Trinidad watchers, it was nothing to be seriously concerned about. Trinidad fights don’t seem to start until he goes down.

Before the round was over, Vargas has picked up another point for being on the receiving end of a low blow. Nady had earlier warned Trinidad for hitting low.

Trinidad was penalized another point in the seventh round for a low blow. And Vargas had a point deducted from his score in the 10th round for a punch below the belt.

“The first two blows were low,” Trinidad said, “but the third time, it was not low. I was afraid of being disqualified.”

None of the penalty points, however, mattered in the end.

The key was that, after the sixth round, as expected, Trinidad took over the fight in typical fashion and begin to show his ring magic.

He moved in and out, a jab here, a right hand there, mixing in rib-wrenching body shots and head-rattling left hooks.

Vargas, in comparison, looked like the street fighter he was in his youth, accepting the fact that he was being consistently beaten to the punch, but still trying to connect on a lucky punch.

It was not to be.

“Fernando is a warrior,” said his promoter, Gary Shaw. “He never ran. He stayed and fought until he was down on his back. We will fight another day.”

Shaw, speaking at the postfight news conference in place of Vargas, explained his fighter’s absence.

“It’s not that he doesn’t want to be here,” Shaw said, “but we are getting him checked medically. This is purely precautionary. He’s walking, he’s talking, but the doctors just want to make sure he’s all right.”

When it was Trinidad’s turn to speak at the news conference, he broke down when the subject turned to his father, Felix Sr., his manager/trainer and closest friend.

When others doubted Trinidad, his father was always in his corner, literally and figuratively.

But after Saturday, how could there be any doubt about the greatness of Felix Trinidad?

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE RUNDOWN

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Trinidad Vargas Punches 484 602 Landed 241 231 Knockdowns 5 1

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ROUND BY ROUND, D14

JOPPY WINS

WBA middleweight champion may be in line for a big one after stopping Reid in the fourth round. D14