Ike Lose on Points

Vargas fights like veteran, retains junior middleweight title By TIM DAHLBERG

LAS VEGAS (April 16, 2000 12:47 a.m.) - Fernando Vargas fought far beyond his years in the biggest fight of his young career.

Vargas, looking like a ring veteran at the age of 22, defended his IBF junior middleweight title Saturday night by pounding out a hard fought but unanimous 12-round decision over Ike Quartey.

Vargas was the stronger and bigger punching fighter in the late rounds as he followed Oscar De La Hoya's lead to hand Quartey only his second defeat in a 12-year pro career.

There were no knockdowns in the fight, which was fought at a furious pace as Vargas tried to get inside Quartey's jab and turn the bout into a brawl. He succeeded at times, particularly late in each round when the fighters often went toe-to-toe as the bell sounded.

Judges Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth had Vargas winning 116-111, and Glen Hamada had him ahead 114-113. The Associated Press had Vargas winning 115-112.

It was the second straight decision loss for Quartey, the former welterweight champion who dropped a split decision to De La Hoya when the two met 14 months ago.

Vargas, who has fought in De La Hoya's shadow, said the win in only his 19th pro fight proved that he was better than De La Hoya.

"My fight wasn't close with Quartey and De La Hoya's was," Vargas said. "I think I proved something."

Vargas (19-0, 17 knockouts) landed more punches than Quartey - 389 to 272 according to CompuBox ring statistics - but Quartey scored well with his left jab through much of the fight.

"His jab got to me a bit but I came right back at him," Vargas said.

The loss was another bitter pill for Quartey, who bitterly disputed his loss to De La Hoya and was just as unhappy with the scoring against Vargas.

"I'm very upset about the decision," said Quartey, of Ghana. "It was not 116-111. What fight were they watching?"

It was the fourth defense of the 154-pound title for Vargas, who won it at the age of 21 in only his 15th pro fight.

And Quartey gave him all he could handle, stalking Vargas throughout the fight and using his left jab to keep the champion off balance.

Vargas won the last three rounds on two ringside scorecards, though, finding his way inside to land short combinations to the head. Quartey, his right eye swelling, seemed to tire in the final rounds.

"Once I landed some solid shots he opened up a bit," Vargas said.

Vargas entered the fight as a 2-1 favorite over Quartey (34-2-1), who was fighting for the first time as a junior middleweight.

The 30-year-old Quartey hadn't fought since losing a controversial split decision to De La Hoya 14 months ago for the welterweight title. Before that, he hadn't fought in 16 months.

Vargas said he wanted to fight Felix Trinidad next, and that fight could happen sometime this summer, promoter Don King said.

First, though, Vargas must appear in a California courtroom later this month to answer assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from a July 25 incident in which he and some friends allegedly assaulted a man.

Vargas, of Oxnard, Calif., earned $1.35 million, while Quartey was paid $1.25 million.

In another fight, Antonio Diaz of Coachella, Calif., stopped Ivan Robinson of Philadelphia in the 11th round of their junior welterweight bout.

Diaz was the heavier puncher in the fight, which was for the minor IBA title, but was never able to put Robinson down. He hurt him on several occasions, however, and Robinson was trying to survive the round in a flurry of punches when referee Mitch Halpern moved in to stop the fight at 1:40 of the 11th round.

Diaz, 140, improved to 31-2 with 22 knockouts. Robinson, 139, who moved up from lightweight for the bout, fell to 29-4.

From Graphic Sports From Joe Aggrey in Las Vegas

"NO, what fight were you watching, 116-111 was a much closer fight than that. I'm very upset about the decision." That was Ike Quartey's immediate reaction after he was declared loser on the cards of all three judges of his challenge for American Fernando Vargas' IBF junior middleweight title at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Saturday night.

Two of the judges, Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth had Vargas winning by 116-111. The third, Glen Hamada, made it 114-113. And it was the first two that Ike directed his anger and disappointment at as he stormed out of the ring, retiring early to bed and not bothering to be at the post-fight press conference.

In truth and in fact, those two judges justified the Ghanaian challenger's worst fears before the fight when he said he did not trust their kind, following his controversial loss to Oscar De La Hoya in February last year.

Both Roth and Moretti saw Ike taking only three rounds, even though in the case of Moretti, he gave the challenger the third round in which a point was taken from the champion by referee Joe Cortez for the only time for several low blows he treated his opponent to all night long.

This fight was dubbed, Two Warriors - One War. It lived up to the billing and almost everybody who watched it, including Don King, the famous American promoter, absolutely concurred after it was all over. Hamada, who gave Ike five rounds, represented the reality.

The fight was that close and perhaps Quartey suffered his only second career loss in 36 fights largely because of his 15-month lay-off. His reflexes slowed down considerably and in the trenches his opponent threw more punches, even though the Ghanaian took a lot of them on his gloves or blocked them effectively.

Even more remarkably was the fact that Ike's most potent weapon, the piston-like jab, wasn't much in evidence, particularly in the middle rounds when he needed it to break down the resistance of the 22-year-old undefeated champion and set him up for a knock-down.

The final punch statistics provided by Comp Box Inc. might not be the most accurate but it gave a fair idea of how the fight went.

It showed that Vargas threw 909 total punches as against 645 by Quartey. While the champion landed 389, his challenger had 272 recorded, representing 43 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

In the jabs category, Vargas was credited with connecting 132 out of 303 as against 122 out of 290 by Quartey, again representing 43 per cent and 42 per cent.

Whilst that went further to show how close the fight was, Ike's trainer, Oko Odamtten suggested he was perhaps frustrated by the tactics of the champion.

"Unlike De La Hoya, Vargas was more mobile, moving from side to side and thus making it difficult for Ike to throw the jab," he explained.

The Ghanaian established the pattern of the fight from the first bell as he chased after his opponent who appeared prepared for this and fought back while back-pedalling.

As the largely pro-Vargas 6,631 sold-out crowd cheered widely, the champion took the first round. But early in the second round, he revealed the other side of his fighting repertoire as he caught Quartey with a low blow. Cortez motioned that he should keep it up but when Vargas delivered a hefty low punch in the third, he was penalised with a point deduction by the referee who significantly failed to act in subsequent similar infractions while pointing out a couple by Ike.

Meanwhile, Vargas emerged from the second round with his nose bloodied and despite efforts by his corner to stop the flow, the challenger managed to keep the blood oozing round after round.

The fifth turned out to be the Ghanaian's biggest round as he launched a two-fisted attack which for the first time, saw the champion feeling the pressure. The crowd suddenly switched allegiances, chanting "Quar-tey, Quar-tey".

But Vargas turned the tide in the seventh and eighth before Quartey seized the initiative again. In the ninth, he sent the champion's gumshield flying with a powerful punch and when Cortez stopped proceedings to enable Vargas corner to replace the gumshield, the crowd showed disapproval.

By the end of the round, blood was flowing even more freely from the champion's nose.

Perhaps, sensing that was the time to press his advantage, Ike unloaded two powerful rights to the head of Vargas and even though he tried to sway the judges with a late flurry, the round again went to the challenger who proceeded to take the 10th and 11th.

However, Vargas finished the last round strongly and by the end, Quartey's right eye, which had begun swelling in the seventh was almost closed.

As Ike looked on stunned and in disbelief that he had lost his second consecutive fight, fans of Vargas were celebrating.

Now his next goal is a unification bout with Felix Trinidad, whose promoter Don King, indicated in comments after the fight that he was game. Discussions are due to start this week and a September date is possible.

The result brought Vargas, record to 19-0 while Ike’s dropped to 35-2-1.