NO KO: VARGAS HAS TO GO DISTANCE; IBF CHAMP HAS ENOUGH TO RECORD RARE DECISION.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Staff Writer

What many expected to be a one-sided prelude to a big-money bout in April turned into an old-fashioned brawl between equal adversaries.

For 12 rounds, Fernando Vargas of Oxnard and Ronald ``Winky'' Wright exchanged punches at a furious rate. Throughout, it was extremely difficult to determine who got the best of it.

When it was over, Vargas was lucky to escape with a narrow, majority decision to keep his IBF junior middleweight title before a few thousand unconvinced fans on Saturday at Chinook Winds Casino.

It was the first time Vargas has had to go the distance.

Judges Debra Barnes and Jim Howard scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Vargas and Dave Hess had 114-114.

The Daily News scored it for Vargas 115-113.

The champion had a narrow edge in punch statistics, landing 266 to Wright's 229.

More telling was his edge in power punches, 244 to 131, which apparently was the difference in the fight: He landed the more meaningful blows.

Vargas (18-0, 17 knockouts) will face Ike Quartey in that big-money fight on April 15, probably in Las Vegas, it was announced immediately after the fight. But that matchup lost some of its pizazz after Vargas' performance here.

Afterward, Vargas said that serious ``family problems'' affected his training and in turn his performance against Wright, but he wouldn't be more specific.

However, his mother, one of his biggest supporters, wasn't at the fight.

``I don't want to say anything,'' said Vargas, his face badly bruised and suffering emotionally as a result of the family problems. ``I don't want to embarrass anyone in my family or myself. But it did affect me mentally during training. I'm just glad this fight is over with.''

As expected, Vargas' handlers had a tiger with them as they approached the ring. In fact, they had two - a real one and Vargas himself, in separate cages.

The idea was to promote his nickname ``Ferocious.''

However, Wright (39-3, 24 KOs) was as much a tiger as Vargas once the fight began.

Wright, a 29-year-old left-hander who has fought most of his career overseas and was once the WBO junior middleweight champ, proved to be Vargas' equal in every respect. He was quick, tough and every bit as skilled as he claimed he was.

He called himself the best-kept secret in boxing and he might not be far off the mark. Vargas even admitted ``he was a little slicker than I was.''

Vargas, perhaps a bit more aggressive than Wright, landed many body shots - his most effective punch - and his share of blows to the head.

At the same time, Wright scored regularly with a stiff right jab - outlanding Vargas 98-22 in that department. That confounded Vargas throughout and he landed plenty of followup punches to impress the judges.

Neither fighter was seriously hurt or went down.

That's how the fight went from beginning to end - no one had a significant edge, which made it next to impossible to score.

Vargas had perhaps his best rounds when it counted, in the 10th, 11th and 12th.

Aware that it was close, he clearly was more aggressive and determined in those rounds than in any of the previous nine and was rewarded. Barnes gave him all three rounds, Hess and Howard each gave him two.

Vargas gave his own performance a ``C,'' but this time average was good enough.

``I have to take care of my family, my brothers and sisters,'' he said, referring to his earnings. ``I was thinking of them in the final rounds.

``I'm the champ. I went out there and closed it.

``I learned I could go 12 rounds. I learned I could take care of business when it counted, although I already knew that.''

Meanwhile, Wright was stunned.

``I thought I walked through him, I thought I dominated the fight,'' he said.

No one was particularly happy after this one.

In a preliminary bout, Diego Corrales outpointed John Brown to retain his IBF junior lightweight championship.

Corrales (30-0, 24 KOs) almost didn't fight. He failed to make the 130-pound weight limit until a few minutes before his deadline on Friday. At fight time, he weighed 148 pounds, six pounds more than the much shorter Brown (20-7, 10 KOs).

Brown, about eight inches shorter than Corrales, was game. He rushed Corrales the entire fight in an attempt to get inside and was successful on occasion.

However, Corrales, an excellent boxer, kept the little man at bay with his long left jab and enough power punches - mostly with his left - to win the fight.

Brown was stunned by a straight right in the third round, the only time either fighter was hurt.

The judges scored it 116-112, 116-112, 117-111 for Corrales, who won the title by stopping Oxnard's Robert Garcia in his last fight.

Corrales outlanded Brown 294-178, according to fight stats. He had an edge of 118-23 in jabs and 176-155 in power punches.

Corrales, from Sacramento, wants to defend against Angel Manfredy in his next bout.

Two fighters with local connections also won their fights.

Junior middleweight Jose ``Shibata'' Flores, who lives in Los Angeles, defeated Mexican Carlos Bojorquez by a unanimous eight-round decision.

And Juan Lazcano, who lives in Sacramento but fought many times at the Reseda Country Club, stopped Mark Fernandez 2:34 into a scheduled 10-round lightweight bout.

(1 -- color) Fernando Vargas

(2) Fernando Vargas won a decision over Ronald ``Winky'' Wright Saturday night.

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