NEW YORK – Dakota Linger was brought to Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater to help make Josue Vargas look good Saturday night before a throng of supportive Puerto Rican fans.
Linger instead might’ve sent Vargas into retirement.
West Virginia’s Linger (13-5-3, 9 KOs) dropped and stopped the heavily favored Vargas in the second round of their eight-round welterweight fight on the Edgar Berlanga-Alexis Angulo undercard. Referee Ron Lipton allowed the action to continue once an obviously staggered Vargas reached his feet, even as multiple New York State Commission inspectors stepped on the ring apron and ordered him to end their fight.
Lipton finally stopped the bout at 2:06 of the second round. Vargas was transported to nearby Bellevue Hospital for observation following his devastating defeat.
The Bronx’s Vargas lost by knockout at Hulu Theater for the second time in seven months. Jose Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs, 2 NC), one of the top contenders in the 140-pound division, viciously knocked out Vargas (20-3, 9 KOs) in the first round of their main event October 30 at Hulu Theater.
Vargas won his only bout in between those two losses, but he suffered two knockdowns during his eight-round, unanimous-decision victory over Argentina’s Nicolas Demario (16-6-3, 10 KOs) on March 26 at Resorts World Las Vegas.
The 24-year-old Vargas looked strong in the first round. His right hook got Linger’s attention with a little more than a minute to go in the opening round.
Linger hit Vargas with a right hand about 40 seconds into the second round, though, and their fight completely changed. Vargas went down about three seconds after taking that flush punch, but Lipton ruled that he slipped to the canvas.
Vargas then allowed Linger to back him into the ropes, where Linger unloaded numerous punches as Vargas tried to cover up.
Linger eventually knocked Vargas through the ropes with a right uppercut just after the halfway point of the second round. Vargas’ legs weren’t under him, but Lipton allowed him to continue after he got up from that knockdown.
Vargas moved toward a neutral corner once the action resumed. Linger blasted him with a right hand and then a left before Lipton finally stepped between them and halted the action.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.