Jessie Vargas vs. Antonio DeMarco live blog

Weight class: Junior welterweight

Referee: Luis Pabon

Judges: Stanley Christodoulou, Levi Martinez, Pinit Prayadsab

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Rd. 1: That was sort of a spirited feel-out round. The fighters probed with their jabs to see what was available; not much was. De Marco landed a few solid straight lefts to the head. Vargas landed some good body shots. It was more or less an even round.

Rd. 2: Good, competitive fight so far. Vargas continued to land some good body shots and sharp, accurate combinations. He probably outworked DeMarco to some degree, although the latter got in his licks. Vargas was cut under the left eye, apparently as a result of a head butt.

Rd. 3: DeMarco landed some hard shots, including a hard straight right and a body shot that seemed to hurt Vargas. Still, Vargas is getting more quality work done. He’s going to the body and landed a variety of punches to the head.

Rd. 4: Good round for Vargas. DeMarco is just too easy to hit, as Vargas is demonstrating. The Las Vegan is landed hard punches almost at will, even if he has to take some back to do it.

Rd. 5: More of the same, except Vargas landed a very big right hand that hurt DeMarco about midway through the round. Vargas definitely doesn’t have much power but this is a good performance so far, as he is landing a lot of punches. He’s in control.

Rd.6: Vargas is really working DeMarco over now. A knockout would go a long way in building up Vargas’ marketability but he has never been that type of puncher. That said, if enough punches accumulate, he might wear DeMarco down to a point where he can’t continue.

Rd. 7: Good round for DeMarco, who landed some vicious shots to both the head and body. I don’t know if he hurt Vargas but he might’ve stunned him once or twice. Not sure what the thought process was for Vargas, who seemed to cruise that round. That’s inviting trouble.

Rd. 8: That was a competitive round, although I thought Vargas outworked DeMarco. He threw some nice, crisp combinations. No one can question DeMarco’s fighting spirit. That guy will never stop coming as long as he’s standing up.

Rd. 9: Another good round for DeMarco, who is fighting aggressively and landing some heavy blows. Vargas held his own that round but it’s clear he’s going to have to work very hard to win this fight. Brutal fight.

Rd. 10: Solid round for Vargas. He looks dead tired and took some hard shots but fairly clearly beat DeMarco to the punch and outworked him.

Rd. 11: Dominating round for Vargas. He didn’t throw a ton of punches but landed at a high rate and controlled the ring. DeMarco, not Vargas, might be the one fading here. The Mexican did very little in that round.

Rd. 12: Vargas had a strong finish, going after DeMarco with some success even though he probably could’ve cruised because he almost certainly has a big lead on the cards. THE RING scored it 117-111 for Vargas.

All three judges had the same score: 116-112 (or eight rounds to four) for Vargas, who wins by a unanimous decision.