Vargas Stuns in Split Decision Win Over Magsayo, Wins WBC Featherweight Title

On Saturday night, WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo faced his first mandatory title defense against Rey Vargas at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) won his title in January 2022, beating the longtime reigning boxing champion, Gary Russell Jr. He held the WBC featherweight title for almost 2,500 days before losing in a majority decision to Magsayo. The former champion stated that early in the fight he had an injury in his shoulder that cost him the title.

Magsayo was confident he would not have a problematic fight Saturday evening, proclaiming he had already defeated the best fighter in Russell Jr.

“I’ve already faced the best fighter in the division, and that was Gary Russell Jr. I beat him clearly and I believe that sent a message to the rest of the division. Even before he hurt his shoulder or whatever happened, I was winning the rounds.”

Although he was confident coming into this match, he ended up losing to Mexico’s Rey Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs). Vargas becomes a two-division world champion, rising from a 9th-round knockdown to come back for the win.

Vargas spoke about the knockdown moment,

“It wasn’t a power punch that got me, it was more of something that happened because of how I was moving. We were able to recover and come back strong.”

The judges’ scorecard showed that Vargas returned after a tough 10th round and swept rounds 11 and 12 for the victory. The judges’ decision was split. Tim Cheatham scored 115-112 in favor of Vargas. Jesse Reyes scored 113-114 in favor of Magsayo. David Sutherland scored 115-112 in favor of Vargas.

Magsayo was humble after the loss,

“When I had him down, the punch was straight, he did his job in the ring, running. I applied the pressure and did what we trained for in the gym, but he was taller and he’s the man today.”

When Sports As Told By A Girl asked Vargas if he wanted to fight Emanuel Navarrete next based on a high social media push for a Navarrete/Vargas matchup to unify his title, and Vargas’ history of requesting a bout against Navarette in the past, he made it clear that he wanted to fight Leo Santa Cruz next.

However, a few moments later, Vargas’ trainer and Boxing Hall of Famer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristáin felt he had to elaborate on the answer. He stated the primary reason Vargas wants to fight Santa Cruz before Navarrete is due to their loyalty to his promoter.

At the end of the press conference, Vargas told Sports As Told By A Girl he was grateful to fight in San Antonio. He said he was happy to add to the Filipino/Mexican boxing rivalry as they are two great countries that respect each other.

Vargas has clearly set his sights on a potential unification fight against four-division world champion and current WBA Featherweight World Champion Leo Santa Cruz.

“Now I want the unification bout. I want to fight Leo Santa Cruz. We’ve already talked about it with my team and I’m ready.”