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 big-money bout in April turned into an old-fashioned brawl between equal adversaries.

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

When it was over, Vargas had to go the distance for the first time in his career, and it didn't end in a knockout. He was lucky to escape with a narrow, majority decision to keep his IBF junior middleweight title before a few thousand unconvinced fans Saturday at Chinook Winds Casino.

Two judges scored 116-112 and 115-113 for Vargas and a third had 114-114.

The Daily News scored it for Vargas 115-113.

Oxnard's Vargas has agreed to fight Ike Quartey on April 15 but that one has lost much of its pizazz after Vargas' performance here.

As expected, Vargas' handlers had a caged tiger with them as they approached the ring - Vargas was the tiger. He emerged wearing white white-tiger-print trunks from a little cage moments before he stepped through the ropes.

However, Wright was as much a tiger as Vargas once the fight began.

Wright, a lefthander, proved to be Vargas' equal in every respect. He was quick, touch and every bit as skilled as he said he was.

He called himself the best kept secret in boxing and he might not be far off the mark.

Vargas landed many body shots and his share of blows to the head and might've been slightly more aggressive. However, Wright scored regularly with a stiff right jab - with which Vargas couldn't cope - and landed plenty of followup lefts.

Neither fighter was hurt or went down.

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

Again, Vargas (18-0, 17 knockouts) was fortunate. He said the fact he encountered some kind of problem during trainer hurt him.

``It was a very tough fight,'' Vargas said. ``I had a lot of personal problems, family problems. It happened when I was in camp.

``I give Winky credit. He was slicker than I was. But I broke through and showed what Vargas is all about.''

Wright was stunned.

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

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Fernando Vargas

(2) ``It was a very tough fight ... I give Winky credit. He was slicker than I was. But I broke through and showed what Vargas is all about.

- Fernando Vargas

John Grees/Associated Press