By Carlos Boogs

Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9KOs) felt the referee, Pat Russell, jumped in early to stop his fight because he feared for the safety of former two division world champion Timothy Bradley. They fought last night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. 

Bradley controlled the action and won a twelve round unanimous decision, but not before he was badly rocked in the final minute of the final round and nearly derailed. With about ten seconds remaining, Russell accidently jumped in and stopped the fight early as Vargas was trying to go for the finish.

Vargas started celebrating, believing he had won by TKO and then became furious when he learned that Russell admitted that he jumped in too early to stop the fight.

“The fight isn’t over as far as I’m concerned,” Vargas said. “All I needed was one more shot. Tim was out on his feet and the referee saw that. He was trying to save Tim’s career and maybe his life. I remember that fight between Jimmy Garcia and Gabe Ruelas, out in the desert, and Garcia wound up dying. They weren’t going to let that happen to Tim.”