TEXAS (AFP) - Mexico’s Rey Vargas won the World Boxing Council featherweight title on Saturday, overcoming a knockdown to take a split decision over Filipino star Mark Magsayo in a battle of unbeatens.
Two judges scored the bout 115-112 for Vargas while the third saw Magsayo a 114-113 winner in the showdown at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Vargas, the former WBC super bantamweight champion, improved to 36-0 by taking the 126-pound crown.
Magsayo, who won the title in January with a majority decision over American Gary Russell Jr., fell to 24-1.
Vargas said his next likely fight would be against a compatriot, World Boxing Association featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz.
Magsayo knocked down Vargas late in the ninth round, a straight right to the head dropping the Mexican to his knees.
After suffering only the fourth knockdown of his career, Vargas had to hold off Magsayo at the end of the ninth and throughout the 10th round
Magsayo, 27, and Vargas, 31, traded flurries of punches from the opening seconds, with intense toe-to-toe exchanges setting a tone round after round.
The champion tagged Vargas with a hard left hook in the fourth round but the challenger answered with a flurry of left jabs and a hard right in response.
Vargas used his superior reach and jab to set up uppercuts and body shots in the fifth round, but was tagged in the jaw with an inside right by Magsayo.