Vargas Crushes Plaitis Inside One Round!
By Rick McLean @ Ringside
© Photos Courtesy Rick Bender
On Saturday February 11, 2012, United Promotions, Buxton Promotions and Hennessey Sports Canada held an action packed six fight card called “Young Gunz” in front of a capacity crowd of 4, 500 cheering fans at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
In the Main Event of the evening Samuel Vargas of Mississauga, Ontario won the vacant NCC Canadian Welterweight Championship in impressive fashion by devastatingly knocking out the reining Canadian Junior Welterweight champion Manolis Plaitis, now 17-2-1, 8KO’s at 2:49 of the opening round. With the victory Vargas remains undefeated at 9-0-1, 3KO’s.
Vargas was all over Plaitis right from the opening bell as Vargas’s size and strength was too much for him as he hammered away on his Quebec opponent to the head and body moving him backwards and on the defensive. Vargas hurt Plaitis with a left hook right hand near the end of the round and then followed him to the corner where he landed a crushing left hook, straight right hand that snapped Plaitis’s head back and sent his crashing to the canvas on his back barely conscious as the referee immediately called a halt to the bout at 2:49.
After the fight was over Ahmed Cheikho, the man who Vargas stopped in his last fight took the microphone and called Vargas over and stated that he wanted a rematch because he had broken his hand in the fight and that he wants 8oz gloves and not 10oz. Billy Martin, Vargas’s trainer took the microphone away from Cheiko and this outraged him and he had to be held back. The Boxing Examiner.com wants to know what the fans think should Cheiko get the rematch with Vargas?
The Co-Feature fight of the evening saw Brandon “Bad Boy” Cook of Ajax, Ontario; improve to 5-0, 2KO’s by winning a very tough and crowd pleasing six round unanimous decision over Chris Aucoin, now 4-6-1, of St. Williams, Ontario. The judge’s scored the fight 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56.
It was an even opening round as Aucoin tried to get inside and brawl while Cook wanted to box and use lateral movement. Cook was impressive in the second round as he used his jab and worked in lefts and right to the body and went back upstairs with a left hook and he threw the occasional uppercut as well. By the fourth round Aucoin’s nose was bleeding profusely from Cook’s jabs, right hand and uppercuts. On the on the other hand in the fourth round Cook sustained a cut over his right eye probably from a clash of heads but the cut never became an issue in the fight.
In the fifth round Aucoin suffered a cut over his left eye. In the sixth round Cook’s pace slowed as he looked tired as he was now bleeding from the nose as well. Both fighters were covered in Aucoin’s blood by the end of the fight! Cook’s speed, combinations and movement peppered Aucoin throughout the fight but to his credit Aucoin absorbed the punishment well as he stood right in there swinging away landing hard combinations of his own making it one hell of an entertaining back and forth close fight!
“The Brazilian Rocky” Michael Oliveira of Miami, Florida made his Canadian debut a successful one as he improves to 17-0, 12KO’s by winning a hard fought eight round unanimous decision victory over Sergei Melis, now 18-8, 6KO’s of Narva, Estonia. The judge’s scored the fight 79-73, 77-75 & 77-75.
It was a fairly even opening round as both fighters’ traded good combinations to the head and body however Oliveira definitely won the round as he landed a hard right hand which was the best punch of the round. Oliveira controlled the rest of the fight as he was able to dictate the pace and mix up his combinations to the head and body effectively and was occasionally able to slip the uppercut in when the opportunity presented itself.
Melis was definitely a tough opponent however as he made it a very competitive fight and he won the seventh round. In addition, Melis didn’t take a step back however he was unable to land combinations as often and as consistently as Oliveira did. The crowd booed the judge’s decision and cheered for Melis believing that he won the fight.
“Dangerous” Denton Daley of Kitchener, Ontario, improves to 5-0, 2KO’s by earning an impressive six round unanimous decision victory over Benito Quiroz, now 6-2, 6KO’s of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. All of the judge’s scored the fight 60-54. Quiroz deserves a lot of credit as even though he was overmatched he tried his very best to press forward and land punches.
Daley was all over Quiroz in the opening round using his jab effectively and controlled the pace of the fight. Half way through the round Daley caught Quiroz with a hard right hand that sent Quiroz staggering back into the ropes. The highlight of the second round was when Daley dropped his hands and allowed Quiroz to tee off on his mid section for a few seconds to show that he had no fear of his Mexican opponent. Throughout the rest of the fight Daley continued to punish Quiroz with combinations that saw the Mexican’s left eye swell completely shut as Daley used his right hand, superior speed and lateral movement to completely dominate as the slower Quiroz who had no answers whatsoever.
The second match of the night saw Steven Wilcox of Hamilton, Ontario, win his pro debut by knocking out the now 0-1-1 Nicolas Valcourt of Quebec at 0:35 of the second round.
Wilcox started out a little slow but came on strong in the second half of the first round by working impressive combinations to the body and head of Valcourt. The fight ended quickly just seconds into round two as Wilcox caught Valcourt flush on the jaw with a straight right hand that sent the Quebecer sprawling to the canvas flat on his back bleeding from the nose. Valcourt showed heart getting back to his feet but was in no condition to continue as the referee immediately waved the fight off at 0:35.
In the opening fight of the card the undefeated Ibrahim “Firearm” Kamal, now 7-0, 6KO’s from Toronto stopped the now 6-5, 3KO’s Tommi Schmidt who hails from Aabenraa, Denmark in the first round. The fight consisted of Schmidt covering up and standing right in front of Kamal taking punches. However, most of the punches were landing on Schmidt’s guard and he was never really hurt from the looks of things. Referee Rocky Zolneirczyk felt otherwise and he called a stop to the fight at 1:26 of the opening round. The crowd were very vocal about the stoppage booing it loudly in disgust!
Very good show…The promoters/ fighters, should be proud. Too bad the press in Toronto don’t give all professional sports coverage, just the ones who buy advertisement in their rags. keep up the good work guys maybe someday you’ll actually get some coverage from the written sports word, they should be ashamed. Congrats to all the fighters coaches managers and officials who took part, another excellent promotion enjoyed by the large crowd in attendance.
Just a suggestion to the great staff at The Boxing Examiner” You guys are doing a great job for the sport, and go unrewarded for your efforts. I just wanted to ask why when I read the writeups of the bouts there is no mention of the fighters weights. A reader in most cases has to guess what weight class the writers is reporting on…It would help if you could put down the weight of the boxer…again keep up the fine job you are doing.
Although I didn’t attend the fights, I watched on Rogers Cable. Great show guys. I think though that the Olivera fight was closer than the scores indicated. He was hurt on several occasions. Disappointed in the coverage by local media. Thank God for Steve Buffery of Toronto Sun or there would be no coverage at all. These are the kind of shows that will keep the public coming.
Get in line is what I have to say to Cheiko! If there is a rematch to be had it should be the Brosch vs Vargas fight. The only guy that has put a mark on Vargas record is Brosch. They had fought for a bigger title and was a draw. For goodness sake get Brosch and Vargas to fight again! I am not a huge fan of Vargas, but he was by far the best in this fight and has had some great fights. Settle your only blemish and get in there with Brosch again. Cheiko, good luck, but you don’t even deserve a rematch, fight of the year or not you are not first in line, IMO.
What happened to the Phil Rose vs. Lafreniere fight?
One of the fighters failed their medical!
That Cook guy is a punk why don’t they line him up with some real comp rather than these chumps.
Cook is an exciting fighter but he still has lots to learn. No need to rush him. Cudos to Rogers Cable 10 for broadcasting the whole card. It was a pleasant surprise to have something to watch instead of those awful Maple Leafs. Shame on the Toronto media who always seem to have ink available for MMA garbage but ignore boxing even when it takes place in their own backyard.