Alberto Josue Machado vs. Andrew Cancio & Rey Geovani Vargas Roldán vs. Franklin Manzanilla RBR

Round 7

Vargas triple-fouled: kidney-punched, stiff-armed with an inner elbow to his teeth and then headbutted and cut; the pocket of tissue just above the outer corner of his right eye is really oozing now, some plasma trickling down between his lids. Manzanilla has a point taken by Raul Caiz - or sternly threatened, not exactly clear. Yep, point taken. Manzanilla fouling up a storm. Vargas pushed down. Referee tells Manzanilla to cut the caca. Vargas jabbing his way to safety and tying up where he can, but Manzanilla just keeps tossing himself inside and making any kind of contact he can, dirty or not.

10-8 Vargas

68-63 Vargas

 

Round 8

Manzanilla is still rough-housing, having only received one point deduction where some less permissive refs than Caiz might have doled out several (or a DQ) by now. Vargas doing his best to maintain some composure and the semblance of a boxing match in there, jabbing & grabbing as much as he can, but Manzanilla turning it at every turn into an ugly, bloody dogfight - throwing elbows, behind the head shots, and low blows galore. Finally the ref interrupts a deluge of filth and takes another points from Manzanilla, while Vargas chuckles to himself in the neutral corner, like "man, finally..."

10-8 Vargas

78-71 Vargas

 

I can see how some judges might have given Manzanilla that round, on sheer (albeit 90% dirty and ineffective) aggression.

 

Round 9

Manzanilla is throwing Vargas in headlocks, slamming his forearm into his crotch & rib cage, and pounding his fists into the nape of his neck every few seconds after shoving Vargas in a tailspin into the ropes - but somehow makes it through a full three minute session without Caiz deeming anything deduction-worthy. Vargas for his part is carrying himself with as much dignity as can be reasonably expected; his team has done a decent job of maintenance on the cut so he is able to see Manzanilla coming and leave a breadcrumb trail of jabs for him to walk into while coasting around the perimeter until Manzanilla gets impatient and dive-bombs him.

10-9 Vargas

88-80 Vargas

 

Round 10

Manzanilla is getting Mike Tyson'ed (aka getting his face tatted ) with stiff jabs planked straight out from Vargas' chest, and then bopped on the side with a low-flung double left hook as Vargas navigates his way around him with his long, spidery legs. Manzanilla is making this as much a messy flaming sewage-truck pileup as possible, backhanding plenty of jabs and wrist-bones into Vargas' nads with nary a warning from Raul Caiz. Manzanilla ripping big hooks into the sides, but wild, missing badly, head down, not even looking.

10-9 Vargas

98-89 Vargas

 

Round 11

Manzanilla is being staved off effectively with a jab on the body as Vargas drops into a curtsying-Victorian-lady squat and delivers it side-long from a crab stance. Vargas also drawing back and letting pendulous right uppercuts fly to greet Manzanilla when he rushes in recklessly. Vargas is regaining some control of this and not having to clinch as much now, as he's putting leather on Manzanilla regularly - but also eating some in the bargain, as Manzanilla is able to score a right hand in an exchange and open yet another cut, this one high on Vargas' left cheekbone.

10-9 Vargas

108-98 Vargas

 

Round 12

Manzanilla is walking into the downward-slanting 1-2 and ratcheting up Vargas' lengthy torso with a massive left hook, doubling and tripling up as he climbs but never able to get it quite near the chin of Vargas, who leans off to his side or simply melts in to clinch. Very messy action, Manzanilla running straight into Vargas, forcing him to either quickly twirl on the ball of his foot, grab, or flurry - sometimes all three at once! Manzanilla throwing lots of leather, but artlessly. Both landing a few incidental blows down the stretch, nothing too clean. Vargas had some nice jabs in the first minute to bank this last (academic) one.

10-9 Vargas

118-107 Vargas